"AHMP National Conference 2023: Where Environmental Professionals Converge"

Welcome to the environmental transformation podcast. I'm your host, Sean Grady. And today's guests are Kelsey Ford and Amanda Waddy. They are both on the executive board of the HAHMP, which is the Alliance of Hazardous Material Professionals. Kelsey is the Madam Chair of the organization, and we're here to talk about the upcoming 2023 National Conference.

And so Kelsey and Amanda, welcome to the show.

Thank you. Thank you, Sean. We're happy to be

here. Yeah, no, I'm excited. You know, we're all fellow CHMMs on the call here. We've been involved with this organization for a long time. At least I know I have over 15 years. And you know, really liked this conference that you guys are, that we're getting ready to host for all the members.

And so, you know, Amanda or Kelsey, one of you guys want to talk a little bit about the conference that's coming up when it is and, and all the good information that listeners need to know about if they want to come and attend.

Yeah, of course. Well, it is upcoming in August. It will actually be the last week of August in Omaha, Nebraska.

So that's pretty exciting. I know when I say Nebraska, my, my Midwest roots and accent comes out here. So

that's good. What's the dates there specifically for the listeners on, in, in last weekend,

27 through the 30th,

47 through the 30th.

Yep. With pre con happening just before.

Right. That's great. So for the listeners who may not know much about AHMP and the Alliance of Hazardous Material Professionals, let's talk a little bit about that so people can understand like, oh, okay, I know what this organization is all about now.

So, so, but maybe Kelsey, you want to kind of explain to the listeners what, you know, who we are, what we do, all that good stuff? Yeah. Yeah.

Well, we are, of course, the premier hazardous materials membership organization. So historically we've supported the membership groups associated with Those who have CHMMs, the Certified Hazardous Materials Management Certificate, and we've expanded recently to include not just CHMM certificates but also anybody who has to do with hazardous waste, environmental safety, health, really all of the different facets of environment, health and safety.

It's not just the RCRA. It's not just the waste. It's, it's

other all the media, right?

Environmental health, safety and security. Right.

Right. Yeah. And now there's no in sustainability and ESG now too. That's the whole new one. Right. And yeah,

exactly. Ever expanding. Well,

I know because all, all the environmental people that are serving in industry right now, I mean, most of them are, have more than one hat to wear.

They're not just wearing the safety hat or the waste management hat or the, you know, air hat, right? They're wearing hats that have all those disciplines a part of it.

Yeah. Limiting themselves. If they. Only said that they did one thing, especially when those multimedia audits come around. You got it. You got to be a little bit of a jack of all trades.

We certainly don't need to be an expert. And that's what I like to think that the HMP brings around is really expanding that network network of your available resources. So maybe you can't say you're a subject matter expert in any one medium, but you know people who are, especially if you're a member of HMP.

Yeah, no, yeah, I'd agree. And, you know, when I look back, I thought that the, the credential of the CHMM, it was kind of one, it was, you know, in my view, one of the industry credentials that you could get, you could, you know, obtain, like the CSP for safety, but it was like, Okay. I don't do that much, but I do more in this area, but I need to be, you know, recognized and have a credential behind me for this.

And, and also I wasn't a PE and I wasn't a geologist either. So I was like, I'm kind of, you know, I'm playing in the same space, but I need something to kind of elevate my game. And I thought that was the thing I wanted to do. And it really helped me in my career. How do you see the CHMM being viewed now?

In the, in the industry right now. Well, I think that

definitely it's been something that's been highlighted in the industry. We've been able to get that codified into into regulation, not necessarily the CHMM itself, but that there is a qualified. person. And the CHMM meets that qualified person intent.

So that's, that's a really exciting thing that's happened over the last five years or so.

Oh, that's true. Yeah. How about you, Amanda? You got anything to add to that either as well?

Well, we we've, especially in post COVID, we've really. Try to, like I said, cast a wide wider net. You know, we've been very tied to just CHMM, which is great.

I'm a CHMM have been for I don't even want to say years and years, and it's been great for me for sure. I have many other credentials. I know people like to pick on me now because I'm even an attorney and I still work in the environmental sector. So really, I mean, We do love when people have credentials, but we want to make sure we're being accepting of all kinds of different representations as far as what people have studied, what people have passed as exams.

