Trailblazer’s Critical Mass Event is Bringing Inclusivity to the Outdoors

For the second year in a row, Resplendent has had the pleasure of working alongside the Critical Mass Summit [CMS] team to increase awareness and thoughtful outreach for their annual community event. CMS is an inclusive conference empowering all women and the non-binary community to have conversations about their experiences biking, using local trail systems, and outdoor recreation. This year, the two-day summit takes place on November 4th & 5th at Mt. Sequoyah in Fayetteville, Arkansas, with a heavy focus on building more inclusive trails, cycling, and active transportation.
Expertly led by the Trailblazer’s, a non-profit organization that has developed over 300 miles of multi-use trails in the area, Critical Mass’ purpose revolves around trail system development, maintenance, and advocacy, for active transportation systems in the Northwest Arkansas community. The summit specifically welcomes marginalized community members and existing stakeholders to engage in the region’s built environment, with the goal of creating an inclusive culture by educating the community about equitable recreation and movement for all people. We look forward to this year’s keynote speaker, Charles T. Brown of Equitable Cities, and the Arrested Mobility podcast series, among a handful of others in the industry that will be speaking at the summit. 

Our efforts in public relations and social media management for CMS have assisted in the scaling of this year’s summit. The following efforts have resulted in coverage on local media outlets including KNWA, NWA Daily, and KUAF a local radio station. For social media, we leaned in to creative content that the algorithm currently favors with increased production in reels (take a peek here and here), various content posts through the months leading up to the event dates (showcasing previous event highlights, 2022 CMS keynote speakers, the CMS mission and values as well as the CMS internal team highlights.) We’ve additionally led outreach to connect CMS with community partners, curated press releases introducing the 2022 Critical Mass Summit, distributed targeted media alerts to resources that align with the CMS mission, and fully managed the summit’s social media platforms. 

Last year, the summit focused on the support and empowerment of diverse women and non-binary individuals in the social space. This year’s theme is to help increase community awareness about the need to bring more allies to the table for discussions about Northwest Arkansas’ trail systems, the impact they have on our community, and how they can be improved to better serve people of all abilities and needs. CMS hopes to build stronger connections with the community through education and intentional conversation while opening up the conversation to all people and genders.

For more information about this year’s summit guest speakers, activities, or the mission for the region, visit the Critical Mass Summit website here or follow along on Instagram. 

Shelby H.

Photography: Tanja Heffner Critical Mass Summit 2021