The Winter Groove
It's been a shotgun start to 2014 as we are back in the groove of travel and organizing future activities. We want to thank our hosts in Glenwood Springs, CO (Special Thanks to the Sonoran Institute) and Fitchburg, WI, and Corcoran, MN for the excellent conversations and turnouts this month.
Chuck and I are in Rochester, MN today midway through a Curbside Chat and educational seminar back to back set. We had a solid turnout of about 60 yesterday evening for the Chat and registration for today's workshop is equally robust.
A quick note on something very important: We are finishing up our 2013 donation comfirmation letters for your taxes this week. We appreciate your patience as we've been working through the consolidation of many different funding streams as we had changed and adjusted our online payment mechanisms last year. You should see something from us at the email you registered with your donation by Friday, January 31. Thanks again for your support.
Chuck already sent some social media links out highlighting our upcoming in person events, but I thought I'd do a quick recap here if you hadn't see them yet:
We'll be in the Dallas-Fort Worth area February 5-7, visiting Arlington on February 5, Garland on February 6 and the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas on February 7. Chuck will then be continuing on a southernly swing and visiting Lafayette, LA on February 10.
Chuck will be on a panel with some of the usual Strong Towns conspirators at the Smart Growth America Conference in Denver, CO on February 14-15. The following week, we have two more chats back in Minnesota, one in Northfield on February 17 and another in Grand Rapids on February 19.
From there, Chuck is heading to Montana for our first Curbside Chat in that state, which will be in Belgrade on February 24. He'll continue on to the Sheridan and Buffalo area of Wyoming on February 26.
Heading into spring, Chuck will be in Sarasota and Stuart, FL on March 18-19, Greensboro, NC on March 27 (We have room for another chat in that NC trip if you are in a city nearby and can host us - email me at jkumon@strongtowns.org for more info), Fayetteville, AR on April 2-3, Bloomington, IL on April 8 and Parry Sound, ON on May 1. Those will be our first chats in Arkansas and Illinois.
Being finalized at the end of spring are trips to Memphis, San Antonio, and Austin as well as some exciting training opportunities in Buffalo around CNU 22 the first week of June. You can see all these events in more detail on our Chat Schedule
I'm going to be starting to organize our summer and fall event schedules as soon as I return from Dallas in mid-February. I've got initial contacts and leads in Washington, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Virginia, California and Ohio. Please contact me if your community is interested in hosting a Curbside Chat. Speaking engagements are the major funding source of Strong Towns, so your efforts to bring us to your home town are a huge part to keeping this movement pressing forward.
Speaking of the fall, I want to mention again our National Gathering, which will be a Friday, Saturday and Sunday in mid-September in Minneapolis. We are in the final stages of pinning down dates, venues and the basic programming arc. Strong Towns Members will get first dibs at registration as well as helping to shape the conference activities and program. More news will be shared with Members via email next week, after our annual planning retreat this weekend.
And Members...Chuck and I have been hard at work scheduling out your member benefits and interaction opportunities. I've been typing up the message and getting our email list in order in between our travel events this week. Hope to put the final touches on it Thursday, look out for something in your inboxes then.