Going Virtual

By Michael Pearsall, P.Eng., CVS, FEC – Vice President / President-Elect, SAVE International and Tammy Dow, CVS – Director, Conferences, SAVE International

We are definitely living through an unprecedented time. For the first time in 70 years, SAVE International found our annual Value Summit suddenly a health and safety risk. While this could have been seen as a problem by many, it is pleasing to announce that our team of volunteers has embraced this as the opportunity it is. The Value Summit Planning Committee had been monitoring the situation closely as it evolved and were prepared with options to continue to deliver what had been promised.

We are excited to announce details of our first SAVE International Virtual Value Summit. While the in-person aspect of the annual Value Summit has been cancelled for health safety, we are still holding a great event on the same dates with many of the same features.

We will still be offering most of the same planned pre- and post-Summit training courses, only they will all be held online. Included will be the much-anticipated pilot offering of a virtual VMF 1 course sponsored by SAVE. Visit www.valuesummit2020.org for details and pricing on courses.

Due to limitations on some presenters, as well as our initial online capabilities, we are changing from a three-track, 2.5-day event to a one-track, three-day event. We will be offering a mix of paper presentations with our new two-hour continuing education sessions in the combined track. Generally, we are offering eight paper presentations and one continuing education session per day for each of the three days.

To better accommodate online viewing, each day will consist of three two-hour blocks separated by a 30-minute break. We will be using the GoToWebinar platform, which will allow secure, easy world-wide access with no requirement to install software for viewing. Professional Development Units (PDUs) have been assigned to each session and, since everyone will be assigned a unique access code, will be issued to each participant based on their viewing.

As originally planned, we will once-again have Transportation related presentations on Monday with a special one-hour continuing education session on the post workshop stage and improving the VE report, which everyone should enjoy. 

On Tuesday we have a mix of speakers on topics that should appeal to everyone and a continuing education session on life-cycle cost analysis techniques. On Wednesday we start out with another mix of interesting speakers and then move to a special U.S. Army Corps of Engineers block of papers before wrapping up with a continuing education session on Transforming Information.

Since we understand how important networking and forum discussions are, during each break we will be offering four optional break-out rooms for active on-line chats about topics of general interest, or just to get caught up with friends, peers and even make some new friends.

To provide maximum flexibility and open up the virtual Value Summit to the largest audience, we are offering a range of reasonably priced registration options. Full registration for all three days is available for only $250 USD, one-day registration is priced at $125 USD and if you wish to select an individual two-hour block it can be viewed for $50 USD. We are also offering group discounts. Visit www.valuesummit2020.org for more details. Registration is open now!

A virtual Value Summit does come with the challenge of finding a time slot that is desirable to all members. The program will provide session timing by major time zones to assist viewers. Admittedly this is a difficult task and we have ended on a timeslot that is not desirable for some of our members – particularly those in Japan. We are currently looking into options for future re-broadcasting. Please see below for a sample of the time-zone timing:

Be sure to read Renee’s President’s Message article for details on our virtual President’s Reception “It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere” and the fun she has planned.

Paper presentations that were accepted for the original 2020 Value Summit, which could not be incorporated into this inaugural virtual event, will be held over and offered a spot at the 2021 Value Summit.

Our thoughts continue to be with any of our colleagues who are dealing with, or have had to deal with, COVID-19 themselves or with a family member. We hope that all SAVE members are staying safe and healthy. Remember that your own personal health and safety should always take precedence – do what you need to do to stay safe.

In closing, we still hope to connect with you all online June 8-10, 2020 at the 2020 Virtual Value Summit and hopefully see you in person in 2021.