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Platform Chats
Platform Chats
Recap of the AREMA 2022 Annual Conference
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The AREMA 2022 Annual Conference & Expo has come and gone, but not without talking to the two major players in making sure the event goes off without a hitch. On this episode, we talk to AREMA staff, Beth Caruso, IOM, CAE, Executive Director and CEO, and Desiree Knight, CAE, CMP, DES, Senior Director, Education and Meetings to hear the ins and outs of the Annual Conference. How long does it take to plan these things? Did they love the music as much as everyone else? What was it like to be back in person? You’ll learn the answer to these questions and other fun facts, including if they have a favorite Presentation of the Conference in this episode. For the record, no attendees were arrested while in Denver…we think.
We had over 230 booths. And one fun fact that I'd really like to highlight is we had over 100 new exhibitors. These are folks that had never exhibited with AREMA before. So I do not know how they came out of the woodwork or off the train tracks or I don't know where they came from. But I'm so excited. There were 100 new exhibitors. We put signs up throughout the exhibit of those folks that were new to us so people could recognize them. And, you know, not only to the new exhibitors, but all the exhibitors were just very appreciative of the support and to our sponsors for what they did.
SPEAKER_03And to the new number, this blew my brain cell, and that was we had 600 new conference attendees. And I'm going to say 600 plus. And that has never happened. Where they came from, we have no idea, but we are so thankful for the support.
SPEAKER_01You may know the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association, or ARIMA, as the quote, keepers of the manuals. You may know them as the quote people behind the largest annual railroad conference in North America. Heck, you may not know about AREMA at all. This podcast is designed, no pun intended, to change your view of who AREMA is and how AREMA has changed the trajectory of many railway careers over its 100-plus year history. Welcome to Platform Chats with your host, Walt Blesser, where he takes a moment to discuss the impacts AREMA has had on the very people who are proud to be called members. Are you ready to roll with ARIMA?
SPEAKER_00ARE Corporation is a proud supporter of Arima and Platform Chats. If you are looking to take your Railway Structure's career to the next level, or simply start it down the right track, please visit us at ARECorp.com. Please see our brand new job postings on our careers page or on our LinkedIn page.
SPEAKER_05Hello and welcome back to another episode of Platform Chats. And when I say another episode, I mean episode 19. Can you believe it? I mean we just uh bombarded people's ears with two episodes at one time in August, and that could have been planned, or that could have been because somebody forgot to upload an episode. But I'll let you determine which happen what happened there. But I did get a couple comments at the conference that people enjoyed getting two episodes at the same time. Uh that said, I will continue to try to upload content once a month, uh, depending on everyone's schedules of the guests and my own included, since we are all volunteers here at Platform Chats and at Arema. And we are all coming off of a hangover of having our first conference in two years in Denver, Colorado. Um that took place for some people, it actually took place starting as early as the 26th. Uh many of you came in on the 28th of August, and for many of you it concluded the 31st of August. Some of you might have stuck around uh and had a couple committee meetings on the first or second. And it sounded also like in speaking with many of you uh came in early and enjoyed a little bit of time in the high country, uh, whether on the front side or on the back side of that conference, since we were right up against Labor Day weekend. Uh so with that, and in the spirit of the conference and having it just had happened a couple weeks ago, uh, there was no p way I could do that uh the week of Labor Day because uh everyone I think was just still in a in a high. Uh so I want everyone to calm down and get the jitters out before I sat down and talked with a couple people that had a very strong influence uh not only on the conference, but also on Arima in general. So this is uh a little bit of our conference recap slash a pullback of the curtains of what happens uh at Arima headquarters. So for many of you that are not in a chairmanship or above, if you will, leadership position, you may have little to no interaction with these individuals. Uh if you are in a leadership position, you know exactly who I'm talking about. And or if you have put together webinars or seminars, or you present the bridge inspection uh conference, if you want to call it that, you have dealt with these individuals as well. So uh joining me on episode number 19 here of Platform Chats, which I want to oh, one last shout out. I did make a quick check, and we are officially number nine out of 35 of the railway industry's best podcasts per the world wide web. Uh so that means there's now 34 other railway podcasts, which makes me just wonder who those people are. But that's fine. So, without further ado, I have two guests with me today. I have Desiree Knight, who is the Senior Director of Education and Meetings for AREMA. And I have Miss Beth Caruso, who is the executive director and CEO of ARIMA. So I they both have a lot of designations behind their names. And as just an engineer who only understands maybe PE or LEED or PNG, um, these are lots of letters that I don't know. And it's yeah, I guess there's no M D either. Um I'll let them explain. So, Desiree Knight, I think I'll let you go first with a designation of C-A-E, C M P, and D E S. Um, why don't you go ahead and tell me a little bit about what you do for Arima? How did you land at Arima? How long have you worked for Arima? I I think the the cut the uh listening base would love to hear all about you.
