It Takes Vision

Today, more than ever the ability to create and deliver on a vision will be important as downtowns recover, adjust to a new user mix and in some cases re-imagine themselves. The Houston Downtown Management District and the Downtown Austin Alliance have both delivered on lofty long term planning over the past several decades and are now at the forefront of charting a course well into the 21st century.
While operational aspects and priorities of both downtowns will be outlined as part of our gathering, we’ve worked to curate special learning opportunities around past and future long term planning of these two highly influential and well established organizations.

Here’s just a sample of what we’ll cover in both locations:

Houston

  • Special moderated Q&A session with both the current and former leaders of Central Houston, Kris Larson and Bob Eury. This very special discussion will spotlight how a small downtown organization evolved and grew over 30 years of leadership, along with insights into the future of the organization in how it supports and advocates for downtown Houston!
  • Overviews of key projects and work plans of Central Houston’s planning, marketing and operations departments
  • Tours of several exciting projects Central Houston and the Houston Downtown Management District have brought to life, which includes public space, infrastructure construction and economic development.

Austin

  • Learn about the strategic evolution of the Downtown Austin Alliance over the past decade and how it’s working to manage the city of Austin’s rapid growth in downtown.
  • We’ll dive into the strategic understanding required to be effective in working with both city and state government.
  • We’ll tour multiple public spaces that have been created through great public, private partnerships and managed by the Downtown Austin Alliance’s Foundation.
  • Make plans to stay through the weekend! The Aloft has extended the special rate ($229/night) through the weekend for anyone wanting to stick around a few extra days to take in the city’s great culture, music and food!

Arrangements

As always, customers pick up the cost of travel to and from the venues, along with lodging. We’ll cover all expenses related to content, meals and ground transportation. Here are a few notes on travel:

  • Please note you’ll need to fly into Houston (served by two airports) and depart from Austin. We’ll handle the transportation between Houston and Austin.
  • Our conference will begin at 12noon on June 1st. We’ll have a dinner for those needing to arrive early on Tuesday, May 31st.
  • We’ll wrap up our conference in Austin by 2:30pm on Friday, June 3rd.
  • You’ll need to use both rooming links below to also make your reservation in Austin for our groups arrival into Austin on Thursday, June 2nd.

Hotels

The Le Meridien is our host hotel in Houston. It’s centrally located and in walking distance to Discovery Green, Main Street attractions, Market Square Park and all tour stops.

We also have a room block at the Aloft Hotel in downtown Austin for Thursday, June 2nd. The Aloft has extended the special rate ($229/night) through the weekend for anyone wanting to stick around a few extra days to take in the city’s great culture, music and food!

Please book your hotels before Friday, May 13th.

If you are planning on joining us, please RSVP here.

We can’t wait to see you in June!