#NACTO2024 is headquartered at the Intercontinental Miami. Pick up your badge on Level 2. Sessions will take place on Level 2 and the Lobby Level.

Taking transit from Miami International Airport to the hotel is easy and direct! 

Take the orange Metrorail line from the Airport station to Government Center and then transfer to the Metromover Omni Loop. Get off at Bayfront Station, which is a 2 minute walk from the hotel.

Location

The conference will take place at the Intercontinental Miami from Tuesday, May 7 to Friday, May 10, 2024. 

Registration to the conference includes: 

Access to the entire conference program 

• All plenaries, peer sessions, and other programming such as Meet the Cities, opening reception, and networking opportunities.
• Your choice of three Walkshops.

Food & refreshments

• 2 Breakfasts (Wednesday and Thursday morning)
• 2 Lunches (Wednesday and Thursday afternoon)
• Coffee and tea all day Tuesday afternoon through Thursday afternoon
• Snacks and drinks at our Opening Reception

Logistics: Dress code

For the majority of conference activities in the hotel, we recommend business casual/professional attire. For Walkshops, we recommend whatever is comfortable for physical activity and the weather of our host region. We recommend active wear and sturdy closed-toe shoes.

Logistics: What you should bring

Please bring a reusable water bottle (extra important for Walkshops!), a notebook, a pen, sun protection, and whatever else helps keep you sustained through travel, mobile tours, and a busy week of conference programming! While we will have some face masks on site, we also recommend you bring a mask for COVID-19 protection.

AICP Credits

After the event, you can receive AICP credits for each workshop, breakout session, and Walkshop you attended.

Workshops

NACTO offers a small selection of specialized workshops that provide skill building and deep dives on topics. Workshops take place the morning before the conference begins on Tuesday, May 7th. Workshops are not included with registration and the ticket price is $300. You must register for the conference to purchase a workshop ticket. 

Safety at the conference

NACTO is committed to an engaging, inclusive, supportive, and productive atmosphere for the conference, and we invite all of our participants to commit to helping us build this atmosphere and this community. 

We will take a number of measures in planning the conference to help build a safe and inclusive space, including providing a number of opportunities for affinity spaces (including for BIPOC and LGBT+ attendees), working closely with our partners to ensure Walkshops are well-staffed and have a reliable emergency protocol in place, providing gender-neutral restrooms, and providing high-quality masks to those who wish to take COVID-19 precautions.

NACTO's Director of People and Culture, Lauren Nixon, will be the main point of contact regarding safety concerns during the conference. Lauren will serve as a liaison between our conference participants and the hotel staff to ensure that our conference attendees have a great experience and are connected to the hotel staff, who can offer them the resources that they need to have a comfortable experience.

Please read our event code of conduct. 

Museums/Arts/Culture

Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)

Planetarium

Phillip & Patricia Frost Museum of Science

SuperBlue Museum

Wynwood Walls

Bayside Boat Tour

Paradox Museum 

Bars and Lounges

Lost Boy

Mama Tried

Vela/ Vela Sky

Ball & Chain

MO Bar

Sugar Sky Bar at East Hotel

Rosa Sky Roof Top Lounge

Dolores But You Can Call Me Lolita

Outdoor Activities

Skyline Cruise 

Parasailing 

L.E.D. Light Kayak Miami City Light 

Miami Jet Skis Aventure

Miami 2 Hours Private Yacht Tour for 13 ppl

Off- Road Miami Adventure: ATV, Farm Fun and More

Participants

1,000 transportation professionals attend the conference each year. NACTO aims to make the conference broadly accessible–especially to city staff. City practitioners are at the core of our conference and make up more than 70% of our conference audience. NACTO member cities and agencies get priority registration with access to registration earlier than anyone else, complimentary attendance for one attendee per agency, and a discounted rate.

Programming

The NACTO conference features a mix of formats over four days that promote connection, inspiration, and sharing best practices and lessons learned. The agenda features workshops with hands-on exercises, roundtable discussions, keynote speakers, seamless networking opportunities, panel conversations, and small group meet ups by affinity or topic expertise.

Our conference is best known for our Walkshops - mobile tours of our host city and region that are designed and led by local staff and community members. Three Walkshops are included in the price of each conference ticket for every attendee.

Our program also features our beloved Meet the Cities event, where every NACTO member agency has the chance to share a project they worked on that year.

Last but not least, you can expect to have fun! Sometimes, mornings kick off with jogs or yoga. Get out of the hotel and join the host for “Neighborhood Dinners” across the city to check out a local’s restaurant recommendation. On the first day of our event we have an opening reception for all attendees. Past receptions have included live spray painting and music underneath an underpass; live music from the Uncivil Servants at a historic concert venue; and yard games and food trucks at a brewery.

How to sponsor and support participation from your region

Designing Cities would not happen without our sponsors. We are so grateful to the organizations that support this convening. Learn more about becoming a sponsor of Designing Cities 2024 here and submit our interest form to get in touch. 

We are also grateful to the place-based organizations that support conference attendees from their region. Local and regional foundations, civic institutions, state and regional government agencies, and other organizations interested in funding a cohort of city staff, young professionals, and/or community representatives to attend the NACTO conference can get in touch with NACTO via the same form.

How to contact us 

If you have any questions, please contact us at events@nacto.org. Kindly note that we are a very small team and due to the volume of emails we receive, we are not able to reply to every message. The best way to ensure you have all the information you need is to read through this website and the emails we send out.

Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn for information on registration and program announcements.