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August 24-26, 2009

Presented by: the Texas Association of Counties

Educational Co-Sponsor: Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas

Hilton Austin

500 East 4th Street

Austin, Texas 78701

(800) 445-8667

(512) 482-8000

Each year, Texas county officials gather in Austin to discuss legislative changes, plan for the future and network with one another. This year's Annual Conference provides officials with three days of focused interaction with seasoned, experienced speakers, special events and exciting sessions, including:

• An opening general session with live music from the Groove Labs and entertaining keynote speaker Tony Brigmon;
• Educational sessions covering legislative changes as well as methods to ensure customer service satisfaction;
• Association meetings for each county office;
• Expo showcasing county-oriented products from more than 100 vendors;
• Presentation of the Sam Seale Award and the City/County Coalition Award;
• An afternoon reception in the vendor hall for you to network and discover new products while enjoying cold beer and live jazz; and
• Casino night with craps, black jack and Texas hold 'em tables.
  

Informative Sessions and Topics Scheduled

Counties represent the face of local government. For many in your community, you are the first, and sometimes the only, contact they'll ever have with county government. The 2009 TAC Annual Conference & Expo focuses on improving your ability to provide sound county services with outstanding customer service.

What happened in the 81st Legislative Session?

You'll also discover the issues that shaped the 81st legislative session, and discuss legislative changes that affect your county and office. State leaders, state legislators and key legislative staff will guide you through a complete discussion of issues from the 81st session.

TAC Celebrates 40 Years of Service to Counties

It's been our honor to serve you for 40 years. We invite you to celebrate with us Tuesday, August 25. We'll provide snacks and drinks as we commemorate our years in service to you.

Who Should Attend?
All elected and appointed county officials. County managers, supervisors and staff who are interested and/or affected by legislative issues. There are no prerequisites to attend this event and there is no recommended experience level.

Keynote Speakers

Tony Brigmon is the former Ambassador of FUN for the highly successful Southwest Airlines. He has been intimately involved in helping business leaders connect with their employees, change corporate culture, and promote a healthy, productive workplace environment. Tony earned Southwest Airlines President's Award for exemplifying the spirit of enthusiasm, fun, sincerity and *love*, which is Southwest Airlines, and for sharing that spirit creatively through employee development programs. He has made over 1,700 presentations to more than 2 million attendees, nationally and internationally.

Don Reynolds founded 21st Century Forecasting in 1986, a research company focusing on long term global, economic, demographic, and technology trends. He frequently works with the leadership of major corporations and trade associations in strategic planning sessions to identify specific trends that will impact their organizations' long term profitability and help them develop pro-active strategies for success. Having served 11 years as Chairman of the Investment Advisory Board of a $22 Billion trust fund, his success resulted in his being appointed by George W. Bush as Pension Board Chairman with oversight of $120 Billion in Pension & Trust Funds. He understands how important personal accountability and bottom line performance is, and the need for decision makers to have a clear vision of future trends and events in order to make successful long term strategic decisions.

Don developed the nation's first graduate business course on the 21st Century. He has a Masters Degree in Public Administration/Planning, a Doctoral background in Economics, and is a graduate of the Securities Industry Institute of the Wharton School. He has an honorary degree from the University of Moscow and was the first American member of the Moscow Center for Consulting Scientists. He has lectured on Free Market Systems at the University of Moscow, spoken about the Global Economy for the Saudi Arabian Central Bank, keynoted the Australian IT Summit, advised the Heavy Equipment Industry in Rome, Keynoted for international correspondents in Indonesia and spoken on the impact of global warming in Santiago. Don specializes in strategic asset allocation based on long-term trend analysis and understanding of "Big Picture Scenarios" and their impact on specific industries. He has a profound real-world insight into Financial Markets in such key areas as interest rates, energy prices, real estate, and economic policy. Don presents a bold assessment of the current political and economic events and forecasts major trends in the global economy.

Brian Muir, president of the James Madison Group, has 16 years presentation and training experience, six of those years exclusively in the public sector. Seeing a need for more training catered to the unique challenges the public sector faces, Brian founded The James Madison Group in 2002. Brian develops and updates the training curriculum and presentations, and has recently developed some new workshops based on the needs of his clients: "The Effective Public Sector Leader," "Life-Family-Work-Balance," "Strategic Goal-Setting," "Making Change Work For You," and "Ethical Excellence", and "Visionary Leadership Succession Planning."

Special Events

This year’s casino night and dance features Austin’s own, Dale Watson. He is frequently recognized as one of country music's last authentic voices. In a recently-released documentary on Watson's life, a fan declares, "Son, you play country like country was when country was country."

Sponsorship Information

Vendor Information