Past successes and future trends focus of Annual Meeting this week

The Association’s Annual Meeting starts Thursday! More than 1200 municipal officials, guests, speakers and exhibitors will gather to take advantage of 40 educational and networking sessions that include topics as diverse as the “sharing economy” to contracting services and leadership training to technology planning.

This year’s meeting has an added perspective with the Association celebrating 85 years of service to the state’s cities and towns. Read about that in this month’s Columbia Business Monthly magazine. Twenty-four of the 35 living past presidents will be on hand at the meeting to share their experiences and recollections. Former Spartanburg Mayor John Baeher was president of the Association in 1972 and will be the mayor whose tenure as president goes back the farthest.

A highlight of the celebration will be the introduction of a history book published by the Association. The book chronicles how the Association has grown over the years to help cities tackle increasingly challenging issues while, at the same time, also illustrates how the Association’s mission has remained the same over almost nine decades.

Futurist Rebecca Ryan’s keynote address will get local leaders thinking about what they need to do to follow today’s trends so they can be prepared for the future. Eight 15-minute “Tech Talks” throughout the meeting will give elected officials quick briefings on a variety of technology topics.

All of this....plus the Association unveils its new website with responsive design to work with all mobile devices and a much improved search engine. Lots to look forward to at the Annual Meeting!