The Groove Continues Next
Year
@ Meeting of the Minds VII
Thursday
and Friday, July 15-16, 2010
Golf Tournament – Saturday, July
17th
They say you can’t get better, but Meeting of the Minds VI (MOM
VI) has proven that statement very wrong. The depth and professionalism of the
topics and speakers was mind boggling. Many thanks to the one person that
without her Meeting of the Minds once again could not have been possible; her
name is Monica Tanksley, a.k.a. “Parking
Barbie”. Without Monica’s tireless dedication and attention to
every detail imaginable, from coordinating air and ground transportation, to
securing speakers, ordering unique meals and reserving nite clubs, this event
wouldn't have been as enjoyable, entertaining and well-put-together as it was.
It was great to know that even speakers with many years of experience in the
parking and transportation industry, were able to learn something new at Meeting
of the Minds VI. In today’s downward economy, attendees got more than their
value for the topics that were presented. Personal thanks to all the
presenters for their time and efforts in making Meeting of the Minds’
“Change! Survival in the Tight Economy” yet another successful
year, 6 years in a row.
David Lieb, from Cornell
University opened MOMVI with “Starting a Local Carshare”. Jake
Jeppersen, Principal and Andrew Vidor, Design
Engineer from Walker Parking Consultants then took the stage with
“Asset Management”. David Borrelli a Grad Student
from University of Rochester presented on “University of Rochester’s First
Biodiesel Bus” and allowed attendees to tour the bus around campus.
Vanessa Cummings, CAPP,
from University Miami-Ohio came back
to MOM a third time and this time hosted two sessions: “Know Your Staff: How
to Build an Effective Team” and “Realizing your Purpose: Having a Passion for
Your Job”. She presented three 1-hour sessions over the course of the two
days, reaching over 100 University Parking and Transportation staff.
Jason Wolfgang, Product Manager from T2
Systems presented on “Managing Income and Revenue with a Unified
System” and in addition, hosted a 3-hour T2 Users Workshop.
Barbara Chance, President/CEO of Chance
Management, closed the conference on Thursday, with her very popular
webinar entitled “Dollars and Sense in Tough Economic Times”. On
Friday, Chris Ficalora, VP of Zipcar opened the conference with
“Carsharing: Effecting Sustainable Change on Campus and Cities”
followed by University of Rochester’s own Security
Manager, Dana Perrin, who spoke on “CCTV: Cost
Savings Options”. President of E-Squared Engineering, Richard
Easley, enlightened the audience with “Park n’ Rides: A Broader
Perspective” and all the way from Tim Haahs Associates in Philly
Jim Zullo, CAPP, explained “Campus Master Planning with
Parking in Mind: Lessons from Higher Education”. Meeting of the Mind VI’s
host, Glen Sicard, Director of Parking and Transportation at the
University of Rochester hosted an Enforcement Training session, as well
as the ever-popular “Area Parking and Transportation Meeting”. This round table
discussion touched upon subjects such as Pandemic Planning, Bicycle Commuter
program, Going Green and other Hot topics in the Parking and Transportation
industry.
Conference attendees came from as far away as California and
the New Hampshires to as close as the area colleges surrounding Rochester, NY.
It was a great time had by all. The 70’s party, once again, showed that you can
work very hard and play even harder. Interesting enough, you learn a lot when
you’re just having fun.
This year’s MOM 70’s party, soul train dance
line and dance contest was about styling and profiling. Glen “Don
Cornelius” Sicard (known in the industry as “Big Daddy” (BD) had
on his shimmery black leather suit. All those behind the scenes dance practices
got him down to looking stealth that night, topped off with his battle color red
legendary shirt. There were dancers from all over the country – the dance floor
contained big pimping from New England parking along with the California
sheekness of “Parking Barbie” and others. We saw the Philadelphia Boogie from
Barbara Chance droppin’ like it was hot; from Ohio the “Sinister Minister” was
trying to drop her “Fire and Desire”. The 1st to hit the dance floor was CA
sheek and BGB from College at Brockport – they were trying to put it down
because they were starting to feel the grooves of the 70’s music. BD was
working with his DC partner trying to deliver the famous hammer step. A new
contender to the floor was Christy from Sacramento, doing the open toe 2-step.
BD approached BGB to have the famous dance off (missing in the contest however,
was the Latin Lova, E-Squared and the ever lovely Adrienne from Philly.) This
therefore ended up being a 1 on 1 contest. BD started taking it to BGB – he was
droppin’ it like it was hot. BGB was starting to sweat and for some reason the
DJ mix was right up BD’s groove line. He was puttin’ it down on BCB – girl was
backing up because she couldn't keep up. All of a sudden she called over
California Sheek and didn’t realize that California girls can bring it like she
did. California had an earthquake with a 7.0 on the richter scale!- Somehow she
must have remembered an old house party – girlfriend was "gettin' down with the
Funk". When BD saw the trophy in hand because he was about to win it, there was
a break in the action and rumor has it that BGB went into the bathroom. Some
people claim it was one of those disco booths on the side – wherever it was, she
came back with a Peace symbol shirt that was glistening – it was like the big
“S” on Supergirl – for some reason it transformed her. For BD it was like
Kryptonite. Her light was trying to blind BD but luckily he had on his shades.
Somewhere the tides changed. They started to play EWF and BGB turned into the
Dancing Queen. Everywhere hair was flying; it looked like a Michael Jackson
video with the wind machine. BD tried to keep up with the 1st EWF play; the 2nd
one he was feeling alittle bit winded, but the 3rd one – the triple play was it
– he knew then he was a beat man. How could BD save his pride and reputation??
He had come to realize that he had run into the Ever Ready Bunny on Duracell
batteries – the Dancing Queen kept on dancing even when the music stopped. When
we thought it was over, the DJ came back with another selection of Abba, EWF,
BeeGees, it didn’t matter – Dancing Queen danced to everything that the DJ could
put out. BGB was awarded the trophy in front of her peers on Friday at MOMVI.
Rumor has it that she is still dancing…
Meeting of the Minds is able to
do a quality show at no cost to attendees other than their participation. We
would not be able to do this without the continued support of our generous
sponsors that make it all possible. Thank you to all our sponsors and vendors:
University of Rochester, College at Brockport, NYSPA, IPI, JPMorgan
Chase, Bernational Automation, Transcore, First Transit, Midcity Signs, T2
Systems, Simon School, KBH, Walker Parking Consultants, Zipcar, Advantage
Federal Credit Union, DDS Construction, Villager Construction and O’Connell
Electric.
The 3-day conference concluded on Saturday with a
Golf Tournament and all-you-can eat-buffet at Island Oaks Country Club. For 3
days we were truly “One Parking Nation Under A Groove”! The
Groove continues next year:
@ Meeting of the Minds
VII
Thursday and Friday, July 15-16, 2010
Golf Tournament –
Saturday, July 17th
Meeting of the Minds V wishes you Love, Peace and SOOOOOUUUULLLL!