SPEAKER_03Wow, that's uh that's this is a long journey, Walt. So I'll go ahead and get started. So literally, I answered an ad, if you can believe that, back in the day where there were newspaper ads for jobs for a meeting planner for AREMA in 2000. So I have been at AREMA since 2000, so that means 22 years and counting. Um, I am responsible for all things education when it comes to AREMA, and that also means the foundation. All of those acronyms means that I have spent a lot of time studying on how to do my job better. So CAE is certified association executive, CMP, and I'm now a CMP fellow, which means I've been a CMP for quite some time and I know what I'm doing, so that's a certified meeting planner. And then DES, um, unfortunately, during COVID, I needed to go back to school to get another designation, and that is digital event strategist.
SPEAKER_05Fantastic. And your role with AREMA now, uh most people would interact with you doing what?
SPEAKER_03So I am responsible for um most of not most, all of the education content for AREMA, which means I handle the seminars, webinars, the annual conference, uh regarding meeting logistics, I handle the board meeting, uh, Reese, which is under our foundation, um, the educational content for the professors, um, anything that has to do with professional development, it falls in my department. Perfect. And for the conference specifically, I guess a lot of that would fall under your department, right? The conference is my department. So uh most of the bulk of my work is through the conference with the assistance of every staff person. There's not a staff person at AREMA whose hands is not involved in uh the conference. So when I say teamwork makes the dream work, it's really true because each department has their own uh component of the annual conference because it is such a big entity.
SPEAKER_05Got it. And I think the fun fact that I read when uh preparing for this podcast is that you originally worked for TWA.
SPEAKER_03I did. I worked for uh uh Trans World Airlines as my first transportation job in Los Angeles, which is where I was born. And uh when I moved to the East Coast, I needed to figure out how I can transfer some skill sets that I acquired from a large trade show company. And then I did a aha, oh, maybe I could do meetings. So that's how I got into the meetings world.
SPEAKER_05Ah, okay, cool. Uh don't be offended, but I think there's gonna be some listeners on here who are Googling uh TWA uh right now to understand what that might be.
SPEAKER_03Oh, it no longer exists.
SPEAKER_05That's right. Uh Beth, have at it.
SPEAKER_02All right, thank you, Walt. Um, so again, my name's Beth Caruso. I'm the executive director and CEO of AREMA. I came to AREMA in 1999, and Des and I are showing our age because I too answered an ad from the Washington Post. Um, and that was in May of '99, and um I had no idea what I was getting into. It was an association job, and the acronym AREMA was noted. I had no idea what it was. Um I always had a love of trains and uh really didn't know what I was getting into, so um when I went for the job interview and figured out kind of what it was going to be, I was pretty pleased with that. Um, and it's been a great fit for me all of these years. Um I too earned the CAE designation in 2009, and in 2019 I was awarded the IOM graduate recognition, which is for completing a comprehensive course of study and nonprofit management. And um, you know, I I guess I wear two hats. I wear um my association profession hat, but I also wear my hat for um being in the rail industry. And while my love is with association um executive work and and the professional aspects of that job, I love being in the railroad industry.
