Ah Ha! Moments

Excited to hear that the NTK will be updated and improved to be user friendly for exam preparation.

We’re going to have to strike alllllllll the power poses in order to get through these flight delays 😂 Good luck everyone and safe travels!

40 B per year on bottled water! How much for Starbuck’s or other coffee beverages? I appreciate Chris’ emphasis that there is a disparate impact on lower income and education groups. Exactly the people who can’t afford to mistrust tap water.

Help create solutions.

We need to work on conserving water and making use of existing water to help meet the demands of increasing populations and housing needs. The focus is often on looking for sources of new water instead.

More than access to water, Access to safe water. A qualified workforce is key to that as well as a healthy viable system. Proper funding is a must.

I just want to say thank you for the opportunity to be here in Newport Beach, the invaluable sessions provided and the irreplaceable contacts!
In the interest of public and environmental health we are all on the same page, we all have similar needs and challenges. I am looking forward to contributing to this team and making more connections in years to come!

Watura offers certification for training providers! Would like to see certifying agencies consider having training providers obtain independent certification if the agency itself doesn’t audit and certify providers.

It would be helpful if certifying entities would implement formal processes for assessing the effectiveness of exams and be willing to assess inclusivity. Many certifying agencies are unfamiliar with the concept of exam bias and how much it affects accessibility of exams and ability to become licensed.

PSI is in good hands with Isabelle leading the charge. This was exactly what I was expecting to hear and this information can help us validate to our stakeholders the exam process.

I love that the psychometric analyses is mirroring what the industry is expecting of the operators – keep getting better to meet the needs of the NOW.

It will be GREAT to have companion lessons and practice for each of the Sacramento manuals! I’m so excited!

I pondered finding generalizations to sum up the moment. I thought of analogies to facility assessments or operator testing, but then decided to just share the moment and let y’all draw your own conclusions.

Last night, I approached one of the caricaturists and asked which seat she preferred. “Either”

I sat and attempted small talk saying, “Make me look good.”

Without missing a beat she replied, “That’s not the point.”

Georgia has never really been on my list of vacation destinations, but now I am going to have to convince my wife that we need to go so I can visit The Water Tower.

Anecdotally, I have noticed that the average age for our smaller rural system is about 20 years higher than the average age of our larger systems. Anyone have hard data for this?

I also have seen static numbers for operators coming in vs. going out in WY. The “Silver Tsunami” doesn’t seem to have materialized as the doomsayers thought. Rather a steady stream.

Technology can be of great assistance to operators, but operators still need to know how and why treatment technologies work in order to make appropriate decisions; they don’t need to rely on the technology to make all of the operational decisions for them.

Kim’s description of her experience with incremental improvement makes it feel possible for our home state. Thank you, Kim, for reminding us that it’s ok to be picky and not settle.

I’m realizing what an amazing group of people have assembled here and that I would like to continue these conversations after the conference is over. Will an attendee directory be available?

Prequalifying candidates can be done by databases: hmmm now and I just got back so much time to help Operators with other issues.

A lot of the way we do things are entrenched in the way we did it when we had paper. Let’s be open to rethinking processes now that we are almost all 100% digital.

Learned from another attendee that Colorado also has resources and templates for hiring contract operators and employees! That’s a win outside of the conference but facilitated by the conference. Learning isn’t always at the podium.

It’s interesting that people don’t want to pay more for water but will go to the store and buy it.

Great use of in-presentation QR codes!

I’m excited to check out the new EPA training resources and the hiring guide. I get a lot of questions about hiring from small systems and contract operators. A fantastic resource!

I loved the focused list of 3 things to do right now to protect systems from cyber attack. It’s usually difficult to think about cybersecurity and try to improve security because it seems overwhelming and we dont know enough about it.

Cybersecurity assessment is good but it must be backed by adequate allocation of financial resources for implementing mitigation measures

Just 2 minutes of dancing to my favorite song can change my entire outlook!

How you handle worry is a choice. You choose to “catch” worry

“Worry and long-term stress are different.”

This showed me that self-preservation and anxiety are not the same and I should not treat them the same.

Just 2 min of dancing to my fav song can change my entire attitude for the better!

I appreciate the mix of topics that WPI has put together and the inclusion of presentations that help us both personally and professionally.

Instead of trying not to worry about a particular issue- you will have more success by replacing the worry with a different thought. I appreciated learning the new techniques!

Thank you for bringing Mitch in to speak with us. His lessons were truly inspiring and (as cliche as it sounds) life changing. I am so motivated to take it back to the office and make a difference in the workplace.

You can’t force yourself to forget something. You can switch it.
Will take that switch to my team and cause them to dance

3 buckets concepts is one of the best, easiest to visualize tools I have seen in decades! Hoo Rah!

