Greetings From Nashville

This year’s annual meeting of the State Policy Network started yesterday in Nashville, Tennessee. SPN is the umbrella organization that serves state-based think tanks like American Experiment. Its annual meetings are a great way to learn about the latest developments in various policy areas, get training in skills useful to nonprofits, and exchange ideas with leaders of other policy organizations around the country.

The event is taking place at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, which must be one of the biggest hotels in the country with 2,880 rooms. After close to 24 hours here, we are still learning our way around. One of the hotel’s atriums has a light show reminiscent of the Bellagio’s, on a smaller scale:

Kim Crockett, Peter Nelson, Samantha Peterson and I are representing American Experiment at this year’s annual meeting. We set up our booth in the area where member organizations display their wares:

While activity at the SPN annual meeting tends to be intense, it is not all work. Last night Peter Nelson and I found time to watch the Vikings destroy the New York Giants on Monday Night Football, along with a couple of other SPN attendees, in a sports bar at the hotel.

More to come, perhaps, before the event concludes on Thursday.