Below are pdf copies of the presentations you heard at the Big Ten Sportsmanship & Spirit Conference the weekend of July 8 - 10, 2010. Please feel free to share this information with your colleagues as needed.

The notes compiled from the Hot Topic Roundtable Session will be available in the near future. And, if you haven't done so already, please be sure to join the Big Ten Conference Initiative Facebook group!

Thank you for attending the Big Ten Sportsmanship & Spirit Conference at the University of Minnesota this past weekend. It was wonderful to meet everyone and hear all of the exciting ideas and continued conference-wide support for sportsmanship and spirit initiatives.

Communication
As discussed on the last day of the conference, delegates felt the need to maintain open communication and contact until the next conference at...The University of Iowa! The University of Minnesota will start working on creating something right away but if you have any ideas or helpful technology that could assist with keeping communication rolling, please leave a comment on the blog!

Electronic Binder Files and Presentations
Lastly, as we get materials ready to post, we will upload electronic versions of your binder materials and presentation slides to this blog. The majority of the information will be on this site next week. Below, you will find copies of the Big Ten Presentation slides and the Big Ten Fact Sheet that Diane Dietz referenced in her presentation last Friday.

Thank you again for a wonderful conference!
Big Ten Sportsmanship & Spirit Conference Planning Committee

We're excited to be less than two weeks away from your arrival to Minnesota. This will be our last blog until the conference is over and we wanted to take a moment to orient you to campus so that you can arrive and check-in smoothly.

Arrival and Check-In
The conference begins with light refreshments at 1:00 pm and the program begins at 2:00 pm on Thursday, July 8th. Please use directions listed on the transportation blog (below) to help you navigate to your housing accommodations. For those of you staying in the Radisson, if you are unable to secure an early check-in, please feel free to leave your luggage at the front desk. We will have a list of near-by restaurants for you to check out while you are waiting for the conference to begin. There is also free wi-fi available to in the Radisson lobby, as well as the Starbucks connected to the hotel.

For those of you staying in Comstock Hall, please feel free to check into your rooms and get settled and then feel free to grab a bite to eat at Coffman Memorial Union or one of the nearby restaurants.

Conference volunteers will be in both the Radisson and Comstock lobbies to greet you and give you your welcome packet. Please allow approximately 15 minutes to walk from your accommodations or the campus area to the stadium.

Stadium Way-Finding
TCF Bank Stadium has a unique way-finding system that we'll be using throughout the weekend to guide you to the appropriate entrance. There are 87 counties in the State of Minnesota and each one is represented around the top perimeter on the outside of the stadium. They are in alphabetical order, starting at Gate E and run counter-clockwise around the facility, ending at Gate A.

We will be meeting in the Band Rehearsal Hall at TCF Bank Stadium, so please enter under "Pope County", which is located half way between Gates A and B. Below you will find a campus map with directions from both housing locations to the "Pope County" entrance. Additional copies of this map will be included in your welcome packets.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Mandi or Molly anytime between now and July 8th. We look forward to seeing all of you on campus!

Are you flying in and taking the Super Shuttle?
If so, please provide the following directions to your shuttle driver:

Are you taking public transportation?
If so, see attached for direction on how to take the light rail and bus to the campus area:

Are you driving to the University of Minnesota?
If so, please use the following directions to help you navigate campus:

Are you driving, taking a taxi or the Super Shuttle straight to the Stadium?
If so, please see directions to the stadium from Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport below.

Parking Information
East River Road Garage: Parking is available in the East River Road Garage, located next to Comstock Hall and behind Coffman Memorial Union. Parking costs are $12/day in the garage. Please note: the rate is contingent upon leaving a vehicle in the garage for the entire day. Hourly rates and additional information is available here .

For up-to-the-minute, detailed information on Twin Cities road closures, please click here.

For additional Transportation Information visit, please visit the Travel and Accommodations page.

As you begin making preparations for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Conference we have some fun activities for you to consider outside of what we have scheduled. We hope you will take advantage of the exciting entertainment venues and restaurants both on the University of Minnesota campus and throughout the city of Minneapolis.

If you want to stay close to campus we recommend spending some time at the Weisman Art Museum, showing off your bowling and billiard skills at Goldy's Gameroom or laying it down on the basketball and volleyball courts all conveniently located within steps of Comstock Hall.

