How to Build a Successful Seminar

Successful seminar planning begins two to three months before the proposed seminar date. Following these steps will help to ensure good planning. 1. Decide on a Seminar Theme. Seminars with a theme tend to draw more participants than a potpourri of topics. Themes might be Negotiating the Permit Process, Biological Nutrient Removal, Emerging Technologies, or Case Studies in Plant Start-up. 2. Find Qualified Speakers. Two great places to start looking for speakers are the previous years annual conference program and a hidden database on the PWO web page. To find the hidden database, go to http://www.rmwea.org and click on the links for Committees and PWO. Scroll down on the PWO page to the section titled Seminar Organizer Forms. Clicking on the title will bring up a searchable database of previous speakers and their presentation titles. While we dont want to see verbatim repeats of the same paper over and over again, the database will give you a good idea of who might be willing to give a talk in a particular topic area. Remember: Balance! Get speakers from a variety of sources. RMWEA is not the advertising branch of a particular engineering firm or municipality. If at all possible, every speaker at a seminar should have a different sponsoring organization. Additionally, it is best to have a mixture of engineers, operators, vendors, students, etc. We all learn from one another because of our different perspectives. Each seminar should give at least 0.6 training units or a total of 6 hours of contact time. If each speaker is allowed a 40 minute time slot, plus 5 minutes for changeover, then you will need about 8 speakers and topics. A 40 minute time slot is enough time for a speaker to thoroughly cover their topic without boring the audience. 3. Find a Place to Hold the Seminar. Target locations for seminars will be assigned by the Chair and Vice-Chair. A PWO goal is to offer as much training as possible outside of the Denver area in order to reach more of our constituents. Great, inexpensive places to hold seminars are community colleges. Another option might be to have a utility host the seminar in their Town Hall or Recreation Center conference room. Hotels are also good venues, but tend to be more costly. Once youve found a location, check on their available dates. 4. Check the RMWEA Calendar and the OCPO website (www.ocpoweb.com ) for Training Conflicts.

5. Book the Location and a Caterer. For booking purposes, assume that the seminar will have 30 attendees plus speakers and seminar coordinator. Contact the PWO Chair or the RMWEA Treasurer to have deposits sent as needed. The RMWEA checking account has a debit card that can be used for placing deposits on hotel rooms and catering. If the contracts can be set-up so RMWEA can be invoiced and can pay by check this is preferred. If you need to make a deposit, please coordinate with the current treasurer to get this done. The treasurer this year is John Rehring-- 303 383-2435, rehringjp@cdm.com

Fax or e-mail a copy of the contract to the Treasurer and PWO Chair. No one on the PWO committee is authorized to sign contracts on behalf of PWO or RMWEA. They can only be signed by one of the RMWEA officers -president, vice-president, president-elect, or treasurer. We will have to be proactive in our planning for hotels and caterers so we can get "contract signing" added to the monthly meetings. We'll then need to bring copies of those contracts to the meetings to have them signed. PWO has a laptop and computer, but not a screen or microphone. Make sure these items are included in the contract with the community college/hotel/other. It is our goal to keep seminar expenses room, food, speaker gifts, etc. under $1200 whenever possible. At this cost, our break even point for attendance is 14 persons. We always hope for better attendance and almost always get at least 25 attendees, but it is better to err on the side of caution. 6. Contact Your Selected Speakers. Contact your selected speakers by phone or email and invite them to speak. Be specific about the seminar theme, location, date and time, who the target audience will be, and that you consider them to be an expert in their field. Let them know that if they commit to speaking, you expect them to send you copies of their presentations at least one week prior to the seminar. Getting the presentations ahead of time is a good way to ensure that your speakers are prepared. It will also allow you to print copies of presentations to give out to attendees. Alternatively, you can ask each speaker to bring their own copies. 7. Follow-up with your speakers by sending them a written invitation thanking them for volunteering. This should be done on RMWEA letterhead. The written confirmation of time, date, and other details (such as a map to the location if needed) is appreciated by the speaker and goes a long way with their employers. 8. Finalize the program and send the schedule with times on it to all of the speakers to review. Adjust as necessary to accommodate individual speaker requests to be first, last, morning, afternoon, etc.

