2018 NICA Annual Conference
June 13 - 16, 2018
“We couldn't be more pleased to host the NICA Conference and introduce you to the town and trails of Bentonville! It's going to be a great time of riding, learning, playing, and hanging. Get ready - Bentonville is full of surprises!”
Kyla and Alan
League Co-Directors
Arkansas Interscholastic Cycling League
Where & When
We are pleased to announce that the 2018 NICA Conference will be held in Bentonville, Arkansas! The conference will begin Wednesday morning (8:30 AM), June 13th and end Saturday, June 16th at dinner. We recommend your travel days be Tuesday, June 12th and Sunday, June 17th. Bentonville is an IMBA Silver level ride center and you might consider sticking around a bit after the conference to ride!
Conference sessions will be held each day at Meteor Guitar Gallery, 128 W. Central Avenue, and all related activities will be in Bentonville. Once you are in Bentonville, you do not need a car. We will be having a good time moving by bike or foot.
What
The NICA Annual Conference provides the leadership of the national cycling movement a dedicated space and time to connect on a variety of topics. This is a benchmark event that provides the opportunity to learn from one another and improve our national practices and effort.
The conference will include keynote and guest speakers, discussion and training sessions, panels, roundtable conversations, meals, hikes, rides and, perhaps, some sleep.
Who
NICA Board of Directors, National Office Staff, League Directors and Staff, League Board Members and Advisors, Coach Supporters, Guild Leaders and Members, Advisors and special guests.
League Directors, as we are launching the inaugural event track for guilds, we also want to make sure your core race staff interested in the conference are also saving the date. To ensure a quality experience, we are limiting invitations to 54 total (2 per league and 1 for each guild leader). Please forward this email to your core race staff who you think would like to join. We will likely have more invitations after the first round of sign-ups if some leagues bring less than 2 core race staff.
Sessions
The 2018 NICA Conference has a stellar line up of keynote speakers and guest speakers. All attendees will participate in our main keynote and guest speakers sessions each day before breaking into separate “tracks” described below.
Keynotes
John Burke
President, Trek Bicycles
Photo: Michael Sears
Joan Garry
Joan Garry Consulting: Because Nonprofits Are Messy
Jerry Lynch
Founder and CEO, Way of Champions
John O’Sullivan
Founder and CEO, Changing the Game Project
Guest Speakers
Jennifer Boldry
Director of Research, PeopleForBikes
Jenn Dice
VP Business Network, PeopleForBikes
Paxton Roberts
Chief Bicycle Officer, BikeNWA
Molly Hurford
TheOutdoorEdit.com, Bicycling.com, MapMyRun.com & More!
Brendan Quirk
Cycling Program Director, The Runway Group
Representative from The Walton Family Foundation
Speakers & Guest Speakers
Click here to read more about our fabulous 2018 NICA Conference Speakers and Guest Speakers
More InformationConference Tracks
Leadership Track
In addition to the conference speakers, this year NICA Leadership will spend two 90-minute training sessions with Joan Garry, founder of “Joan Garry Consulting: Because Nonprofits Are Messy,” and recent author of "Joan Garry’s Guide to Nonprofit Leadership."
Joan will continue and expand on last year’s work on the NICA League Glide Path and additionally dive into league capacity building, League Director and Board President relationships, League Director Professional Development and more. Other breakout sessions will be held and topics will be informed by League Director feedback prior to the conference.
We highly encourage League Directors, League Board Presidents and all NICA and League Board members to attend.
The Coach Supporter Track
The NICA Coach License Team has prepared a diverse and exciting Coach Supporter Track for 2018, designed to help Coach Supporters meet the unique and increasing demands of the NICA Coach Supporter role.
This year, attendees will experience both NICA On-the-Bike Skills instruction, and dive deep into NICA core philosophy and coaching best practices. NICA On-the-Bike Skills 101 will be reviewed for those that need it, and full 201 instruction will be provided. Nationally renowned coach trainers and speakers sports psychologist Jerry Lynch, Ph.D. and founder of Changing the Game Project, John O’Sullivan will work with the Coach Supporter track and present multiple sessions on the most cutting edge topics in youth sport coaching and challenges specific to working with NICA student-athletes.
We believe this year's conference will send NICA Coach Supporters home with a fantastic new toolkit, filled with all the skills needed to be a great Coach Supporter.
Event Production Track
New to the National Conference this year is the NICA Guilds Event Production Track for Core Race Staff and other larger scale NICA Programming such as camps and event pilot programs. Together, attendees will develop their roles in emergency planning, share best practices from the field, and review training materials to ensure training reflects how to provide quality programs while accommodating rapid growth. Attendees will also co-develop the pilot program proposal and approval process for new programming.
Costs
Leadership, Coach Supporter and Event Production Tracks: $375 per person. Limited scholarships are available. Please reach out to Lauren Duensing if this is a need.
Meals Lunch and dinner is included in your registration fee and will be provided starting with lunch Wednesday and ending with dinner Saturday night of the conference.
Travel
Travel and Transportation: We recommend flying into XNA (Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport). Bentonville is an easy drive and about 25 miles from XNA. Alternative airports for flight plus car rental comparison are listed here.
If you are staying at the DoubleTree there is shuttle service to/from XNA.
If you are staying at an AirBnB, you will need to take a take Uber, Taxi or rental car.
Bike rental and shipment details
Click here to learn more about bike rentals and shipping options.
Bike Information2018 NICA Conference Sponsors