We don't want to just say we turn you away because you're not CHMM. But I do think it's important that people understand it's competitive out there in this industry. People are getting bachelors and masters degrees in, in fields that we kind of just trained on in the field. And. Having these credentials is what's going to set you apart from just, you know, the masses that I'm just saying it's, it's not limited to just CHMM anymore, right?

Well,

that's a really good point, Amanda. That was one of the reasons that I really liked AHMP as an organization is because it wasn't just one. It was a diverse. group of people who would get together and, you know, you could get introduced to somebody that did waste manifest. You could get introduced to somebody that did hazard analysis.

You could get introduced to somebody who did legal and, and litigations for environmental law. And you're all in this one room versus some of the other groups that are out there where it's very, very focused in one area. This is, this has always been a very diverse group of folks because there are so many.

Diverse areas within the environment, health and safety profession and not just hazardous materials. Yeah,

yeah, no, I, I would agree. Well, let's talk a little bit about, you know, why did you, I mean, you, why did either you join the, the, the organization specifically? I mean, what was the draw for you?

Yeah.

Really the reason that I joined was one of my professors had CHMM behind their names. I kind of fell into environment health and safety in a, little bit of a different way than a lot of folks. I went to school, I got a master's degree in ESNH. So now you are seeing more folks go into the field with that.

And I saw CHMM as my professors, you know, the letters behind their names and knew that if I was going to excel in The industry that I needed to reach for those as well.

Oh, that's great.

Yeah, I, I, I was gonna say I got myself into chemical waste lab packing as soon as I graduated college. So I'm sure I'm sure you have some of your viewers triumvirate environmental you know.

Participants. So that's where I, you know, that's where my career launched off and it was almost a borderline requirement to go and get your CHMM credential again, because it really does set you aside. They can, you know, they can say like, we're sending these technicians to your facility and they have these credentials, you know, and that really helps.

But to that point and, and then with having the CHMM, that's how I got involved in the Northeast chapter, the New England chapter. And those guys are great. They're very active. They're always having events and really, you know, They like to throw a beer or two around, and so do I, and that's what I get to talk about.

Network, you gotta, you gotta

network. You gotta network,

you gotta, but you gotta have a personality in this field a little bit. But so with that, I want, I don't want to be saying, hey, we're a bunch of alcoholics, but for the young professionals that don't have that outlet. And really again, this this era of where everything is so virtual, it's just about making that human connection and that actual, you gotta, you gotta be able to get your real face in front of people.

That's how you're going to get them to trust you. It's how you're going to get them to remember you. And that's really what, you know, we do here in this group. And it's, I mean, I've, I've been, you know, in Neacham for, you know, since the beginning of my career. Which made me sort of think, Oh, you know what, let me get involved in national because I didn't really understand why we were sort of floating as individual chapters around.

And I came to find out we don't, we're not supposed to, we're not really floating. We're, we're part of this larger

network.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I see. You know, if you want to talk a little bit about the connectedness of the various chapters and how it rolls up into the national organization, you know, maybe one of y'all can talk about that because people listening might be, you know, well, I'm not from the northeast.

How do I get connected to if there is a local chapter, you know, talk about what that might look like and how it does connect.

Yeah, I mean, there's a local chapter list within the Alliance of Hazardous Materials Professionals website, which is ahmp. net or ahmp. net. net. org, excuse me, and we'll make sure that Sean gets that link for any of the listeners.

And you can actually search for a chapter. There is a chapter list that covers most, most regions. There's also sections that are available as well as a virtual. Chapter for those who don't necessarily have local chapter offerings.

Oh, that's good. I mean, and, and I have been participating in my local chapter off and on over the years and they are great opportunities.

So you get to get to get together with that networking group of professionals. We do You know, I guess field events where we'll go out and do a field you know, audit, so to speak, or not really an audit, but a field trip to maybe go see the local Covanta incinerator or, you know, the local landfill or some other, you know, technology type company that's doing something for maybe recycling and, and, you know, circular economy.