SPEAKER_05Fantastic. And so you started out when when did you take over as the executive director?
SPEAKER_02And that was in 2015 in September of that year.
SPEAKER_05Excellent. So you've been here for you had seven years, and of those seven years, you had a couple challenging ones, I would think, uh, with COVID and the virtual conferences, et cetera, et cetera. No?
SPEAKER_02We did have some challenges, and our staff team, volunteers and leadership met the challenges. Um they hid it out of the park. Uh we had never done a virtual conference before, and everybody got their feet wet, learned what to do. Des went and got her DES designation to make sure that she'd be able to provide everything you would need to be able to put on a strong virtual event. And after two years of doing that, my mawa where I I was so excited about being in person. We just knew this year we were going to be in person.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that was a weird couple years. And I do believe you left out one fact that I would appreciate if you didn't leave out uh when introducing yourself. You do have a chihuahua. Yes, I do.
SPEAKER_02Yes, I do, and we've had many fond conversations about our little chihuahuas, and um he is just a love bug, he's like a little child.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, unfortunately, mine did pass, and for all the listeners out there, I am definitely a chihuahua guy. Yeah, he passed away in uh oh gosh, was that in 2019? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Oh, sorry, well, to hear that. As a new parent of a puppy, I totally understand the love for a dog. Beth was quite surprised when I told her I had a dog, and she was like, What? There's nothing like the love of an animal for sure. Unconditional, right? That's right.
SPEAKER_05I could say something there that I'm not going to, so appreciate it. Please don't.
SPEAKER_04I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_05Oh, well, I know we're uh here to talk a little bit about the conference recap. Um what I did want to say is, you know, when was this is kind of a fun one? When did you guys select Denver? Something tells me you didn't pick it uh six months ago. So how long was the planning process to get to Denver?
SPEAKER_03So the talking about Denver started around 2012, actually, um, with a couple of site visits starting in 2013. The actual contract was signed in 2014. So uh that's a good question, Walt, because people think that we wait until maybe the year before to start planning for an actual conference. But in reality, it takes about eight to ten years to start working on and even thinking about the location first and foremost that fits within our um environment. And then secondly, you know, you have to think about transportation um as well. So um it was uh thought that came up in 2012 and then confirmed in 2014.
SPEAKER_05Wow, okay, yeah. So I moved here probably uh 2011. So at that time, and we had just been getting the well, actually, the airport train wasn't open yet.
SPEAKER_03Yes, it was not, right. I remember that because driving even from your airport to the downtown Denver area, I was like, ooh, this is a long commute, but then the train connected, so it was a perfect marriage. And we hadn't legalized marijuana yet. You had not, so I remember certain trips where I was driving from the airport to downtown. I'm like, what is that smell?
SPEAKER_05Yes. Which leads me to the question that I've actually received uh the most uh since the conference that I was asked to ask the two of you. Um given this it sounds like the conference went great overall. Um did anyone uh did anyone get arrested?
SPEAKER_02No, not that we know of. Not to my knowledge, and um it's funny you call Denver the high country. So I just wonder, I mean, is that what is that why that you know it got so popular there? But we did not hear anything, so out of sight, out of mind, so to speak. I hope everybody is safe.
SPEAKER_05Okay, just I just want to make sure I didn't hear of anything either, and I just wanted to kind of throw you guys for a loop. Officially, the high country is not Denver, technically, the high country is west of here, so it's gonna be anything that's over around 8,000 feet. This is kind of what people refer to.
SPEAKER_03I had a hard time breathing in your maha, so I can't even imagine 8,000 feet above sea level. That's high.
SPEAKER_05The high country you're speaking of is is a different uh that's more of a mental high country, I think.
SPEAKER_02That's downtown on some of these back streets.
