2 minute read
From the Executive Director
Howard Baker, MRWA Executive Director
Looking back, we first thought it would be next to impossible to perform all the services that we provide and provide those in a way that would not add to the COVID problem. But we went to work every day and in our NORMAL fashion found ways to fix COVID problems using the talent and experience of the MRWA staff. That talent was usually directed towards water and wastewater issues and although we had to make a few changes, onsite work never stopped…but training was going to require even more changes.
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The loss of the 2020 conferences meant that hundreds of operators were not going to get the renewal hours of training that they planned on. To fix that problem we turned to ZOOM, but there is a lot more planning involved than just sitting in front a computer and having a class. We had to work out how to keep track of attendees, how to keep everyone involved, and how to keep up with questions from viewers and pass those on to presenters. We even had some of the MRWA Associate members be a part of this to try and make it fun. LIVE ONLINE is what we called it and I know it isn’t the way most wanted to get training, but we knew we had to do something. I am sure those who attended would tell you that it wasn’t the same boring recorded training that was out there. The staff, and I do mean all of them, did a great job! Andy Bowman, our Marketing Coordinator, was at the core of making this all happen along with Jim Patton, better known as the Exhibit Hall guy.
Another challenge was to have the Regional Caucuses and Annual Business Meeting and again, we turned to the ZOOM option. ZOOM only had one meaning to me until a year ago and it wasn’t a word I used much, thought I was too old, but I bet I have said or wrote it 10,000 times now. Again, it wasn’t the way we wanted to do it, but we had to find a way to make it happen. We learned some things and would change some things that we did for those meetings, but for the most part, we did what needed to be done.
For a while, the office looked like any other broadcast studio; lights, green screens, wires running everywhere, people wearing headphones, people holding cue cards, microphones hanging in the air, and to tell you the truth, if you walked in, you would think we did this for a living. We just took what we had and used the people we had and changed the way we did training to get through the COVID problem.
Like it or not this type of training is here to stay in one form or another and we will no doubt still use it on a limited basis, but MRWA is committed to in-person training; that is who we are. I feel that we made it through, and we no longer need to look like a giant version of the Brady Bunch on a computer screen. And, we plan on seeing you all in person, so go write this down; Bootheel Expo August 24-25, Fall Conferences