After all those activities you have probably worked up an appetite and are looking for a place to eat nearby. Below are our picks of places to eat and check out in the campus area:

Jen's Picks

• Purple Onion, a café and coffee shop located in Dinkytown


• Shuang Cheng (with the red awning) which has mouth-watering Chinese food and is located in Dinkytown.

Justin's Picks

• Visit Annie's Parlour in Dinkytown for an All-American burger, fries and a tasty malt visit . Annie's is a staple for any trip to the University of Minnesota.


• For pizza lovers, stop atCampus Pizza located in Stadium Village.

Rachel's Picks

• Tony's Diner offers comfort food and your Minnesota State Fair classics located in the heart of Dinkytown.


• Unwind at Sally's Saloon and Eatery, a sports bar and restaurant located in Stadium village just east of the Radisson Hotel.

If you're craving something other than the raestaurants listed above, you will find the following eateries all within walking distance of the conference and your accomodations:

• Dinkytown: Kafé 421, Loring Pasta Bar, Qdoba, Jimmy John's, Mesa Pizza, Potbelly Sandwich Works, McDonalds, Burrito Loco, Blarney Pub and Grill and more.


• Stadium Village: Applebees, Punch Pizza, Tea Garden, Stub & Herbs, Burger King, Dominos, Chipotle, Brueggers Bagels, Village Wok, Big 10, Noodles and Company, Papa John's and more.

After filling your stomach, you may want to get off campus and explore the city of Minneapolis. We recommend catching the city bus (#16) from campus to downtown to do some shopping at the many businesses on Nicollet Mall. After buying some Minnesota souvenirs take a walk over to the new home of the Minnesota Twins, Target Field, which just opened earlier this year. From the stadium you can hop on the light rail and travel down to the Mall of America, the ultimate shopping destination. Finally, if shopping doesn't fit your fancy, the Mall offers a full amusement park, numerous restaurants and a movie theater.

For those who love music, don't miss the Basilica Block Party held on July 9 and July 10. For more information, click here. We know that with all of these enticing activities throughout the University of Minnesota and city of Minneapolis there won't be a shortage of things to do while you're here for the conference in July.

Go Big Ten!

Jen, Justin and Rachel
Minnesota Sportsmanship Interns

We are excited to announce that as of today, we have delegates registered from seven of the eleven Big Ten Universities! And, a few more universities plan to register within the next week!

To allow for additional delegates to register, we have extended the deadline to Thursday, May 27. We have also decided to remove the late fee so the pricing structure you see listed on the registration page will not change. We plan to send invoices out in early June so please watch for those next month!

We are very excited to have such a tremendous response for the 2010 Big Ten Sportsmanship and Spirit Conference. We look forward to sharing best practices and spending time getting to know more about each other and all the great initiatives.

As always, please don't hesitate to contact us or leave a comment on our blog.

Go Big Ten!

First off, congratulations to all of the Big Ten schools who performed so well in the NCAA Tournament. It was exciting to see so many of our teams make the tournament and while some of you may be feeling some post March Madness blues, we're growing more excited as we move another month closer to the start of the Big Ten Sportsmanship and Spirit Conference!

That being said, conference registration is now open! We're also happy to announce that the tentative conference schedule has been added to the "Registration and Conference Information" page on this website. To learn more about registration and to check out the conference schedule, click here.

If you have any questions regarding registration or the conference schedule, please don't hesitate to contact us directly or leave a comment on the blog. We look forward to seeing you in July.

Go Big Ten!

I hope everyone is enjoying your campus spring break! It's finally spring in Minnesota and all our snow is gone, which we're fairly certain won't return until next fall, so no worries about that when you're on campus in July! I just wanted to take a minute to update you on the planning of the conference. We're very close to having a finalized conference schedule and hope to be able to post it within the next week or so. Also, we've completed the on-line registration system and will have it up and running by our April 15th opening. We're also really excited to announce that all of our space requests have been approved by the Athletics Department, so we'll have a truly behind-the-scenes experience in TCF Bank Stadium, including time in the brand new band space, team recruiting room, and home team locker room to name a few. We're really excited about how the planning is going and can't wait to share our campus with you this summer.

Have a great week and Go Big Ten!
Mandi

We will be using this blog to post announcements and updated information associated with the conference. Please feel free to check back to read updates and/or leave any comments or questions you have.

We plan to have official conference information posted on the website soon but if you have any questions in the meantime, please feel free to contact Mandi Soderlund.

See you in July and Go Big Ten!
The 2010 Conference Planning Team