The Community Associations Institute (CAI) has announced that registration is open for the group's upcoming Community Leadership Forum. This year's fall conference—which CAI is referring to as it its "unconventional convention"—will be held from October 18-20, 2001 at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Community Leadership Forum brings together community association managers, board members, and associated professionals in a unique forum designed for brainstorming, interaction and creative strategic planning.
The Forum will open on Thursday with organizational consultant Cam Marston talking about "The Four Generations—Living Together." This session looks at how for the first time in history, four distinctly different generations are all living and working together, and explores the four groups—Matures, Boomers, X'ers and Y's—and what they want in their communities, and how best to get them involved in community leadership and governance.
Friday's general session will feature futurist Marsha Rhea, CAE, who in her presentation "Built to Human Scale," will explore whether the communities of our future sustain or alienate us. Rhea believes people already are rejecting what they don't want: urban sprawl, loss of history and tradition, and social alienation. Rhea will also review how community associations can be advocates for livable communities.
Other topics to be addressed including leadership, professional ethics, political and management issues facing large-scale communities, and community financial issues. CAI will also run five professional development courses immediately prior to the conference. CAI members will also be able to play in a golf tournament at the Renaissance Park Golf Course, to benefit CAI's Issues Advancement Fund.
"The Community Leadership Forum will be a great opportunity for community managers, leaders and other professionals to come together to discuss the challenges facing today's and future communities," said Erin Fuller, CAI's Vice President of Education. "CAI has made a strong effort to bring in advanced level programming to help community leaders strengthen their skills and learn from the best in the field."
Charlotte was chosen as the site for CAI's unconventional convention because the city's central location, its motto "what we dream...we do"—and rating as "most livable" by both the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Partners for Livable Communities make it an ideal spot to inspire creative envisioning of the positive future of communities.
Educational programming for managers, board members and professionals will cover numerous topics, including, among many:
- Legislative and Regulatory Issues Briefing
- Best Practices—Community Harmony and Spirit
- Leading the HUGE Community
- Bringing Democracy into the Information Age: On-Line Voting in Community Associations
- Reducing War and Increasing the Peace in Your Community: Strategies that Work
- Building Community in Action: Examples of Community Outreach Programs that Work
- Working with an Aging Community: Meeting the Needs of Senior Residents
- Run Your Association Like a Million Dollar Corporation
- The Role of the Leader: Communicating Vision and Setting Goals
- Governing Documents on the Cutting Edge
- Best Practices-Strategic Planning
- Strength in Numbers: The Impact of Association Mergers on Local Politics
- Secrets of Increasing Volunteer Involvement
- Ethics in Community Association Management
- Best Practices-Financial Operations
- Using the Internet to Streamline Community Management
- Funding for your Community's Big Ideas
- Pressure at the Top: Directors and Officers Coverage and Liability
- How to Sell the Results of a Reserve Study Without a Revolt
- Managing Conflict and Difficult People
- ShopTalk Sessions: Attorneys, Large-Scale Community Managers, Bankers, Accountants and Reserve Professionals, Insurance and Risk Management Professionals
Registration for the forum is $625 for members, $755 for non-members. However, first-time attendees can take $100 off their registration fee, and if you register by September 14, you can take an additional $50 off the fee. Registration information is available at (703) 548-8600, or a registration form can be downloaded from CAI's web site. Special room rates of $139 single/double per night have been established at the Adam's Mark Charlotte for CAI conference attendees. For reservations, contact the hotel at (704) 372-4100 and identify yourself as a CAI attendee.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: For more information about attending the conference, contact Holly Carson at 703-548-8600, extension 330.
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The Community Associations Institute is a nonprofit association created in 1973 to provide education and resources to America's 231,000 community associations—condominium associations, homeowner associations and cooperatives. CAI members include homeowners, associations and the professionals who provide products and services to them.