Recap: Texas Public Pool Council Conference 2017
This year, the Texas Public Pool Council, or TPPC, Hosted their annual council conference at the Holiday Inn Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio, Texas. The conference is the best opportunity for aquatics professionals from all over Texas (and a handful from Oklahoma as well) to gather to learn about the newest technologies, trends, and changes in the aquatics industry.
If you've never been to San Antonio, the riverwalk park is one of the coolest places I've ever been to. The San Antonio River meanders right down the middle of downtown, but a series of locks break off a piece of river than circles around through downtown as well. The park is gorgeous. They are sidewalks and stairs and fountains and ramps all around the park, none of them alike. You can basically walk down from the street to the river at any street intersection. The coolest part: they are bars and restaurants all along the walk so you can grab a bite to eat or a cold drink and sit next to the river watching the tour boats chug along. The council hosted a great social night and dinner at Rita's on the River one night and I think everyone had more than a great time, including myself!
The Council has made the typical vendor or exhibitor trade show much more fun than a typical conference trade show. They organize a Casino Night for vendors to engage with aquatics directors, pool managers, and more in a fantastic environment. Each attendee received a bingo card with each vendors name in the squares. For each booth they visit they get the square covered with a sticker for the bingo game later on in the evening. However, from a vendor's perspective, this has been the most engaging conference we have ever been to! After the bingo game, the vendors pack up and the attendees get to play the tables in the casino with points from the bingo winners for prizes.
Several professionals held presentations on various topics affecting the space including internet technology in the pump room, new updates to the Model Aquatic Health Code, drowning awareness, and more.
I myself had the opportunity of giving a presentation on the power of leveraging mobile technology in aquatics. The presentation covered the various software products and apps that have been created to handle various challenges in aquatics as well as other industries, such as: communication, scheduling, maintenance, pool logs, and more. If you are interested learning more about my presentation, check out the slides.
If you don't follow the TPPC, check out their Facebook page and their website.
Lastly, I wanted to give a shout-out to everyone I met this year!
Michael from City of Brownwood, Texas
Raul from City of Dallas, Texas
Kayla from City of Lubbock, Texas
Kelly from City of Bay City, Texas
Paul from City of Farmers Branch, Texas
Ruben from the San Marcos Academy
Suzie from City of Pfluger Ville, Texas
Jessica from City of Georgetown, Texas
Tammy and Darrell from City of Brenham, Texas
Ben from University of Baylor, Texas
Gabby from Circle C Ranch
Christopher from City of Richardson, Texas
Julie from Texas State University
Jake from Knorr Systems
David from Turnage & Associates