So there's all kinds of neat things that people can be exposed to. By participating in their local chapters and they get CEUs, right? They get CMPs by participating and everybody needs those.

Exactly. Exactly. And then I guess, because you've talked about tours I wanted to make sure that folks knew that we were going to offer a couple of tours as a part of the conference in Omaha, Nebraska.

Ah, okay. Let's drive into a little bit of this agenda that's coming up. So you guys have been working really hard. The conference committee has Working hard to pull down the, pull together the topics and soliciting people's interest in presenting and things like that. So maybe let's talk about, you know, some of the things that they could expect if they come to the conference and then maybe some things they need to know, you know, in preparation coming.

Yeah, of course. There's a lot of really great content as far as technical speakers. There are morning and afternoon sessions in, on all three of the days. The conference runs Monday, Wednesday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Wednesday is a half day. Lots of different offerings. There's going to be a panel.

That's about the, the river the Omaha River front out there, and, mm-hmm , the hazardous materials challenges that they that they experience on the riverfront which is I think, really interesting. Because you talk about chemical spills or pollution or any of those types of of items.

And we're going to have a great panel of distinguished guests for that. So that's super exciting. We'll also have a keynote speaker. And this is a environment health scientist from the CDC, the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry. And his name is. And we are really interested into hearing what he has to say about micro and nanoplastics and the exposure levels there.

So, ah,

yeah, I mean, you know, microplastics and plastics in the ocean and single use pla, I mean, all, that's a huge topic in the industry right now and how we can mitigate some of those exposures and challenges with using that, that those materials and how it creates, you know, a problem with us in the environment.

So that should be pretty interesting.

There's also a lot of pre conference workshops, too. We have one that is a DOT hazardous materials highway refresher. So if anybody that does DOT type operations in their, in their job, there's also a 8 hour HAZWOPER refresher, which is pretty exciting because I know I'm always looking for a new way to get those done annually versus sitting through the...

There's a, a refresher on the Clean Air Act also RCRA and the hazardous waste refresher there. I know I'm leading a session on what if checklist hazard evaluation techniques, so I'm real excited for that. And then, of course, there's a grant from the on hazardous materials regulations.

It's awareness class. It's a three day workshop, and that's from the National Partnership for Environmental Technology Education. So that'll be exciting, too. Oh, okay.

And that one's free. So all these pre con workshops come at just an additional fee to the actual registration, but the actual one is free.

So, and it's our own Ray Davis, who has been partnering with even our chapters putting on this, this course. So if you, if you get to this conference, you're going to meet these other. Local representatives, and that's how you're going to even build your network. This isn't just nameless, faceless people showing up to a national conference.

These are people who are within reach of your network, right? So, in fact, Omaha, they're the local, the Heartland chapter, they are the ones who really have been putting this on in tandem with the Great Plains Trap chapter and our chair of the committee for the conference is Katie Gutierrez and she, I mean, she stood up.

She's a local chapter person who stood up and said, I'll be the committee chairperson for this. And we're going to get this conference underway. She got us in touch with the local representatives in Omaha to have these great tours that we have coming up. And they've been very involved. So. Thank you.

You know, somebody who was just sort of hanging out in chapter land now involved in national, just like that.

Well, yeah, I mean, yeah, every time a national conference is selected, there usually is a, an effort to see if they could pull in the local chapters to support, right. I mean, that's kind of been the MO for many years.

And it's really great to see that the, the hair, you know, the. The two chapters there have, you know, kind of stepped up to help out. That's really great. And it looks like there's a service project too. Is there, is that right?

Yeah. Yeah. There's going to be a service project associated with with the conference.

There typically is most years. And this one is, is really exciting because it's actually going to be done before the cyber chapter cookout. And trash in the in the park and along the riverfront. So

let's, let's talk a bit about that cyber chapter. You know, that's like the, that's the, the chapter that's in the cloud.

I mean, they're not physically in a location, but they're on online community. Right.

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I know I've been a member of the Cyber Chapter for many years, as well as the local chapter I think Amanda's probably also touched in with the Cyber Chapter from years to years and this is the, the one time that people get to meet in person, and it's, of course, not a technical, Discussion, but it's a nice time to actually network and get to see the faces actually face to face versus on the computers.

