The second Minnesota Bike Summit has been scheduled for Monday, March 5, in Saint Paul. This event, hosted by BikeMN, brings together people from across the state to talk bicycling amongst themselves, then with state officials and elected representatives.
New this year will be scheduled meetings with representatives, with scheduling facilitated by BikeMN — probably in response to many attendees’ bafflement with the process. (I’m hoping for encouragement for slightly more upscale attire from BikeMN for these meetings as well, but we’ll see. Last year’s crew was occasionally pretty motley, and played right into perceptions of cyclists as a fringe group.)
The 2012 legislative agenda will no doubt be a big part of this event. It’s pretty similar to 2011s, since so little got done last year (in most areas of government, not just bikes!).
I attended last year and provided a lot of coverage of the event. The event is likely to be larger this year, which may serve as a warning to those with claustrophobia — the event site is nice enough, and convenient to the Capitol, but a tight squeeze nonetheless. We had 175 attendees last year. I suspect 200 may require us all to be extra-friendly to one another.
Registration is super-cheap — $10 for BikeMN members, an extra $5 for the unconverted.
I’ll be there. Will you?
February 10, 2012 at 1:28 pm
Why do I have to pay to address my state legislators? What is the “registration” fee for?
February 10, 2012 at 1:34 pm
Brian:
You’re certainly welcome to go talk to your legislators on your own at any time.
The registration fee for this event is for the morning program, which includes the cost to BikeMN of renting the facility in which to hold the conference, the seminar, educational materials, and a luncheon. The seminars focus on how citizens can become better advocates for active transport programs and feature a range of speakers.
Space, food, and handouts aren’t free. As well, speaking as someone who has planned many events, holding free events in limited capacity spaces? Sucks. Because the free registrant has no skin in the game, as it were, and may choose not to show up. This generally happens without warning. Fire code and space capacity is what it is, so many times registration must be capped, and you have to guess at how many to allow to register and how many will actually show up.
February 10, 2012 at 1:36 pm
(Note: I am not a part of planning this event, but having planned events, I know why they charge. There’s stuff not free, and there’s incentive in even small registration fees.)