Each year, the Bicycle Tour Network encourages bicyclists of all kinds to come together for its National Bicycle Tourism Conference (NBTC), a nationwide event for fellow enthusiasts — both professional and amateur — to engage with industry experts in a series of lectures, group discussions and networking opportunities.
This year’s conference takes place in Coralville on November 6-9 at the Coralville Mariott Hotel and Conference Center, marking the NBTC’s first return to Iowa since 2004 and first-ever visit to the Iowa City/Coralville area. RAGBRAI and the Iowa Bicycle Coalition are set to host.
Iowa Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Mark Wyatt says that both his organization and RAGBRAI have good partnerships with the Bicycle Tour Network, noting that as the “big dog” of bicycle tours, RAGBRAI “really had that push” to bring the conference back to Iowa.
The upcoming conference will mark the Bicycle Tour Network’s fourth Iowa-held conference since its humble beginnings in West Des Moines 23 years ago. The organization has grown considerably in the intervening years — it’s current president is Earl Grief of Ride Idaho, in fact — though Wyatt believes the choice to return to Iowa runs much deeper than a simple nod to origin.
“You know, there’s no one trend that you can point to, but it’s got a lot to do with the hospitality,” Wyatt said. “It’s just the friendly nature of Iowans that they will reach out and enjoy people, enjoy their community.”
Wyatt says that with the success of events and organizations like RAGBRAI, communities across Iowa have learned that a greater interest in bicycling carries with it a real economic impact — an association that has greatly benefited bicycling in recent years and helped spur support for the activity right here in Iowa.
With the NBTC less than a week away, Wyatt is feeling confident about how the conference is shaping up.
“We’ve been through all of our connections and put together a really great lineup of speakers and a lot of interesting topics that we’ve put together in different formats,” he said. “We left a lot of opportunity for socializing and networking. When you go to any conference, that’s where you learn a lot about what’s going on in your industry, your sector, your business.”
Wyatt says he’s particularly excited about a presentation by The Path Less Peddled founders Laura Crawford and Russ Roca. Roca and Crawford are two videographers based out of Portland, Oregon who combine elements of photography, spoken word storytelling and videography to help bridge the gap between bicyclists and tourist organizations. “I think they’re going to be one of the big highlights of the conference,” Wyatt said.
View the full convention program.
