2021 Strategic Directions

On Tuesday, January 26th, NABSA hosted our Strategic Directions Call discussing our work priorities for 2021. Attendees heard from our Executive Director, Samantha Herr, and NABSA Board President, David White. The presentation kicked off with a summary of highlights from 2020. Those highlights included the release of the 2019 State of the Industry Report, a record number of webinar attendees, hosting a virtual conference, and much more.

Before outlining the priorities, Sam explained the two themes that will guide our leadership assessment this year:

• We will explore strategic partnerships and collaborations with allied organizations that support NABSA’s emphasis on equity, safety, and environmental sustainability. We expect any partnerships to help us grow capacity for our advocacy work specifically and for our members generally.
• Additionally, given the current political climate and developments in the shared micromobility industry, we determined that another best use of NABSA in serving the industry this coming year is to increase our direct engagement with the “traditional” public transit industry through our advocacy and network cultivation work.

With this in mind, here’s what we aim to focus on in our 5 work areas:

1. Advocacy – We will utilize a Policy Working Group to extend our reach and address federal priorities in the U.S. and Canada, including the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Canada’s Active Transportation Strategy.
2. Research & Data – GBFS and the State of the Industry report will continue to be major areas of focus this year. Work on the 2020 State of the Industry Report is already underway, and a data principles project will be wrapped up this year.
3. Education – We’re using member feedback to develop our calendar of educational content. Additionally, we’ll continue our work on racial equity by hosting another workshop this year that will help us continue to move from awareness to action in creating a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable industry for our customers, but also our workforce.
4. Network Cultivation – Building on our successful Women of Shared Micromobility LinkedIn Professional Development Series last year, which featured guest posts from NABSA members and industry partners, this year, we will have a focus on network expansion and cultivation. We will continue to collaborate with members, industry experts, and academics, to bring even more diverse point-of-views and insights to our content and member-offerings.
5. Conference – Due to the ongoing circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, and building off of the success of our virtual conference last year, NABSA will be holding a virtual conference this year. We are planning an in-person conference in Guadalajara in Fall 2022. Stay tuned for our virtual conference save-the-date and annual Call for Presentation Proposals later this year.

This year, we also have new opportunities for sponsorships– sponsor-exclusive webinars, sponsor-supported webinars, and newsletter sponsors. For more information on these opportunities, please email sam@nabsa.net.

We look forward to an impactful year ahead!