First of all, thank you for the opportunity to apply for a scholarship and for choosing me to attend the Spring, 2012 WSRO conference.
What I first noticed about the conference was the commendatory between the participants; the networking was wonderful. The conference was very organized and stayed right on schedule – kudos to the board for this and for coming up with a good agenda and the food was great.
Tuesday – I have to say the highlight was riding the “double tall” bus. I applaud Community Transit for looking beyond the “box” and finding a bus that has more seating and that is drivable in the snow. I am hoping that these buses are very successful and that other transit agencies are able to replace their fleet with this style of bus.
Todd Litman was a good presenter – I like his approach that we need to look at mobility VS accessibility – mobility is not always the best way to find solutions; we in most cases we can add accessibilities to find the best solution. The other thing that he spoke about was “breaking silos” – take about change – this is and will be a huge change for almost every organization; in fact almost every other presenter referenced silos in their presentations – it was very evident that this was on everyone’s mind.
Wednesday – other day with a great agenda and speakers – what I enjoyed the most was Jillian Derscheid. I never thought about social media being able to assist me with my transportation program. Yesterday, I started checking on the policies as I would love to have a group Facebook page for my department. I have already put together the items that I will place on our Facebook page and hope to be able to have this in place by the end of 2nd quarter.
Again, thank you very much for the opportunity to attend my first WRSO conference I was able to bring a lot of ideas back that I will start implementing.
Dorothy Wilhelm was a great closer for the conference; I think we all know that laughter is truly the best medicine, but I find that most people get so busy that it is often forgotten.
Karen Lee
Karen Lee Kimber | Transportation Coordinator | Parking & Commuting Service | Swedish Health Services
