Let me first get some musings out of the way:

I love it when conferences have a twitter hash-tag with no intended use or purpose, it reminds me of the sort of pseudo embrace the practice of planning has often (but not always) given social media (we’ll use it, but we’re not sure if its actually participation). The 2013 KY Affordable Housing Conference had a hash-tag, #KAHC13. Of course, I and a few other people immediately got it wrong with #KAHC2013. Afterward, I think I saw maybe a handful of tweets in the correct hash-tag (with my tweet of all things being the “top tweet” for that hash-tag). Clearly if a conference wants to have a hash-tag it might also be prudent to have a plan or strategy. For instance, I think allocating one of the door prices to a random user of the KAHC hash-tag might have been a useful driver for more tweets.

The Conference

The conference itself left me a little disappointed, which doesn’t say much since I found myself disappointed even by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Conference I went to last year. But more on that in a second.

The keynotes were both great, Rick McQuady, CEO of the Kentucky Housing Corporation, was both an excellent opening speaker and a great emcee. His conversational tone and light humor kept things lively. The final keynote was given by Nancy Welsh, current chair of the Board of Directors (and founder) of Builders of Hope in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her message was clear, her slides easily connected to what she was trying to teach, and her presence on stage was engaging if not engrossing. I left her keynote feeling excited.

The sessions I attended, however, fell bellow my expectations. Session descriptions were farther reaching than their execution. The content of every session failed to match the breadth promised in its respective description. Reflecting upon it now, I think that perhaps given the time limitations (an hour and a half) that many of the sessions did the best they could given the opulence of backgrounds found in the attendees. Even still, I often find myself taking notes on a slide only to find that the slide and the elements being discussed overlapped nearly to the word. Public speaking is not easy, but I’m not entirely sure that reading from your slides can be called public speaking as opposed to a reading.

With my laid out, I should also talk about the the silver lining. The sessions I attended were a good refresher on what I learned in school. As well the networking was pretty decent with plenty of opportunities to meet others on Wednesday night. Even the screening of Potter’s Field proved interesting and entertaining.

Overall the KAHC conference was a worthwhile attendance, but the sessions of this conference (like most conferences I’ve attended) needs a tighter grip on presenters to ensure they deliver what they’ve promised. Though my experience with academic conferences remains supreme in this category as often presenters would have completely changed the topic of their presentation or not done any of what the talk had promised.

This week I’ll be attending a retreat for those with a similar title in other Area Development Districts. One thing I’m eager to find out more about is the implementation of KY HB1.