SPEAKER_05Yes, our downtown was a little bit of a mess. I'm not gonna lie. I there was quite a bit of uh there's still we're still reeling from the post-COVID uh world that we all live in. The downtown has changed substantially since then. But it did seem like uh staying on the topic of the location. Uh you know, I'm assuming you guys have to look for a certain number of meeting rooms, certain ballroom sizes, uh hotel rooms. What how many hotel rooms do you guys have to f to look for for something like this? Just ballpark.
SPEAKER_03So normally I'm looking for 1500. Um, and with COVID, um, we have I I it was hard to tell what we were gonna end up with.
SPEAKER_05Okay. And and so same with and well, I mean, it looks like it worked out pretty well. So I'd it did.
SPEAKER_03I mean okay yeah, it was it turned out to be a perfect fit for us since the oh let me note this while I don't know if you know this little trivia piece of information, but this is the first time that Arima actually met in a convention center without other parties involved. So not only was it the first time in Denver, but it was the first time we met in the convention center by ourselves. So I really was looking for um not only convention center space that was easy to walk, but I needed hotel rooms that surrounded the convention center. And fortunately, the package that's offered by Denver is really a great package because all most of the hotels were across the street. Yeah, they're right across uh 14th Street there.
SPEAKER_05Uh-huh. Yeah. I did not know that. So, yeah, so let's see. I started going to these things. Uh my first one, I want to say, was 2005. And I want to say it was in the Palmer House uh Hilton in Chicago. That sounds right. So tip so historically, I mean this conference has been going on for for how long for Arima or AREA?
SPEAKER_02When did you guys yeah, for Arima? It was um the Palmer House used to be the host hotel for AREA and some of the other organizations. So that was way back in the 19 you know, 10, 1920s. So it that's where it used to be held annually.
SPEAKER_05So that's the historical kind of the OG for AREA and or the predecessor organizations.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, the other ones did too. Yes, and so normally what AREMA, I'm I'm only speaking of AREMA because that's the history I have for booking space. We would look for what's called a big box hotel, which would encompass um our expo space and meeting and hotel rooms. So you really would didn't have to leave the property, everything was in one area. Okay, kind of like a Vegas style of right, correct. But because Arima's doing a bang up job with growing, we decided that we needed to expand our um our space and look at convention center space so that we can grow our expo and grow our attendance numbers. We couldn't we've outgrown the big box hotel model.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I noticed we've gone from Palmer House, then you guys moved to the bigger Hilton over on the Hilton, Chicago, right? Yeah, right. And then you alternated that with uh Railway Interchange. Typically was a convention center style uh expo. Okay, that makes sense to me. Yes, but now you're saying as of 2022 and moving forward, are are you mostly looking for convention centers?
SPEAKER_03We are only yes, we are only looking at convention center space with hotels that marry well with that convention center. So um we are booked currently until 26 for the even years and then 25 for the odd years, and definitely in convention center and uh with a good hotel package.
SPEAKER_05So, what does the rundown look like from 2023 to uh 2020? You said six, I believe. What what are you looking at here?
SPEAKER_02So Railway Interchange 2023 will be October 1st through the 4th. And then as we move into AREMA 2024 conference and expo, it'll be September 15th through the 18th in Louisville, Kentucky. AREMA 2025, those dates will be in the fall and will be in Indianapolis.
SPEAKER_03And they are September 14th through the 17th.
SPEAKER_02And then as we move into AREMA 2026 annual conference and expo, September 13th through the 16th in Kansas City, Missouri.
SPEAKER_05Oh is that the first time for KC?
SPEAKER_02Uh yes. We've had symposiums there, but um for our conference, yes. And expo, yes.
SPEAKER_05And so that'll be in the in the expo center there. Okay, so uh we've been to Indy many times. And I heard, so is railway interchange gonna continue on every other year?
