We mentioned previously about the coming national conference for walking and cycling, 2WALKandCYCLE 2014. This year’s conference will be held in sunny Nelson in late October. Now the conference organisers are calling for those interested in presenting at the conference to submit proposals.
2WALKandCYCLE 2014 is the second incarnation of the joint national conference exploring everyday walking and cycling for transport, recreation and tourism. About 200 delegates attended the first 2WALKandCYCLE conference in Hastings in 2012. Prior to this, there were separate national conference for cycling (since 1997) and walking (since 2006) approximately biennially.
I’m probably a bit biased (having attended most of these conferences and being involved in organising many of them), but it’s an ideal opportunity to rub shoulders with a wide range of people interested in planning, designing, promoting, and otherwise supporting these modes of travel. It’s been interesting over the years to see the breadth of sectors that find themselves involved, from the obvious ones such as transport and health, to perhaps the less obvious ones such as education and economic development. If you want to get a feel for what kinds of topics have been covered in the past, have a look at the 2012 conference programme and presentations. For those who might be worried about the cost, there are also discounted fees for students and community/advocate reps.
One of the features of the last conference that will be repeated this time is the wide variety of presentation formats available. While many people will be familiar with a standard oral lectern presentation, they may have not yet experienced the fun and interactive nature of poster display sessions, roundtable discussions, and “speed dating” rapid-fire presentations. For many delegates, these formats may be much better suited to their subject material, and it’s certainly less daunting having a friendly chat with a small group of people than standing in front of a large audience. The conference will also allow opportunities to get out and see some of the fantastic walking and cycling that Nelson has to offer, via organised field trips.
Proposing a presentation is easy; just fill in the Abstract Submission Form by Friday 16th May. The conference theme is “Communities on the Move” and there are a range of suggested topical subjects, but anything walking or cycling related will be considered. The organisers will then review the proposals and determine who they’d like to invite and which presentation format would best suit each proposal. For those who wish, you can also submit a conference paper to be peer-reviewed and provided to the delegates, but equally you can just turn up on the day with your “song and dance show”.
P.S: the organisers are also interested in hearing from those organisations that would like to be sponsors or exhibitors at the conference.
Hurry – get your presentation submissions in by May 16th!