It would be a lot of fun to stop during operator trainings and do an intentional walk, smile and song for 2-5 minutes like we did today, dancing and high fiving! They would think we had gone nuts!

I’m extremely grateful for Mitch’s presentation and for him sharing more tools for my anti-worry toolbox that even numerous therapy sessions couldn’t provide! I look forward to tuning in to his podcast.

Great idea how to redirect worry and energize with a music list. The 2 minute high five session was so energizing, Mitch is fantastic with a great tool box of interesting lessons in becoming a better boss and husbsnd!

It was interesting to see the data on the variability of requirements to take an exam and the correlation on the pass rate. This will help me to review my program holistically rather than just focusing on the end result.

As a first time attendee this has been an amazing experience and an eye opener. I look forward to what our remaining time has in store.
As a take away, although the States, Provinces and Territories have very different programs and processes, the challenges are very much the same.

I love the compliance system that wss demonstrated. It’s great to be able to submit applications online!

As a first time attendee this conference has been an eye opener and I expect it will continue to open my eyes over the next 2 days.
My revelation is realizing that although our programs, across States, Provinces, Territories, etc.. are different in many ways, our challenges are very much the same.

Improving our program will ultimately be most effective in the passing rates for our State.

It is interesting that the number of online providers that claim to meet IACET requirements did not meet Sidney’s basic criteria. How can this be?!

The pandemic has really changed our perspective on training formats and opened our eyes to the benefits of types of training that we otherwise would have been very slow to consider.

There is so much variability in online training it’s difficult for programs to know what is valuable and what is not. Many programs don’t have the resources to adequately evaluate the plethora of online training courses out there.

Guideline for content and delivery is definately needed to provide great on line training. That being said, these are certified professional operators so we should treat them as such. If they do not pay attention in an in person class or on line class, it is their loss and the employers loss. Let’ remember that these are professionals and let’s not put burdensome barriers up for great training opps.

I am now looking at reading audible books as a side hustle!

I learnt a lot on US government structure. Look out Paul, the water sector paparazzi will be outside your office. Great photo!

The aha moment for me was the sub 4 minute mile runner Mr Bannister probably had broke the 4 minute mark many times in practice or training before it was official. How many of us are doing extraordinarily things before it becomes official in our daily routines that we can spread ideas about.

I love the question “What does success look like to you?” It really helps people think for themselves instead of being told what the goals are and how the project should look.

Love this session!!!! Use for both personal & professional!

Thinking about trainer credentials and how that might play into a trainer certificate or train the trainer. This should probably start with two surveys. The first survey should go out to regulatory agencies to see what the look for or require for a trainer to be qualified. The second e-mail should go out to trainers to see what credentials they actually hold. You don’t want a certification program that disqualifies a bunch of existing trainers, especially if they are good at what they do.

Using the 3 bucket system. I do use all three but don’t use the “Let it go” bucket enough.

The 3 bucket system and how i can incorporate in my life
CONTROL
INFLUENCE
LET IT GO

Control, Influence, and Let it go buckets

The Bucket Buddy is such a great idea! It really helps to have someone else checking in with you and supporting you in your decisions to let things go.

Three buckets

Great lesson on figuring out what we can control and what needs to be let go!

Imagine asking three questions everytime you are planning a training, meeting, or other activity.

Who could we be learning from?
What can we do to improve….incrementally?
How could we have fun as we …?

I think we ask variations of 1 or 2 of these questions many times. Could you imagine setting up a meeting where more voices were available, little improvements start adding up, and it’s actually fun to be there? How much could we achieve?

People think better and more creatively when they’re having fun!

Everyone you meet knows something you don’t, but need to know. Lear from them. – Carl Jung

Even the worst student in the class has something they know that you don’t so don’t be afraid to ask.

Playdoh! Reminds me of my grandson!

Our older generation (myself) can sometimes be intimidated by technology. And my aha moment is it’s only an extension of our brain and our experiences are our websites in our mind. This simplifies things for me. Older people have more experiences to draw from so our websites are vast.

This session was so important I think the entire membership would have benefited from it.

I think the past few trainers worships have been like that.

My aha moment – instead of separating this and calling it a trainers workshop. I think it should be part of the conference and folks can decide if it’s relevant like the rest of the sessions. Even though I’m not a trainer I have always attended and have found the information very useful and beneficial to my program.

Broad and portable certification might be useful for a lot of operators, but maybe not for everyone. Operators at unique systems might not be well trained for that system even though they’re certified, or they might be able to operate that system and have difficulty passing the exam and obtaining broader certification.

So many of the same challenges in Canada and Us

How you can have the best course material, and how that can get derailed by a poor trainer.