SPEAKER_02Uh railway interchange will not continue every other year with AREMA um being involved. 2023 will be our last participation unless we look at look at some future events from 28 on. Our Board of Governors um had been reviewing our relationship um as it was comprised with railway interchange with our other partners and uh for quite some time actually. And they recently exercised their fiduciary responsibility and acted to discontinue a REMAS participation in the future. So I do want to make it clear that there were very, very, very many successes with railway interchange, but and it was not an easy decision, but we are fully committed to 2023. We are actually very active in working with all the associations involved, uh RSI, REMSA, and RSSI, to make sure that 2023 is going to be an excellent event. And the way it looks now is that while AREMA will be having our own conference and expo um starting in 24 through 2027 for sure, um it railway interchange may still exist with the exhibitor associations involved. And those dates most typically will be in the the spring dates, and then our event will follow in the fall. So We're f fully committed. Wish everybody luck um as they go off in these new endeavors. And um, you know, we are like I said, we are already planning for twenty twenty three and having multiple meetings with other groups and our relationship with the other groups remains steadfast and strong.
SPEAKER_05Understood. And and it looks like, I mean, we're getting big enough that I mean, at least this conference uh it it felt almost like a really interchange. I mean, it just felt big. Uh the the main stage, uh that room on Monday was was just packed. Um the uh all the breakout rooms, the technical session rooms felt bigger than I've ever seen them. Um I mean Palmer House Hilton, I remember going to a technical session and there was it felt like there was 40 or 50 versus you know double that is just what it felt like to me. The rooms were really long and narrow, which was a little odd, but you could really get quite a few folks into those rooms. So I mean going off on our own seems like it makes a lot of sense. Other than maybe seeing some of that really big equipment, which I think is always fun to look at. So we'll get to do that next year in Indy, it sounds like we will get to that in Indy. Cool. And then of course, you know, nothing's permanent, it seems like. So who knows what 2028 uh has in store. But based on what uh Dez said uh when she was researching Denver in 2012, so you're I mean, are you looking right now, Des? What's the furthest date you're looking at in the future?
SPEAKER_03Well, believe it or not, we are trying not to book that far in advance because look at what happened with us with COVID. And boy, was that uh a challenge for us to get out of for 2020. Um I had to pull all the stops out to get us so that we didn't have to pay for that contract. So now we're looking, I just had a meeting with Beth today, and we were talking about uh working on 2027 uh with the possibility of 28 because we don't know what that's going to hold. Um, and then I have a list of cities that I'm gonna go after uh to see if they first of all even have the space available and if it fits within our time frame.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Got it. Yeah, so where was 2020 supposed to be?
SPEAKER_03It was supposed to be 2020 was supposed to be where was 2020? Dallas at the Anatole. How do I forget?
SPEAKER_02Dallas It was like a blur desk, like a blur virtual.
SPEAKER_03It was our last big uh box hotel. It was gonna be at the Hilton Anatole um in September, right, Beth? I think it was September. Yeah, yeah, it was. And then 21 was 21 was gonna be in Indy.
SPEAKER_05Okay, okay, so it was so we missed Dallas, and then we missed Indy. Okay, got it. Right. I do feel bad for the the arena presidents of that time. I know Mr. Sparks and uh Mr. Vic Babin, but I also thought it was very entertaining how you guys uh presented them with a what looked like a golden N95 mask trophy. That's funny.
SPEAKER_02Well, that that is correct. It was called the COVID cup, and I have since received two pictures from both Ed and Vic showing me that they've proudly displayed their COVID cup. So they they did get a kick out of it, and I'm glad they're displaying it for all to talk about.
SPEAKER_05That is so funny. That was a great idea. Um, well, let's do some fun facts here. So, how many um do we have an idea of how many people actually attended both the uh conference and expo in Denver?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so we were I mean slightly shy of 3200. Oh wow. Which was that well, can I just say that was truly unexpected? We budgeted for it to be 25% less, and and we kind of almost met that budget. Yeah, the full the full hundred percent budget.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was it was uh as we saw the numbers keep creeping up, we were like, this is amazing. Uh-huh. Uh let's not forget we're still in a pandemic, apparently. So uh we we honestly did not know what to expect. Um, and even at the last minute, we had exhibitors signing up for exhibit booths, um, sponsors. Uh just you know, the support that we received for this event was just amazing. Umheard of unheard of, and everybody was excited to be in person. It was great.
