As Rising Star of the East 2020 and 2021 I had the opportunity to attend and participate in the Institute of Water Annual Conference 2020. This is the first virtual conference I had attended before and I was not entirely sure what to expect. But over 150 people attended, showing that despite the new virtual nature of events, there is still a great appetite for events such as these. I had so many opportunities, got to hear from the leaders of my sector and learned an awful lot. For the full breakdown of what I learned at the conference, please look here.
The thing I valued most about the conference was all of the
opportunities I was given to take part. I had the chance to participate as a Speaker
in my first debate, which although was quite nerve-wracking, was a great way to
inspire discussion and a memorable way to kick off day two of the conference. I
was also given the opportunity to act as a Facilitator during the two Meet the
Leaders sessions, where I was able to ask the leaders of the water sector, first-hand,
my questions about how they got to where they are today. And these roles were
of course combined with my attendance at the conference as a Delegate, where the
online environment made me feel even more confident to act as a persistent questioner.
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| Image Credit: Rachel Powell |
As a Delegate, the three moments that really stuck with me
about the conference were:
1. Emma Clancy’s (CEO, CCWater), warning of the “liquid expectations” of customers. Both during the lockdown endured in 2020 and for future, customer trust can be broken or, equally, it can increase, for example if they see community involvement by water companies. This view of the pandemic as a potential opportunity for the water industry to show what we can do, rather than seeing it as a risk really shone through during the conference.
2. Another moment I really valued was Mel Karam (CEO, Bristol Water), who really stood up for water company employees. He argued that the resilience and successes that occurred in the water sector during this time of challenge did not occur because of assets or regulations, but because of the skills and resilience of the employees. I really liked that people are valued by their employers and both this appreciation of employees, as well as wider cross-sector collaboration, was a running theme throughout the two days.
3. And finally, I think the conference really highlighted the resilience of water companies. I think this was best summarising in the words of Mike McNicholas (UK Board Director, Atkins) who said that as an industry we are highly prepared for a second wave. When we went into this pandemic, we were prepared for a new ice age. Now we see a second lockdown, not as an ice age but as a cold winter.
Overall, it really was a fantastic event. It renewed my confidence about our sector, made me proud of the resilience we have shown and reinforced the great work we do. And on top of that because of the Rising Stars programme I was able to make waves (or at least ripples!) with the leaders of the water industry.
