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Annual Conference & Expo

Arizona Parks and Recreation Association

76th Anniversary Conference & Expo

 

Phoenix Convention Center - South Building

August 31 - September 2, 2026

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Hour
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Presented by Dave Bang Associates

The APRA Annual Conference is the only annual meeting of the parks and recreation community in the state of Arizona. Held annually, the beloved APRA Conference and Expo hosts professionals, students and those with business interests in the areas of parks, recreation, conservation, and open spaces, for three days of discovery and industry innovation.

The Conference experience offers education sessions covering broad range of topics and presented by prominent speakers on local, state and national levels; a state-of-the-art Exhibit Hall.

The conference includes a wide variety of educational sessions covering a broad range of issues on a local, state and national level. We will host prominent speakers, state-of-the-art related exhibit hall, informative and interactive workshops, tours, socials, golf tournament and much more.

APRA has pricing for Early Bird, Member and Non-Member, and discounts available to volunteers and speakers.

 76th Annual Conference Registration

Registration for APRA's 76th Annual Conference and Expo is open as of May 1, 2026. See the timelines and specific pricing below and click 'Register for Conference' to register.

Early Bird Rate

May 1, 2026 - May 31, 2026

Full Conference:

$475 member/$600 non-member

Single Day:

$300 member/$375 non-member

 

Standard Rate

June 1, 2026 - July 31, 2026

Full Conference:

$525 member/$650 non-member

Single Day:

$325 member/$400 non-member

 

Discounted Rate

May 1, 2026 - July 31, 2026

Full Conference:

$100 student/$350 volunteer

Single Day:

$50 student/$200 volunteer

Schedule of Events

Sunday

Evening:

Golf Tournament

Monday

Morning:

Maintenance Rodeo

Off-site Institutes

Afternoon:

TEAMS Roundtables

Open Space

Evening:

Best of the Best Awards Banquet

Pre-Conference Social

Tuesday

Morning:

General Session

Education Breakout Sessions

Exhibit Hall

Afternoon:

Education Breakout Sessions

Exhibit Hall

Evening:

Future Professionals Social

Directors Social

Conference Social

Wednesday

Morning:

Education Breakout Sessions

Exhibit Hall

Afternoon:

Education Breakout Sessions

Exhibit Hall

Annual Awards

Our Annual Awards honor communities throughout the State of Arizona that demonstrate excellence in long-range planning, resource management and innovative approaches to delivering superb park and recreation services with fiscally sound business practices.

The APRA Award Program includes twenty-one categories. At the beginning of each October, agencies are invited to submit applications for consideration. Award winning recipients are announced at the ARPA Annual Conference.

A committee of park and recreation professionals reviews and scores all application materials. Committee members are chosen for their considerable experience and knowledge in the field parks and recreation on both local and national levels.

Looking for past winners? Browse through winners going back to 2006. Should you find an error or have documentation prior to 2006 please email jsullivan@apachejunctionaz.gov.

Speaker Information

Conference sessions are meant to provide information for industry professionals, not to make a sales pitch for services or products. Attendees will be dissatisfied if they sense a presenter is providing promotional material for his or her own benefit.

Once a proposal is accepted, APRA asks the speaker of the session for a copy of the session PowerPoint presentations and other handouts to be emailed to admin@azpra.org before July 1 to be included in the Conference App to be accessed by the delegates before and after the session.

Conference attendees are often seeking CEU’s for certification purposes. APRA encourages all sessions to qualify for CEU’s. Continuing Education Units qualified speakers will be asked to provide their credentials, experience speaking on the subject, an outline of the presentation and method of ascertaining that attendees met the session learning outcomes. To comply with CEU standards, all speakers are required to submit these details with their session proposal form.

Attendees consist of parks, recreation and open space professionals, volunteers, board and commission members, government officials, managers, administrators, trails and park users, company/industry representative, athletic directors, and anyone interested in our profession. Our conference draws 600+ attendees, 120+ booths in the exhibit hall, and nearly 100 volunteers. Know your audience!

76th Anniversary Conference Sponsors

Peak Partner

DBA-Outfitters-Logo-2020-TEAL

Platinum Partners

2

Platinum Connect Partner

3

Platinum Educate Partner

18

Platinum Inspire Partner

Conference Sponsors

4
8
6
7
10
12
13
11
16
AltitudeLogo
AESLogo
20
exerplay
MDFLogo
Sponsor logos Open sky

Terms

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