SPEAKER_05That's really cool. 3,200 people. Wow. And what how does that compare to say 10 years ago when we were in one of those big boxes, say the Hilton or the Palmer House?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, 10 years ago, we probably were in the 2000 range, like 2,800. Um so we surpassed that for sure.
SPEAKER_05So significant bump. And how many people were in the expo? Do you have any idea of how many exhibitors?
SPEAKER_02Well, there were we had over 230 booths, and one fun fact that I'd really like to highlight is we had over a hundred new exhibitors. These are folks that had never exhibited with AREMA before. So I do not know how they came out of the woodwork um or off the train tracks, or I don't know where they came from, but I'm so excited. There were a hundred new exhibitors. We put signs up throughout the exhibit of those folks that were new to us so uh people could recognize them. And um, you know, not only to the new exhibitors, but all the exhibitors were just very appreciative of the support and to our sponsors for what they did.
SPEAKER_03And to the new number, uh, this blew my brain, Sal, and that was we had 600 new conference attendees, and I'm gonna say 600 plus, and that has never happened. Where they came from, we have no idea, but we are so thankful for the support. Yeah, that is that is a major number.
SPEAKER_05That's amazing. Okay, that is really fantastic. So that's yeah, I think well, I mean, I think it plays into the fact that people are just excited to get back.
SPEAKER_03I totally agree with that, Walt. And that's the all we kept hearing was we're so glad to be face to face and not in a box. You know, so often we're so into uh speaking to each other via whatever platform we're using and not being face to face. But it was even for me, it was just so, and I know for Beth, it was just great to see everybody walk in the show floor and in the meetings. It was just such a great experience.
SPEAKER_02And that was the thing I could mention is that it was like a big old family reunion. It really was. It was a a president, a past president that um Chris Dodge, and I'm gonna give him a shout out. Uh I had not seen him for 15 plus years, our staff hadn't seen him, and it just it made me and he's local to Denver. So I was just tickled to see him. I was tickled to see all these folks that we hadn't seen for so long and to catch up with them. I mean, this is like you learn about folks as kids and their families and their jobs and what they're doing, and it was a family reunion.
SPEAKER_03It was just and and even on top of that, Walt, just not just the conference piece, but to even do face-to-face seminars. So I haven't done a seminar since COVID. I've everything's been virtual. Uh some uh I've done a webinar for almost for everything that I can think of, and now we're doing face-to-face seminars. So that in itself was it made me smile.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I I mean I I've said this, I've been on the record for saying this many, many, many times. Don't get me wrong, the technical presentations are interesting. The presentations in the general session are interesting, but you know, 90% of the value that you get is the hallway chat, yes, the networking. Uh I got to take part in a pretty neat tour of the Rocky Mountaineer, uh, which is a train that runs from Denver to Moab. So there was a couple buses that took us out to the yard to get to see that. Um, and just meeting new people along the way. It's just that's the best part. Uh I was really excited to meet a lot of the listeners that came out of the woodwork to say hey and appreciate what we're doing with the podcast.
SPEAKER_03And uh well, this podcast came about because of COVID too, when you think about it.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it was a good way to reach out to people and we're still here. How how many uh, you know, if you include all the general session presentations and all the technical tracked presentations on Tuesday, roughly how many presentations were there?
SPEAKER_02There were over 80 presentations, yeah, over 80. Um, shout out to the program committee uh that was involved in the review of all the abstracts and so I mean I need to shout out to everybody just to say thank you. Um it does not it takes uh it's not one person, one group that puts this conference on. It is just a there's many, many, many cooks in the kitchen.
