Civiltec Employees Reflect on 2020 Conference Participation

Each year, Civiltec Engineering employees engage in various conferences across the country to continue their education and keep Civiltec on the cutting edge to best serve their clients. Conference participation is an integral component of Civiltec’s commitment to professional development for employees, and also a valued way to stay connected and active within the engineering industry. Many conferences forged ahead in 2020, despite challenges, in a virtual format, and Civiltec team members discovered both new experiences and old favorites reimagined to get involved.

Civiltec’s Marketing Manager Christy Sipos found several opportunities to develop her skill sets through virtual conferences in 2020, including the SMPS Build Business 2020, AdobeMAX and APWA Arizona Statewide 2020 Conference. She appreciated the flexibility of the programming. “I love that all of the sessions were recorded so I can go back and review or catch up on sessions I missed,” noted Christy. “The commitment was lower and it was easier to participate in a large volume of sessions.”

Andrew Shroads and Chris Dusza attended the AFMA Fall 2020 Virtual Conference, a staple on Civiltec’s conference circuit for 25+ years. Ben Tillman, Staff Manager from Civiltec’s Prescott office, attended the virtual National Society of Professional Surveyors Vision 2020 conference, giving him the opportunity to connect with other professionals across the tri-state area in his field of specialization. Human Resources Generalist Khandakar Shafiullah also attended a conference in his field, the Resources for Humans Virtual Conference in September.

Other staff members chose to forgo virtual conference participation, instead using the down time to tackle Civiltec’s record volume of project engagements. Some found ways to productively connect and network outside of the virtual conference circuit; Gretel Ochoa-Nhac, Civiltec’s newest Project Engineer, continued her volunteer work through attending webinars and quarterly meetings with East Los Angeles Community College.

“In-person conference attendance and sponsorship is integral to our business development strategy,” said Civiltec President W. David Byrum. “Conferences give us the opportunity to to strengthen existing working relationships, forge new ones and put agency managers together to foster collaboration on regional projects. While we missed these experiences in 2020, I am glad that our Civiltec team found ways to stay engaged online. We all look forward to meeting in person again in the near future.”