Summit Agenda + Program

The detailed agenda and program will be posted December 2024.

View the 2023 ITS proceedings to learn about the event. The schedule-at-a-glance is below.

Types of Sessions

  • Concurrent Sessions (60-minute formal presentations)

  • Tech Talks Sessions (20-minute informal exhibitor presentation)

  • Trail Talks (60-minute topic-driven roundtable discussion - no AV)

  • Offsite Field Demo Sessions (60-minute presentation/demonstration)

  • Poster Presentations (displayed in the exhibit hall)

Call for Presentations

Be a part of the exciting and motivating program for the Summit!

Please review the Call for Presentations Details prior to submitting a proposal to learn about the types of sessions and their lengths, learning credit details, and more.

Summit Schedule-at-a-Glance

Monday, April 14:

  • Registration open

  • Pre-Summit Technical Training Workshops

  • Pre-Summit Field Trips

  • Pre-Summit Meetings

  • Exhibit hall set up

Tuesday, April 15:

  • Food included: breakfast, AM break, lunch, PM break, happy hour

  • Registration open

  • Morning: Opening plenaries and keynote address

  • Afternoon: concurrent sessions

  • Exhibit hall (full day)

  • Happy trails hour in the exhibit hall 

Wednesday, April 16:

  • Food included: breakfast, AM break, lunch, PM break

  • Registration open

  • Concurrent sessions (full day)

  • Exhibit hall (full day)

  • World Trails Film Festival (evening, location TBD)

Thursday, April 17:

  • Food included: breakfast, AM break, lunch (food trucks offsite)

  • Concurrent sessions (AM half day)

  • Offsite Field day - transportation provided

  • Takeover night in downtown Madison

 2025 Key Areas of Focus

  • Career Pathways and Trail Training: Inspire and empower the next generation of trail professionals.

  • Equitable and Just Access to Trails: Share justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion solutions for designing, constructing, and managing outdoor spaces for the full spectrum of users. 

  • Interpretation and Storytelling: How can outreach, marketing, storytelling, interpretation, graphic design and/or art support trails and improve the user experience?

  • Partnerships and Collaboration: Share new and innovative strategies for bringing together land conservation, social service, preservation, tourism, economic development, resource management, trails, and outdoor recreation communities.

  • Research and Technology: Share innovative efforts and emerging topics in recreation ecology, soil science, social science, economic analysis, and the cutting-edge technology that enables filling the gaps in research needed to make the case for trails.

  • Technical Trails Skills: This category feeds the PTBA Trailbuilders Technical Track and other technical training opportunities that focus on specific skill development in trail construction, trail maintenance, and project  planning and design, crew management, and program administration (see the Trail Competency Framework for details).

  • Trails and Community Resiliency: How do trails and outdoor recreation facilities, services, providers, and users: 1) respond to a changing world (pandemic, disaster response, climate change, demographic shifts, increased trail use, etc.); 2) help shape the international trails and outdoor recreation industry to become more sustainable; 3) become recognized for contributions to society, tourism, and rural economies; and 4) strengthen communities and provide resources for economic growth.

  • Trail Funding: Ensuring that trails and trail organizations are well resourced by providing tools and techniques for increasingly effective fundraising on the local, State, Federal, and Private foundation levels.

Learning Credits

Learning credits will be available to attendees and are included in the registration fee. The length of the session will determine the number of hours/credits given.

American Trails is an approved provider for the American Planning Association (APA) and can offer Certification Maintenance (CM) credits, as well as an LA CES approved provider for the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). Sessions are also eligible for CEU equivalency petition for park professionals with the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) and CEU/PDH equivalency petition via other accepting organizations.

For sessions to qualify for these credits, attendees must fill out an evaluation survey for each session they attend, as well as complete a learning credit tracking form noting each session they are requesting credits for. This form (and complete instructions) will be available online as well at registration.