SPEAKER_03Um I have a term, it takes a village. Yes. It really does take a village to put on a conference and a conference, a conference of this magnitude. I mean, when I think about the conference operating committee, which by the way, that the those group of individuals that work on site, they wear those cobalt blue shirts. There is no other industry person that I know of, and I know a lot of people in the meetings industry that has what we have. We they don't have a conference operating committee that that rolls up their sleeves, and if we need a sign move, they'll come move a sign. It is it just when I think about it, it just really makes me excited that we have a village that looks after not only us, but all of our members and the attendees, and just it just it just warms my heart.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's a lot of lot of folks to think to that degree. And everybody looks out for each other. Yes. Um there's just a like I said, there's not just one person, it's a village. That's a good way to say it does.
SPEAKER_05So of those, you know, 80 plus presentations, um, I guess the question that's on most people's mind is uh why of the 80 presentations was the emerging technologies panel that I moderated your favorite?
SPEAKER_02Well, because of your suit you were wearing. Oh listen, and the glasses and the tennis shoes. No, seriously, it was a great topic. Yeah. Um, we we've been talking about that for a long time. So I'm just glad that that was um that came out, you know, came about. It was relevant. Um well attended. Well attended for a Wednesday. Yeah. Um it was great. And Walt, thank you for being in let me thank you too. Thank you for being involved in that and for doing our podcast. We'll throw that in there too. Yes.
SPEAKER_05I had a great time. It was a really fun topic. Uh, I've received a lot of direct messages about it. And uh, you know, it it does bring me to the next topic too of you know, uh there were several people that missed it just because they left on Tuesday. And I know I've mentioned this to you in the past, and other people have said to me in the future, potentially there's a way to, and I know you're I know you're thinking about this, so I'm not blindsiding you, but perhaps there is a way to make Sunday really open to the technical committee meetings. Maybe opening the expo on Monday instead of Sunday and closing it on Wednesday. The question is, would that get more people to stick around? Because if you look at the room on Monday morning versus Wednesday morning, um, you know, I think a lot of people that were there Monday, uh, including a lot of the students and the younger people that we were trying to reach, I think they would have really enjoyed the topic on Wednesday. So is that is that something you guys are thinking about?
unknownYes.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna take it. We've had some internal discussions on that. Go ahead, Des.
SPEAKER_03Discussions as well as external discussions. I'm I'm working on the back end to see if we can shift the actual meeting to Monday. Um, ex the expo piece of the meeting, anyway. And let me also point out you bring up something where there were people that left on Tuesday, they will be able to see your presentation on demand. So all the right, so the entire conference with the um the sessions, the technical sessions, as well as the keynote um addresses will be on demand uh sometime in October. We have a date, I'm just gonna put say the middle of October. But once that once it's all uh created on the back end, uh attendees will receive a message stating that they can go on demand to uh look at those sessions that they might have missed. It was part of their registration, it was, and and and I think I can honestly say that's another great thing, even though COVID was terrible for so many reasons, but it also told us that we needed to create uh an advantage or a value to our conference for those that do not get to see everything. And this is our answer to that. Okay, so it's actual videos. Yes.
SPEAKER_05Oh, wow, very cool. I did not know that.
SPEAKER_03I mean that's been recorded. Yes.
SPEAKER_05Talk about a cool evolution, and once again, listeners, you get to hear it here first. I had no idea that was happening. Uh, I mean, I think when I started going, you handed out floppy discs at the We did.
SPEAKER_03You're right. It was uh um uh what do they call those things? I can't thumb drives. We were thumb drives.
SPEAKER_02And then we went to a link and then we went up to uploading it. And now you will be able, well, now there still will be proceedings that uh members and attendees will be able to view. Um they should have already gotten them, but members will get the final view of the proceedings as a member benefit, and those will be available probably in November, I believe. Um, but yes, and the on-demand piece is something that um with our uh purchase of a learning management system, um it uh allows us to be able to provide this value to members, and as Des mentioned, for those individuals that weren't able to attend. So while everybody will be able to see you as a panel discussion, moderating, and those folks that missed it by leaving on Tuesday, they will still be able to see it, which is fantastic.