9. Obtain brief biographies and talk summaries from each speaker. Both of these are needed to apply for training units through the State. They only need to be about 75 words each. The biographies can also be used to introduce speakers at the seminar. 10. Forward speaker information, TU spreadsheet and seminar schedule to the PWO Chair. The PWO Chair will submit this information to the State for TU approval. Please allow at least 4 weeks, and preferably 6 weeks, for approval. This means that the Chair needs all of this information at least 4 weeks before the seminar. The TU Spreadsheet can be obtained on the RMWEA website on the PWO Committee page. 11. Post seminar information on the RMWEA web page and ask Greg Farmer to set up on-line registration. On-line registrations will be forwarded to the PWO Chair who will then send that information to you. Greg Farmer can be reached at gfarmer@englewoodgov.org or 303-762-2524. He is the RMWEA webmaster and can quickly post things on the web page. Be sure to get the seminar added to the RMWEA calendar. Greg can provide you with a user name and password so you can add your event to the calendar yourself. One-day seminars are priced at $90 for members (RMWEA and WEF) and $125 for non-members. Non-members receive a one-year associate membership in the RMWEA which entitles them to receive Rumbles, e-Rumbles, and member priced training for the following year. Those individuals requiring special registration can work directly with TEAMS. TEAMS can be contacted at 303- 394-2022. BE SURE TO HAVE NEW MEMBERS FILL OUT A MEMBERSHIP FORM AND FORWARD NEW MEMBER INFORMATION TO THE MEMBERSHIP CHAIR. Otherwise, they wont get added to the database. 12. Forward seminar and registration information to Mary Stahl for inclusion in eRumbles Marys e-mail address is mwstahl@BoyleEngineering.com 13. Create a flyer to send out through the mail and request a mailing list or request a broadcast e-mail through RMWEA. Examples of post-card type flyers can be obtained from the PWO Chair or Vice-Chair. Mailing lists can be obtained from the Chair, Vice-chair, or from Brenna Durkin at the Littleton/Englewood WWTP. Brenna is the database administrator for RMWEA. Give her the seminar location and ask for all RMWEA and WEF members within 100 miles of that location. She may have additional mailing addresses for plants that are not RMWEA members but are listed in the safety database. Up to 200 mailers can be sent out for each seminar. RMWEA will reimburse you for the cost of paper and stamps. Submit receipts to the RMWEA treasurer in order to get reimbursed.

14. Sit back and wait for registrations to roll in. Dont panic if they dont seem to be coming in quickly. Often, the bulk of registrations show up in the two weeks immediately before the seminar. If registration doesnt pick up within two weeks of the seminar, request a broadcast e-mail. For help with this process, contact the PWO Chair. 15. Pick out thank you gifts for your speakers. Speaker gifts should be something small, less than $7 each. Past gifts have included chocolate bars, mugs full of Hershey kisses, inexpensive laser pointers, business card holders. You get the idea. A small thank-you on behalf of RMWEA. 16. About a week before the seminar, create sign-in sheets, agenda sheets, and copies of presentations to hand-out. Examples of all of these standard forms are available from the PWO Chair and Vice-Chair. 17. One week before the seminar, follow-up with speakers to confirm details and to request electronic copies of their presentations. If youve asked the speakers to provide handouts, let them know how many people have registered for the class. 18. In the few days before the seminar: Print copies of the attendee list with only their name and employer. These lists can be handed out to anyone who asks for a list of the seminar attendees. This helps speakers, attendees, and vendors get in touch with one another after the seminar. The executive council has stated that this transfer of information does not violate RMWEAs bylaw prohibiting sale or transfer of our mailing list and/or membership information. Print TU Certificates and sign them. Pick up the PWO computer, projector, and banner from the PWO Chair. Call the caterer and give a final head count for lunches and breaks. Dont forget to include speakers that are staying for lunch. Load all of the presentations onto the laptop. Connect all of the equipment and run through each seminar to be sure that it plays correctly. Contact speakers with any problems. Print copies of member registration forms for non-members to fill out when they sign into the seminar. Organize bios and speaker introductions for easy use. Pick up snacks and drinks if they are not available from the caterer and IF the room contract allows it. 19. The Day of the Seminar: Show up at the seminar location at least 15 minutes before attendees are expected to start signing in. Check in with the caterer and location contact to confirm head counts. Set-up AV equipment.

Sit at the sign-in desk to check people in. Make sure they have paid and that they sign the registration sheet. Each attendee must sign the registration sheet in the morning and again after lunch to receive their training unit certificate. We are required by the State to keep records of the registration sheets on file. Introduce yourself and each speaker. Dispense hand-outs. At the very end of the seminar, hand-out training unit certificates. Do not give them out early or some attendees will leave without completing their training.

20. Follow-up After the Seminar. Return laptop, projector, and banner to PWO Chair. Complete income/expense spreadsheet and send to PWO Chair. The spreadsheet can be found on the RMWEA webpage under Committees, PWO Send copies of registration sign in and out sheets to the PWO Chair and to the RMWEA Treasurer. Excel spreadsheets are greatly appreciated. Turn in receipts to either the PWO Chair or the RMWEA treasurer. Remember to keep a copy for yourself just in case. Send one last follow-up e-mail thanking your speakers If you havent already done it, forward new member information to the RMWEA membership chair. A few more notes: Speakers are always welcome to stay for lunch at PWOs expense and they dont pay registration fees. Some speakers will register anyway to support PWO, but they arent required to register. PWO does not offer honoraria nor do we reimburse speakers for expenses such as mileage unless there are extenuating circumstances. If you believe that a speaker warrants reimbursement, check with the Chair or Vice-Chair for approval. We ALWAYS provide a morning snack break and lunch at our seminars. Afternoon coffee and sodas should also be provided. PWO has done many seminars and we have examples of forms, agendas, training unit certificates, etc. Cancellation Policy: This is somewhat up to the discretion of the seminar coordinator. Generally, we allow people to cancel anytime before the seminar with a full refund. No shows will not be refunded unless there are extenuating circumstances. Break Even Point: We dont cancel seminars unless absolutely necessary. If we stay within our recommended budget of $1200 for the seminar, then our break-even point for attendance is only 14 attendees. Some seminars will make big profits, others may take small losses. Any decision to cancel a seminar must be a joint decision between the chair, vice-chair, and seminar coordinator.