The 2011 International Parking Institute Conference & Expo is the destination for parking and transportation professionals. Parking and transportation experts from around the world will gather in Pittsburgh May 22 - 25 for four days of cutting-edge education, unparallel networking opportunities, the largest display of the industry's latest innovations, and endless opportunities to enhance their professional out and make connections that count.  The two keynote and two general sessions offered provide a great balance of motivation and industry-specific education that you can only get at the 2011 IPI Conference & Expo.

Welcome Keynote 
Sunday, May 22, 4:00 p.m.
Be the Best You Can Be
Rocky Bleier

Seriously wounded in Vietnam, Rocky Bleier overcome enormous adversity to reach his goals and became a four-time Super Bowl champion with the Pittsburgh Steelers. With the same optimism, sense of humor, and steadfast determination that were his trademarks as a Steelers running back, Rocky Bleier will take you from his early years through his professional career, sharing the lessons he learned along the way...lessons that we all can benefit from. You will be inspired by this gripping tale of courage on both the football fields of America and the battle fields of Vietnam.

Breakfast Keynote
Monday, May 23, 8:00 a.m.
Drivers that are Changing the Rules in American Cities
Tom Murphy

During three terms as mayor of Pittsburgh, Tom Murphy spearheaded the city's revitalization from an industrial center to one that embraced commercial and residential development and fostered the growth of theatre and a thriving social nightlife. He is credited with transforming more than 1,000 acres of abandoned industrial properties into commercial, residential, retail, and public spaces through the use of strategic partnerships, and with the development of more than 25 miles of urban green space and riverfront trails throughout the city. As a Senior Resident Fellow with the Urban Land Institute (ULI), he has been instrumental in sharing lessons learned during Pittsburgh's revitalization to implement new urban thinking and design in cities across the United States, including efforts to rebuild New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina. Mr. Murphy will discuss ways cites are utilizing planning, development, and parking to revitalize downtown districts.

General Session
Tuesday, May 24, 8:00 a.m.
Retrofitting Suburbia
Ellen Dunham-Jones, AIA

Suburbia's dying shopping centers, aging office parks, and crumbling commercial corridors have expanded the numbers of underperforming parking lots that are prime redevelopment opportunities. Drawing on her award-winning book examining more than 80 case studies, this presentation will explore ways prototypical suburban properties have been transformed into more sustainable places by being re-inhabited with more community-serving uses, redeveloped and urbanized, or re-greened.

This impartial presentation is offered by IPI's Technology Committee and will educate you on ways green technologies can be used to improve parking operations from a mobility perspective and from an operating and maintenance perspective. Attendees will walk away with a list of simple tasks to do now to improve the "green" of their parking operations, as well as a list of longer term considerations that should be investigated.

For more information and to register, visit www.parking.org/conference.

In a new parking industry collaboration, the International Parking Institute and the National Parking Association announced they have signed an agreement with the Green Parking Council (GPC) to advance environmental sustainability and green parking practices.

The agreement between the two parking associations and the Green Parking Council calls for the three groups to work together to advance sustainable practices in the parking industry; develop certification standards for building, retrofitting, and monitoring the performance of parking facilities; and establish a credentialing program for parking industry professionals.

Both IPI and NPA are represented on the GPC's Board of Directors.  Representing IPI is Casey Jones, CAPP, the organization's incoming chairman of the board, who also serves as co-chair of IPI's Sustainability Committee. Jones is director of transportation and parking at Boise State University, Idaho.  Representing NPA is Jed Hatfield, CPP, the organization's chairman of the board. Hatfield is president of Colonial Parking, Inc., Delaware.

"Everyone wins with this joint initiative," said Shawn Conrad, CAE, executive director of IPI. "As we look to the future, broad-based industry collaboration on green parking is simply the best way to support innovation, avoid duplication of effort, and ensure that standards and certification guidelines are developed without competing interests complicating progress or creating confusion."

Read the IPI News Release.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011
2:00 p.m. EDT
Instructor: Michael Mintz, COO, AMG Payment Solutions 

Parking professionals across the country often find the credit card processing world to be a murky one. If you've ever considered plastic payments or have already launched that service, IPI has an easy way to answer all of your questions and give you a solid understanding of your relationship with your processor. This new webinar, designed just for parking professionals, is your opportunity to learn about all of the inner workings in merchant processing, clear the fog, and finally feel "in the know" about the way your account actually works.

Topics to be covered include:
· Important Industry Terms
· The Electronic Payment Process
· Interchange - The Pure Facts
· Common Pricing Strategies
· Pricing Example
· Keeping Your Processing Costs Down
· What To Be Aware of When Choosing a Merchant Processor
· Parking Industry Best Practices
· PCI Overview
· Financial Reform Bill / Durbin Amendment
· What is at Stake

$35.00 for IPI Members

$50.00 for Non-Members

www.parking.org/webinars 

 Denotes video news story 

  

· Pay Boxes Modernize Indianapolis Parking
· Ohio Zoo Celebrates Solar Panel Power Project
· Parking Meters Hit Juneau Streets Today
· Sydney City Parking Charges to Rise
· Vote Coming Soon on Paid Parking in Haverhill
· Now, to Find a Parking Spot, Drivers Look on Their Phones
· San Jose to Consider Car-Sharing Program
· Sacramento to Take Over Some American River Parkway Parking Enforcement
· New Haven Opens 3 "Juice" Bars
· Chiefs Unveil New Parking Plans For Next Season
· MSA Passes Resolution Opposing Parking Meter Increase
· Pay-by-Phone Parking Bows in Montclair
· Parking Meter Madness in Ventura
· NY's Nassau County Cracking Down on Scofflaws
· Audit Notes Failing in San Diego Parking Collection
· Dubuque Puts Parking Ramp Proposal in Neutral
· Armonk Airport Garage Hearing on Tap as Opponents Line Up
· Fort Worth Unveils Parking App
· Police: Man Posed as Parking Attendant
· Parking Rates May Increase at KU
· The Price of Parking - Tickets at UTD on Pace to Triple in 2011
· To Raise Money, Providence Plans to Issue More Parking Tickets
· Modernizing Parking Operations in Memphis Could Generate Millions of Dollars in Revenue

For these stories and more, visit the Parking in the News section of IPI's website.

  

Picture this: A university campus snuggled up tight against the mighty Mississippi River, sprawling five miles to the east, yet split into three district campuses as each is broken up by residential and commercial pockets of an urban and constantly changing landscape.  That is the University of Minnesota.

For many years, the University of Minnesota saw steady increases in demand for parking on campus. To be blunt, supply simply couldn't keep up with demand from students, staff, faculty, and campus visitors.  The reasons for the shortage of parking supply were threefold.

IPI Members can read the rest of this article and access past issues on The Parking Professional page of IPI's website.

Advertising information is available by contacting Bonnie Watts, CEM, at 540.371.7535.

Finding the world of social media marketing a bit overwhelming? Help is here, just for parking professionals. IPI is pleased to present the Social Media Marketing Guide for Parking Professionals, a new step-by-step guide for the industry that will help you utilize social media to communicate with your customers and find new ones. Read about cutting-edge methods you can use on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to help grow your business and improve customer satisfaction. And it's free for IPI Members!
 
IPI Members can download their free copies from the Library Section of the IPI website. Non-members can purchase electronic copies for $199 by visiting www.shopIPI.com.