Water Haller: The Window That Was & A Word on YP’s
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We hosted another great Window on Ottawa at the start of June. By "great," I mean it was a really great program of speakers on key federal-level policy. Those that were there seemed to be pretty impressed. As far as attendance goes…not so great.
We still believe that this is a great format for us as an association to interact with senior policy-makers in the federal government and its agencies. This is important for the advocacy work of our staff and committees. But how can we make this a better service to more of our members?
We recognize that: there are too many water events requiring travel; and this is a hard sell as you need to be interested in 8 or 9 different topics. So we are looking at changing up the way we conduct this type of advocacy and to perhaps widen our nets at the same time.
For 2020, we have agreed to partner our Window event with Water Canada magazine and their Canadian Water Summit event. We look to shorten our portion to one day and open our policy-focused event to a wider water audience. Then, the Water Summit offers a new range of topics and national players to our members.
At the same time, we want to get more of you hearing directly what our contacts in the federal government are up to. So we will be trying to introduce a few informative sessions by webinar or other electronic format. Stay tuned.
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As I write this column, I am on my way to the IWA’s Young Professionals Conference in Toronto. In my eternal effort to stay young, I have been working as an advisor and administrative support to the team of YP’s organizing this event. I am truly inspired by the dedication of these water professionals.
We don’t do a lot with YP’s at the CWWA level, as most YP involvement is within the Provincial/Regional level associations and academic associations. But we are pleased to be able to support such events. And this is a dry run for our hosting of the World Water Congress in 2022.