Oh,

yeah, for

sure. For sure. And as a chapter, they have great content and sometimes I worried that their name of confuses. People that go cyber, it's about IT or computers or something. But really what it is, is it's about access. So they put on great environmental regulatory content. They help a lot of our chapters that are actual brick and mortar places with putting on their essentials of hazardous materials management courses that we offer if you haven't, so if you haven't heard of that, by all means, reach out to us. It's our comprehensive preparatory course that we, we compile ourselves, we design ourselves, and then we partner with, you know, chapters as well as other agencies who are looking to train local, locally geographic people who want to get their credentials.

And we I was going to say, but we're not having that one. The national conference this year.

Gotcha. Gotcha. Now, did let's touch on the emergency response scenario. You know, I, I believe Union Pacific Railroad's emergency response manager is helping lead that. Is that correct?

You know, I think that there's some really exciting things that are going on for the emergency response scenario, but it's been a little bit hush, hush up till now.

Cause I know that they don't want to. They don't want to give away some of the secrets, secrets, secrets. So yeah, if you're interested, I know that there's a registration block for it on the conference registration page. But as far as the specifics, it's been, it's been a bit hush hush, but I know it's always something that's going to be exciting.

A little bit of

a teaser there. Maybe a little, maybe just a little bit of one there. Yeah. Now what about some panel discussions? I'm interested to see, you know, what type of topics that we'll be, you know, hosting at the conference. And you know, a lot of the tracks that are going to be happening will be interesting.

But, you know, if we could run through maybe a bit of like what some of the panel discussions will be, and, and just give the listeners a bit about what some of the tracks topics they're going to learn from, because I went through the last and on the agenda and. I was actually pretty pleased with some of the topics this year that there are some new cutting edge topics that, you know, we need to talk about, right?

You know, PFAS, ESG, you know, digital technology, stuff like that. We need those because it's leading the conversation in our industry and we need to be on top of it. And so I'm just curious, you know, let's talk a little bit about that.

Yeah, I think I mean, there's always a lot of really great speakers. There's also some discussions on sustainability.

Of course, hazardous materials. Yeah, it's, it's great. We have a lot of really great speakers. I mean, I guess

Kelsey, you're one of the speakers, so. I am one

of the speakers. Yeah.

You're doing audits? Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Audits and inspections. You know, really it's going to be, it's going to be the grassroots topics that you need to refreshers on, but then it's going to be the new cutting age sort of information as well.

I know we've got one, like you're saying the sustainability bees versus locusts. I mean, yeah, maybe that seems a little, a little out there, but the fact is. Knowing that information is going to help you be able to talk the talk better about what you're actually doing in the environmental sector. If you keep yourself narrow to just working in your industry, just knowing what you want, all it's going to take is another recession and then you have to get your skills built up again.

You know, that particular industry might not be there for you. So it's about expanding your knowledge base. And so we've got some fun, you know Background kind of topics like that, that you're going to be sitting through, but also there's going to be the tried and true, like how this was saying Rekra and that sort of thing.

Absolutely. Yeah, no, exactly. I mean, there's, there's going to be a bunch of really good things there. When we talk about you know, the panel discussion, any topics there that's going to be really like a group conversation that we wanted to hit on?

Yeah, the main panel discussion that we're having is the redevelopment of the Omaha Riverfront and the challenges that they're having with the hazardous materials with that.

So that's, that's our main panel. We do have a couple pop up sessions that are going to be more like brainstorming and, and discussion for, for some of the committee work that's happening. So I know that we're going to be launching this Emerging Professionals, which is a rebranded young professionals group at the conference.

And we're really looking for ideas from folks who are maybe new to the career, either you know, new because they're just out of school or new because they're changing careers. So we're looking for feedback from some of those folks on what they want to see, what offerings they want, how we can engage with them more.

So that's one of the other discussions. That's not quite a panel, but it's a discussionary.

I think that's a really key one because, you know, there's a lot of us in the industry who've been doing this for a while, you know, there's some of the, I call them the gray hairs, right? You know, we've been in here, you know, I've been doing this for 25 years and, and managing our jobs pretty well, effectively.

