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Second Annual “Planning in the West” Conference In Boise This Week

By Jill Kuraitis, 6-01-10

How much time do you spend in front of your computer, using your smartphone, and watching television?

No, really; how much?

Those of us who are sometimes too tethered to technology know we should knock it off, but it’s easy to convince ourselves that it’s necessary. 

Like children who need to be in touch with nature to be healthy, we adults can suffer if we don’t keep up real-time alliances, friendships, and experiences just being among people. But so much is done in front of a computer that face time with others can feel unusual.

This Thursday and Friday, June 3 and 4, NewWest.Net is producing and hosting our second annual Planning in the West conference in Boise that promises face time with inspiring leaders and innovators who are designers, developers, architects, transportation and urban and rural planners.

At our New West Conferences, we take special care to provide a place and time where talking about a shared sense of purpose with each other is not only real and human, but practical and productive. The downright delightful setting - the spectacular Stueckle Sky Center on the campus of Boise State University, in a sky-high glass room with beautiful views – makes the experience even better.

Conferences bring professionals together for education and inspiration, of course, but also for access to people. You may meet industry stars, but it could be the young innovator who gives you a shot in the arm.  Coming face-to-face with people you’ve known for years through email will help build a camaraderie that is different than before meeting. Getting immediate answers to your business problems by having coffee with that one guy you’ve always admired from that one company can move your thinking ahead in a way that email can’t duplicate. And there is an after-the-conference effect which is hard to explain, but feeling more involved in your industry than before is one way of saying it.

Thursday, June 3rd features three pre-conference tours focused on bringing more hands on, face-to-face experience and discussion to the topics of planning in the West. The day will conclude with a conference opening reception and social.

Friday, June 4th will be a full-day program with a mix of presentations, panel discussions, and networking opportunities.

From our other conferences we know that people who attend get intensely involved in the subject and form bonds that have achieved results – a citizens’ group collaborating with a city government on a planning project, for example. Staff at NewWest.Net have more relationships with the people who are moving and shaking the world of our growing region – the people who show us “how the west is one” – which is one of our continuing themes as we cover the news of the Rocky Mountain region. 

From NewWest.Net founder Jonathan Weber: “The economic downturn has, for the moment, tempered the heavy pressure of rapid growth. But in many respects a slowdown is the best time to think ahead and establish a framework for handling the growth-related issues that will inevitably return.”

Please join us for Planning in the West!

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