Early on the morning of June 21 in downtown Seattle, NWETC Professional Training Coordinator Robert Harkins boarded a train headed toward Portland. The night before, Executive Director James Workman had loaded up his car with flyers, banners, and other trade show necessities and drove to the Red Lion, Jantzen Beach just over the Oregon border. That Tuesday morning, they set everything up and talked to as many people as possible.

They were there for "Managing Stormwater in Oregon", a conference and trade show organized by the Northwest Environmental Business Council. It was a long day, but at the end of it, they had spoken to dozens of people; some came up to say thanks for courses that they've attended recently, others said they'd heard of us, but weren't really sure what we are about, and others just wanted free mini chocolate bars from the candy bowl on the table...

Fast forward almost a week later...today, June 27. James Workman was again setting up the table, the signs, and the chocolate bars. This time, he got a couple of pictures:

This one was the "CleanTech Showcase 2016", presented by CleanTech Alliance. CleanTech's website describes the event as "the premier cleantech business conference in the Pacific Northwest." This time, the audience was different, but reactions were similar.  It was an honor to be included among the exhibitors, and gratifying to again have people stop by the booth and share stories of courses they'd taken, and hear the types of topics they'd like to see us tackle.

That's the reason we take the time to go to these events: we're putting a renewed focus on reaching out to those who we serve, with the goal of establishing more relationships. The more people we connect with, the better we'll have our fingers on the pulse of the industry. With more/stronger relationships, we'll hear about the hot topics, know when regulations are about be updated, and be able to form partnerships with like-minded organizations, agencies and companies.

So, these last two weeks have been busy, but productive. If any of our colleagues reading this have thoughts about where we should go next, or who we should connect with, we'd love to hear from you! Let us know what environmental events are on your calendar, and maybe we'll see you there!