I still remember my first water and wastewater industry trade show. I’d only been working at COLE Publishing for about five months. I started in September as editor of Cleaner magazine, then took over Municipal Sewer & Water in January and attended my first Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo a couple months later. That was winter 2012.
It feels like forever ago, but in many ways it’s still too fresh to be that distant. COLE Publishing owned the show, and almost the whole company was there. We had a huge — and very memorable — company dinner on my first night in Indianapolis. We had company meetings at 6 a.m. every morning and then moved en masse over to the convention center, well ahead of exhibitors and attendees, to make sure everything was organized and ready for the day. Even though I’d been on the job for a while at that point, that was the week I felt like I truly became part of the company and the greater industry.
Those shows were a lot of work for everyone involved, but they were also fun. We were all working together, putting in long days and doing whatever we could to make the show successful for all involved.
I’ve been to quite a few trade shows since then, and I still cross paths with some of the people I met that first year in Indy. I was just in Chicago at a show with plenty of big companies, offering everything from pumps and valves to SCADA systems and flow-monitoring solutions. What really stood out, however, was the conversations — some with people I’ve known for years and some with people I’d just met. The number of companies promoting AI solutions for various water and wastewater issues came up several times. There was talk about what it would mean for the industry, what could improve as a result, and in some cases, what it would mean for people in positions that might be radically changed by AI. It really made me think about the future of the industry, the company I work for and what it’ll all look like 10 years from now. Will AI take over and put us all out of work?
A few days after the show, I heard the sad news that Bob Kendall had passed away. Bob of course was the co-founder of COLE Publishing and the Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo, now the WWETT Show. Bob was always friendly, generous and appreciative of the people who worked for him. He made people feel lucky to be a part of it all.
In any society, any industry, any company, it’s the people who dictate what the present can be and what the future holds. I learned that lesson in so many ways on that first trip to Indianapolis. Like COLE Publishing President Jeff Bruss said after Bob’s passing, “Bob always put people first. I believe that’s what created all the success he had both personally and professionally.”
The water and wastewater world is big. We don’t all live in the same place or work for the same company, but we’re all part of the same industry, and we all have an impact on its future. I learned that right away on that first trip to Indy. It’s a lesson I won’t forget.
Enjoy this month’s issue.