SPEAKER_05That is cool. Yeah, I did not know that. So that's a first for Rima, and that's that is really cool. Uh, yeah, the only other thing I was noticing throughout the conference, and I think you guys tried to hit this head on, is uh it actually distracted me. I'm not gonna lie. When I walked out and I looked at the slide that showed pictures of who was speaking, I was like, whoof, man, uh the post-COVID headshot. Uh appears that a lot of us need to maybe update the uh the headshots. Because I'm like, that that was me from 2015, I think.
SPEAKER_03That's true. Well, well, we have an answer for that too. You know, we did the headshot lounge at the conference, so you could have taken a picture while you were there to update the photo.
SPEAKER_02There are many, many days and times scheduled for that. So make sure you see that next year. And that's for folks for their LinkedIn or whatever professional. And a photographer had a new way of doing it. You could see it instantaneous this year and get it immediately.
SPEAKER_05Oh, you didn't have to take it and get it developed?
SPEAKER_02No, no, no.
SPEAKER_03Oh, you are way. Listen, yeah, you're way. It's pre-COVID. You need to get with the program. We're now after COVID.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I think I'm in uh 1995 pre-COVID there. Not 2022, but okay, yeah, I know. I I was giving you a hard time, I was literally I saw Headshot Lounge multiple times, and I thought, yeah, I should probably go do that. And then I forgot to do it, and then I went out on stage and I looked at the slide and I was like, oh. And then I went to my LinkedIn and I thought, wow, that that is old. People are probably refused. That is not what that guy looks like anymore.
SPEAKER_02We will, um it's likely, and Des can confirm it will likely be done done next year as well.
SPEAKER_03So it's already approved.
SPEAKER_02It's in the budget. Yep, it's in the budget, and uh, while we highlight that for students to get out there, adults and those older folks can certainly go in there and get their headshots too.
SPEAKER_03It's open to all attendees.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_05Okay, cool. Well, this has been fun. I mean, I think overall I'm hearing this was a success uh with just the pure number of attendees, the the vibe, the uh sheer number of new booths in the expo hall. Um it seemed like the majority of the presentations went off without a hitch. Uh I I actually complimented the the folks behind the screen there at the A V I thought was really done well. Oh yes, yes in that giant ballroom. Um I would the the last question who who suggested the uh night late 1990s uh hip hop for the opening of the for the music. I thought I was in the wrong room. I was like, whoa, this feels like my my prom from 1997.
SPEAKER_03We we wanted to create an environment where you will wake up and it sounds like it worked.
SPEAKER_05It worked. Oh, it worked. Okay, yeah, more than my foot.
SPEAKER_03We were yeah, if you notice, while the entire conference had a refresh, that's what I'm gonna call it. It's been I'm gonna say it's been rebranded.
SPEAKER_05It felt new and fresh, and it felt like the conference had come a long way from pre-COVID, frankly. It just felt different.
SPEAKER_03That was that was so glad that you you saw it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Oh, I think we all did, and no short thanks to the two of you and all the volunteers that have made it what it was. Uh I would just put the Denver conference in the books as a success. And I want to thank both of you for being on the show today and sharing everything. This has been fun. I've just looked at the clock here and that went pretty darn fast. So it was pretty easy talking to both of you. I appreciate that. And uh hopefully, if you guys find a place for me, I can continue to help you out.
SPEAKER_03I don't think that's gonna be a problem. We will find a space. You have a space, permanent space. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02You you're not replaceable, you're just you wouldn't be the same, Walt.
SPEAKER_05Yep, this is true. I will pleasure, Walt. I'll make sure my wife hears everything you just said. Thank you. All right, you two. We'll talk to you soon.
SPEAKER_02Okay, thank you. Take care.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for rolling with Arima on today's episode of Platform Chats. For further information about Arima, please visit arema.org or contact us at info at arema.org.