But we do have a group of new Gen Z's, some Gen Xers that are still kind of like figuring out what they're doing in their business and getting into this industry. And they need the mentoring from. These you know, Gen Xers and I think that there's just a lot of groups that need, you know, they want to know like, what's in it for me.

Right. And, and they're, they, they learn so much different than we learned back in the day. Like we would just take out the book and we'd start reading the books and everything. And they're like, Hey, I don't have time for the book. I'm Googling that stuff. Right. I mean, how do we connect with the. The new, you know, emerging professionals in a way that, you know, hits them where they need to be to help them be more, you know, in tune with what's going on in the industry.

It comes down to our tribal knowledge is what they really need to understand that they need to grasp from us. And then a lot of instances, but like you're saying, they have a lot to teach us, you know, that we're still, we just aren't. We don't have the time, maybe the bandwidth to really stay on top of. So it's really about that organic growth that we, we need them to come take our information, our wisdom, and then teach us how to Google, please.

You know, sort of thing.

What is

TikTok?

Yeah. How to rethink and reprogram our own minds on how to maybe do things in a different way. That's maybe more effective, more efficient that, you know, we just hadn't thought about. I mean. I know, you know, more of the aging population in our industry might be a little more intimidated by technology, you know, like, oh, I got to learn a new program.

I don't even know how to do that. And, you know, these new professionals coming in, they're digital natives. They grew up with this, like, you know, I didn't. You know, I mean, you know, so it's a difference, right? It's a big mental difference, I think, on how to approach things.

Yeah. And I mean, with membership organizations and trying to figure out how to navigate through that change that's part of it too.

And we need these emerging professionals to help guide us on, on how to navigate and what they want to see. You know, when I was growing up in the industry, it was just the in person conferences. You didn't do any of this virtual stuff. You know, a podcast. What's that? You

know? We didn't, yeah, it didn't really kind of come into play back then.

And now it's a big thing. And, and I think more than anything, it's just it's going to give the young professionals or emerging professionals opportunities to take on new leadership roles, like, I mean, this is where they can come in and contribute to an organization that needs help. Right. And they can immediately get plugged in and start growing their career.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And I think we are welcoming that emerging professional. They have a lot to offer us and we have a lot to offer them. So let's do this synergistically and organically and let's, let's all get together at the conference and start a conversation.

That's right. That's right. That's right.

Okay. So we got it. We got it. We got some good keynote. We got a good keynote speaker. We all got some panel discussions. Let's talk a little bit about you know, the exhibitors and, and what do we have for, for, you know, the downtimes in between sessions for, you know, the attendees and, and cause usually that is like the time you can connect with professionals that you need to know.

Thank you. To help you get your job done because you don't really hire the contractor or you need to hire the contractors to come out and do stuff because you're not doing it all yourself and you need to figure out who these people are so you can develop a rapport with them in a professional relationship.

Talk about that. Yeah.

Well, we'll definitely have some time for exhibitor time. That is, I think where we're going to have our snacks and beverages and those breaks are with the exhibitors so that we're able to kind of. Organically talk with each other and talk with some of those exhibitors. And, and they for sure have the time to connect as well.

We always appreciate our sponsors and our, you know, our regulars to Clean Arts of Veolia. And then you know, we're going to have those booths set up. Walk around, glass of wine. I'm really sounding like an alcoholic. Yeah, happy hour, right? We gotta have a happy hour. Seriously, you gotta have that happy hour, walk around.

And so, and that is Monday evening, if I am not mistaken. And actually, even, you know, we have for the new folks, we've got the orientation breakfast in the morning, first thing Monday. And then, you know, there's the awards, the awards ceremony, which is going to be, that is Tuesday. I'm trying to just...

Keep on top of my schedule here, but it's one of the evenings, right? So that is where you're going to get this, the opportunity to actually showcase the things your chapter does and what makes them great. And we honor that, you know, we give out an award for, for your great work and your participation, your activity come talk about your chapter, come learn what other chapters are doing.

And then actually all the chapters to have the opportunity to send a delegate. At a discounted rate to our conference and that those individuals all we have, we have a meeting with them on. It's the Sunday before, so they have to come a little bit earlier. We basically give them the layout of how the conference works and just sort of, you know, familiarize them a little more with what HMP does and, you know, why this is a great opportunity and how grateful we are to have them.

