Lisa Mullins Thompson

Senior Program Officer, Main Street America

Wednesday, September 9, 10:30 am -1:30 pm
The Main Street Approach: A Framework Built for Real Places
(ticketed event in addition to conference registration)

Main Street is more than a program. It is a proven, people-centered approach to revitalizing the commercial heart of a community. This session pulls back the curtain on the Main Street Four-Point Approach and shows exactly how the framework translates into real, lasting change on the ground.


Whether you are a new director finding your footing, a board member looking to lead with confidence, or a community champion ready to go deeper, this session will give you a clear picture of how the Four Points work together and why that integration is what makes Main Street different.


You will leave with a stronger understanding of the framework, a sense of how it applies to your specific community, and the energy to put it to work.


A box lunch is included -- come hungry, leave inspired.

Kristina Cannon

President & CEO, Main Street Skowhegan, ME

Thursday, September 10, 9:00 am

Go Big or Go Home: Redefining What's Possible for Main Street

Main Street leaders are often told to stay in their lane, focus on events, fill storefronts, manage what already exists. But at a time when communities are grappling with workforce shortages, climate pressures, infrastructure gaps, and shifting economies, incremental change isn't enough.

In this opening plenary, Kristina Cannon challenges the notion that Main Street's role is limited by tradition or job description. Drawing on the nationally recognized work of Main Street Skowhegan, ME, she shares how refusing to take "no" for an answer - and being willing to lead before permission was granted - has helped transform a former mill town into a model for community-driven revitalization.

Fundraising for People Who Never Wanted to Be Fundraisers
Kristina Cannon

If the word fundraising makes you uncomfortable, you’re in good company. Unfortunately, it’s also essential to sustaining ambitious, community-driven work.



Developed by a marketer-turned-Main-Street-Director-turned-accidental-fundraiser, this session is for the skeptics, the reluctant askers, and the leaders who worry about sounding salesy or inauthentic. Drawing directly from a year of intensive, real-time fundraising for the Skowhegan River Park—including major donor cultivation and seven-figure asks—this session pulls back the curtain on the surprisingly human, relationship-driven world of donor engagement.

Your Digital Impression: How Local Businesses Get Found, Trusted & Chosen

Sheri Hart

In today's marketplace, customers often meet a business online before they ever walk through the door. A quick search can determine whether someone visits, calls, books an appointment, or chooses a competitor.

This practical and engaging session will explore how local businesses can strengthen their digital presence to build trust, increase visibility, and attract more customers. Participants will learn how search engines, online reviews, business listings, photos, websites, social media, and AI-powered search experiences work together to shape customer perceptions and influence decisions.

Your 24/7 Digital Assistant: Practical AI for Main Street Leaders

Scott Sewell

Main Street organizations are constantly asked to do more with less. This practical, easy-to-understand session will explore how artificial intelligence (AI) can help Main Street organizations increase their capacity, improve communications, streamline reporting, and better manage their organization.

Participants will learn how to embrace AI and use it as a “24/7 digital assistant” to reduce administrative workload while allowing them to focus on relationship building, community engagement, and lasting downtown improvements. 

Working with Your State Historic Preservation Office

Panel with representatives from the SHPOs of Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama

Many building rehabilitations, Main Street projects, and federal undertakings eventually land on the same desk: your State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). SHPOs survey and recognize historic properties, review nominations for the National Register of Historic Places, review undertakings for impacts, and support federal agencies, state and local governments, and the private sector. 

This panel brings together a representative from each SHPO who administers this work every day - not to lecture from Washington guidance, but to walk through how decisions actually get made in Baton Rouge, Little Rock, Jackson, and Montgomery and how you can best utilize your partners in preservation.