Held last month in Pittsburgh, the 2019 ASPE Tech Symposium attracted 567 participants from across North America, which makes it the highest attended ASPE Tech Symposium since 2007, when the event was held in Atlanta with 549 participants.
Attendees enthused about the quality of this year’s event, ASPE noted in a press release:
- Each one I attend gets better.
- Great job by all.
- Keeps getting better. Congrats to all who contributed!
- Keep up the fantastic work!
- Everything was great. The ASPE Staff was very helpful.
- I am sure future Tech Symposiums will be just as good or better.
- It was one of the best I have ever attended.
“We are extremely pleased with the turnout and the quality of the attendees,” said Billy Smith, FASPE, ASPE’s executive director/CEO. “I’d like to thank ASPE’s Pittsburgh and Johnstown chapters for hosting this year’s Tech Symposium and helping make it so successful. We also are very appreciative of our sponsors for their support.”
Held biennially, ASPE’s Tech Symposium focuses on education, professional development and networking for plumbing engineers and designers. The event incorporates in-depth technical education sessions, expert speakers, CEUs, a product show, parties and other special features to help attendees learn, make new connections and grow their careers.
“Seeing old friends and meeting new colleagues is an important part of attending the ASPE Technical Symposium,” said Julius Ballanco, pme columnist and past president of ASPE. “I enjoyed meeting many younger engineers who were attending for the first time. They are the future of our profession. We look to be in good hands.”
The schedule included: A number of committee meetings each morning, a green plumbing design workshop, an ASPE Young Professionals lead-ership academy, medical tracks, hydronic tracks, a track on seismic bracing, many tracks that focused on code compliance, as well as Legionella, and many others. Each night highlighted a different event. The first being a product show, the second an ASPE welcome party and the third an AYP networking event.
“There were excellent educational tracks at this year’s Technical Symposium,” Ballanco noted. “I noticed that the Legionella track had some of the highest attendance, including me for five out of the seven seminars. I’ve been in this profession for more than 40 years and yet I am amazed at what I learn attending the Technical Symposium. During one seminar, a small nuance regarding steam systems helped me with a project I was in the middle of completing. It is sometimes the smallest item that becomes the biggest help.”
Photos and videos taken live from the product show floor can be found on pme’s Facebook page. A photo gallery of the event can be seen here: https://www.pmengineer.com/media/photos.
New ASPE website
In other ASPE news, the organization’s website — ASPE.org — has been completely redesigned and streamlined for ease of use for members, chapter officers, potential new members and ASPE supporters. One of the new features is the single user name and password for ASPE.org, ASPE Connect and ASPE Education.
Once the user is signed on to one, he/she doesn’t need to enter login information again when going between the three sites. Also announced is the brand-new website for ASPE Pipeline, which will contain all the news and information members are used to receiving in the society’s e-newsletter. In addition to the website, the e-newsletter will continue to be sent on a biweekly basis.
ASPE’s 2020 Convention & Expo is slated for Sept. 11-16 in New Orleans. The event is designed to enhance the professional development, technical education and career growth of plumbing engineering professionals. Attendees have the opportunity to discover game-changing innovations, profitable solutions and new ideas to maintain their competitive edge, the society noted.
It combines professional development sessions designed exclusively for plumbing industry professionals with the largest plumbing product tradeshow in the country (featuring more than 300 exhibitors), ASPE added. Registration open in the spring of 2020.
Visit expo.aspe.org for more information.