And then we forced them to go and mediate the different technical sessions. So then they get to have the opportunity to a little bit of Little bit of public speaking. We set it all up for them. And again, it's great to get, it's a great way to get your face out in front of folks. So we, and just, just be yourself a little.

Yeah. That's a great little benefit that the organization puts on for the local chapters is to be able to, you know, send a delegate. I know that a lot of the, a lot of times you would meet the delegates and they were either long time of participants or they were like new to the whole thing, and they were just like amazed that this was like.

A really great, you know, conference and an organization to be part of. So I'm glad we do that for the local chapters because it's a way to get, you know, support and people helping out and plugged in. So that's really good. And then, you know, any attractions that are going on? I mean, like, okay, I'm going to Omaha.

What's in Omaha, right? Like what's, what can you do besides go to the conference in Omaha?

Well, there's, I mean, one of the really great things about Omaha is that well, Nebraska in general is Ogallala.

And actually Omaha is part of sits on top of the thickest part of that aquifer. So as environment health and safety professionals, like just thinking about the environment portion that's pretty cool. And then all of the agriculture that happens there and just that it's a melting pot for agriculture of course, water.

And then also. That there is both the large cities and small cities, the rural cities, and understanding that all of those hazardous materials professionals can get together in this, in this melting pot of the city.

So I see here, there's like there's maybe a zoo attraction. So some people take these little opportunities to bring their family out because they also go to a conference.

So, you know, dad's at the conference and mom and the kids go do something or vice versa, you know? So there's a zoo. Right. And you know, what else do we have? I mean, I think there's some, there's some nice adult beverage type locations, the watering holes, I think, in a, in a downtown area, if I recall, that's I've been there a few times.

I think there, yeah, there's old market. And then I think there's like a triple a baseball or double a baseball team that's there in town too, that could be. Maybe playing while we're there. That could be something interesting.

I'm looking forward to the zoo. Cause I am a zoonerd myself. And it is the.

Largest indoor rainforest oh yeah. World's largest desert, indoor rainforest, and indoor desert. So

that, that would be a good attraction. I'd like to see that. That would be great. I'm, I'm a bit of a, a gardener myself, so I always like those types of you know, types of events where I can go in and get to a, you know, an indoor.

You know, attraction like that. That's great.

So we, we picked Omaha really because, well, one, the chapter really was gunning for it. And so when we started talking with them and just like feeding off of their enthusiasm, although, you know, many of us haven't been to Omaha. I actually used to live in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which is just a few hours north.

It is a absolutely beautiful area. They've got this riverfront going on renovation that, that when we're down there, it's gonna be essentially, The grand opening of this riverfront remodel that they've done. There's a lot of civil engineering that went into this and all kinds of fun regulations that they had to make sure they were managing that I know they're very excited to share with us.

And we have our cyber barbecue picnic is going to be down in that actual area. So you get to go and you get the opportunity to go and see some of that local beauty as opposed to just being in the. The facility, which I'm quite certain is also beautiful.

Oh, that's great. No, that's really good. I like to see that.

I mean, you know, you want to take in a little bit of local flare when you go to these places, at least I do. And, and so that's really, that's really good. Okay. Let's talk a little bit, if we could, about, you know, you're going to attend this. Do, are there a continuous maintenance points or CEUs that a person will obtain and how many do they get for this?

I mean I think making the justification to attend a conference like this with your employer, sometimes you really gotta, you know, make a good justification. So what I'm assuming this would be one of the. The big highlights. Hey, I'm going to get some CEUs here. What's, what's the story on that?

Yeah. The certification contact hours is what we're calling them.

The contact hours, because there are so many folks with different Certifications that do attend this conference. So we don't necessarily want to be exclusive in terminology. But yes you will be receiving contact hours for attending the conference and certificates are available through HMP.

After the fact, and depending on if you are looking at just the three days for the week that's 20 contact hours that you can get but if you are going to do some of the pre conference workshops, there's additional contact hours you can get there as well. The tours also count as contact hours.

Really, all of the technical events that we're offering count as contact hours.

