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Level Up Leadership

Level Up Leadership

2024 IMBA Local Leadership Summit

Posted: October 3, 2024
Large, beautiful room with IMBA banner showing the set up for the classroom portion of the IMBA Local Leadership Summit in Knoxville, TN.

Know what is more rad than riding bikes with folks from all over the country on a well-resourced and maintained urban wilderness trail system? Getting to do that right after spending the day learning how to make that happen in your own community alongside some of the brightest minds and most vibrant people in the national mountain biking community! Our proverbial cups are full as we reflect on our first in-person local leadership summit since before the Covid-19 pandemic.

During September 4-7, 2024 in Knoxville, Tennessee, leaders of IMBA Local Member Organizations came together for an in-person gathering with IMBA staffers and community partners for the 2024 IMBA Level Up Leadership Summit. Presenters included innovative, community-focused mountain bikers, non-profit leaders, and trails advocates from IMBA Local Member Organizations from across the country; the Tennessee Office of Outdoor Recreation; the Knoxville Mayor’s Office; the California Mountain Biking Coalition, THOR, and SORBA. The energy was excellent, and the stoke was high as the group engaged in critical conversations and generated empowering narratives related to best practices for mountain bike and trails organizations.

 

All Are Welcome

IMBA supports all different sorts of mountain biking and trails organizations. Some are well-funded, well-established, well-resourced, and in areas of the country that receive attention and support for high-quality outdoor recreation. Some of our clubs are composed of a mighty few - even one or two folks - who realize a need in their community, see the economic and health-related benefits of mountain bike trails, and have committed the time to make something great happen in their areas. Some of our local member organizations have paid staff. Many are fully run by dedicated volunteers. Some have thousands of members, some have less than a dozen and are just getting started.

 

Day One: Focus on Foundations

Regardless of size, tenure, resources, or community culture, all nonprofit and volunteer organizations can benefit from building, sustaining, and fortifying the foundations needed for a healthy community organization. Relying on thirty plus years as a national nonprofit mountain bike advocacy organization, the IMBA team designed Day One of the summit to focus on foundations.

During the first day in the classroom, participants heard from nationally recognized speakers on the true depth of trail ecosystems, the importance of each step of the trail development process, the essential impacts of partnerships, and best and emerging practices related to non-profit leadership. Participants also got some key information related to working with major donors, and establishing robust and engaging marketing and communications strategies. 

 

Then there was riding, socializing, and connecting!

 

 

Day Two: Leveraging Connections and Sharing Success Stories

During day two, in the classroom, the IMBA team focused on engagement and peer sharing. The value of connecting with other mountain bikers and trails advocates who are doing similar work in their own communities, innovating through challenges, and leaning into wins with the intention to share successes and collaboratively address challenges cannot be quantified. 

 

IMBA stepped aside and let Local Member Organization leaders share how they made success happen in their hometowns.

 

IMBA works with, strategizes alongside, and serves mountain bikers all day, every day. And, although we spend a lot of time talking about our latest, greatest ride or trail experience, we are regularly inspired by the expertise of Local Member Organization leaders. The folks running your local mountain bike nonprofit are more than gravel-fiends, dirtbags, and gearheads. Sure, they love to ride and are likely willing to spend a silly amount of time talking gear and trails, but the leaders of mountain biking organizations across the country almost always have another successful career, and bring myriad skills from business, industry, education, and social services to your communities. The breadth and depth of expertise in the room on day two was awe-inspiring.

Presenters shared how they brought their “real jobs” into their organizations to create cohesion, how they engage their families and partner organizations to move toward healthier communities, and how they leverage local leadership and experts to affect change in and for their mountain bike communities. 

 

And then we rode more bikes on more rad Knoxville trails, and made deeper connections!

 

 

Let's Do It Again

When asked about their take-aways during and after this year’s IMBA Local leadership summit, participants overwhelmingly responded, “when can we do this again?” IMBA agrees. Let’s do this again. The experience was inspiring, uplifting, and challenged us to think in innovative ways about how we can continue to support events like this summit that are accessible to all of our member organizations, in different places across the country. Look for information on IMBA.com about upcoming opportunities to engage and to level-up your trails community.

In the meantime, a HUGE thank you to SORBA, the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club, Mountain Biking Mayor Indya Kincannon and the City of Knoxville for helping us host an incredible 2024 IMBA Local Level Up Leadership Summit!

About the author
Kate Noelke, IMBA's Communications & Advocacy Specialist

Kate grew up on the backwaters of the Mississippi River biking, paddling, and wandering through the beauty of the Driftless Region of SW Wisconsin. She loves to make and share food she's grown or foraged, and believes all bodies belong on bikes (and wandering trails via whichever mode of…

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