Oh, that's great. So at a minimum for, you know, CHMM credential holders, you have to have 20 CEUs a year that, you know, just to kind of maintain. So by attending this, you kind of knock out your, all your requirements for the year.

That's a really good deal. I think. You

know, yeah, yeah, for sure.

Yeah, I would agree. I'd agree. You know, I've, I've attended a lot of these conferences over the years and the camaraderie that you build and the relationships that you build is, is just, you know, it's been one of the highlights of just, you know, being in this field, right?

I mean, it's like, he's, Oh, I know rich cart ride. People might know this guy, rich cart, right? He's been around in this industry for years. And I've, you know, he was one of the one. First people I ever met that was like, Hey, maybe you should do this. And I was like, okay. And he came and spoke to our Indiana chapter back in 2004 or something when I just was getting, you know, in this business as a, as a consultant.

And it's like, okay, yeah, maybe I should do this. You know, you should do it. And so we got connected and we started growing. Once we, you know, growing our relationship and, but other people that I've met in that, in this group, I mean, There's a lot of like after hour fun things that happen when you like, we used to have poker tournaments.

So I don't know if you guys are involved in those back in the day. That was a lot of fun. You, we'd have a, we'd have a host of exhibitors get together and we'd host a poker tournament and it was fantastic. It was like, and it was great. And And then other things like that too. And I know Steve Laughlin's probably listening.

He's like Mr. Pub crawl King around here. The guy can, you know, do that with the best of them. So he's, he's somebody who, you know, develops a network of people that, you know, you get connected with and you want to be a part of and learn things from, and you can always call this guy and say, Hey, I need to know something about this environmental regulation.

And he's usually. Pretty, pretty, you know, knowledgeable about how to answer those questions. So great way to connect, right? So anything planned afterwards for you guys?

Oh, for after the conference or after

hours type thing that, you know?

Oh yeah. Well there's after hours with the awards ceremony on Monday.

So that has appetizers and beverages available. And of course, just to connect Tuesdays, the cyber chapter cookout. That's a great one. Yeah. Yeah. We'll also be having Sunday before the conference actually kicks off on Monday. We'll be having a little get together unofficial kind of happy hour kind of thing happening at one of the local, areas downtown. So you don't need to get an Uber or you don't need to rent a car. You should be able to walk to that. So those are some of the things that'll be happening. And I'm, I'm sure that people will organically get groups together for lunch or for post post award ceremony beverages, or, you know, that kind of

thing.

Sure. Yeah, I think everybody'd be looking forward to that. One of the questions that came up was like, well, what's one of your favorite memories of being, you know, at an AAMP, AHMP

conference? Well, as far as a memory, I mean, I think it was probably a good memory post conference looking back on the conference.

My first conference that I spoke at was in Washington, DC. And then I was there. Afterwards, we sent out this email on, oh, highlights of AHMP conferences. My talk was one of them. So,

yeah, yeah, yeah. I've spoken a couple of times. And you know what? It's really nervous when you're nerve wracking when you go and talk about hazardous waste to all the hazardous waste professionals, they all know it. Right. So that's always fun when you're going up there to talk about that. It seems like, I spoke several times at the conference. It's really a great opportunity to, you know, share with them your knowledge. And, and, you know, you can't, you can't beat it and you develop new friendships. So I liked it. And always have Amanda, what are you looking forward to?

I'm like, I have so many topics I want to talk about right now.

So for instance Washington DC was my favorite memory of, of national conferences. I'm just backtracking now because that was my opportunity to be a delegate too, for you know, just meeting all the people. And I think to your point about being a speaker, even. I, I could see that it could be a nerve wracking experience in that everyone's, you know, seems very, you know, professional and they're experts, but as you grow in your career, you sort of realize we're all people in this industry and we've got ideas to share.

And it's not like, it's not about gotcha moments or anything, or what do you mean you didn't cite that, you know, record citation properly or something. I have that memorized. I used to love fighting people about. P listed codes. Anyway and that's not necessarily what it's about, right? It's not about showing how much you know, but it's about extending that conversation, really, about what can we do to make this a better place for us all to live, right?

So that's what I'm looking forward to, really, is, seeing people and talking with them, like, you know, that's usually what I get out of it.

Well, and getting the name, the faces with the names, too. Like, the first time I met Linda Lawhorn, who's in charge of the awards she is a hoot, and it was so much fun to get to see her and meet her for the first time.

Just, you know, and there's so many people Like that, that, you know, I, I hate to throw out a name cause I'm going to miss every, you know, not be able to get everyone. But yeah, it's a great group of folks.

No, I, I agree. And well, I'm looking forward to it and I think it should be a great conference.

Lots of good things coming up with it. How to, how, you know, how do people get involved at the HMP if they really were like, Hey, I want to do this. And, and, you know, what's the process. Cause I think people need to understand there is a bit of a process to kind of join and, and, and become a member.

But more importantly, how do they, you know. Get involved. What's the first step?

I mean, I, I don't know if I'd say there's much of a process. We have our, you go to our website, and you, you know, we've got the member location, and you, you, you sign up, right? And so then what we can do is we can help place you, if you were interested, in whatever your local chapter network is there too.

But a great way to get involved in national is to self nominate for the board of directors. I've been, this is my third year now on the board of directors. I know we always push for a fresh meat. I mean, I'm sorry, what? Yeah, so get on the board for new ideas. Fresh ideas, fresh outlook, right? I was the vice vice chair for my first two years.

And then I took more of a role. I actually ended up signing up to be their general council of HMP, but I'm also on the board of directors. So I mean, there's a great opportunity for advancement, but just getting involved and seeing how an actual nonprofit operates. And that's not something a lot of people get the opportunity to do.

And you don't need any special skills really for it. Just

That's a good point, Amanda. I mean, you've got an opportunity to become a board member, you know, of something of some organization and, you know, it could be one of those stepping stones in your career path. You know, you want to be on a executive board somewhere.

Well, you know, a lot of people are interested in those kind of individuals, but you know, it's good to have a little experience under your belt and the nonprofit's a good place to start. Right.

Yeah. And we are, we are volunteers. You know, you want to make that clear that, you know, it's our time that really we're putting out there as well as our, our subject matter expertise, but we are not getting paid.

And

so sometimes things don't happen as fast as we

like. We have day

jobs. Yeah, we have day jobs and everything else. Right. Exactly. But it's a

good group of folks. And yeah. And, and actually with respect to membership, if you sign up for the conference, you get The rest of the year in membership. So you become an AHMP member for the rest of the calendar year.

So that's, that's good. That's really good. And then we do have a

special promo code for your list.

Oh, well, you better like grow it out there for the list. I know. The promo code

is connect 23 and you get 50 off of your registration for attendance at the conference. We better

write that down. Connect 23.

That's really good. No, this is great. I think, you know, there's been a great lineup of, of, you know, topics to learn from about sustainability circular economy, hazardous waste management, auditing, SDS management. I mean, there's a lot going on here. Safety is also in there too, guys. We're not going to shot.

Hey, we want the safety guys to come over too. I mean, you know, I think there's been a lot of this keep the safety guys up. No, we're all doing safety too. And it's important to all our jobs. We want them to come as well. So there's lots of great opportunities for everyone to participate. Well, I think just as a, as we close here.

How do people, what's the website that they want to get? I'm going to go ahead and put it down here too, just so everyone can see it. But you want to tell the listeners here while we're listening?

It's AHMPNET.

ORG. So everybody listening, if you want to go check out the website, it's www. AHMPNET. ORG. And you can find information about the conference, when it is where it is.

I'm assuming, do we have some hotel rooms blocked off for people? Is there still openings available? Yeah.

Yeah. There's one of the local hotels by the by the conference center. I believe it's the

Hilton Hilton is still available. Yep. All right. We've already filled up our Marriott. So we're, you know, it's going to be a busy, busy conference.

All

right. There we go. We got the Hilton Hilton available. So some, probably some special rates there for the the attendees. So register, sign up, get in there and look forward to seeing you all at the, at the conference. Amanda, Kelsey, thanks for coming on the show, highlighting the HMP, what we can do for The the industry folks in this business and looking forward to a great conference.

Awesome.

Thanks Sean.