2016 AEC
The State of Big Ideas
They say everything is bigger in Texas and this year, NEHA's 80th Annual Educational Conference (AEC) & Exhibition was no exception with the partnership between our AEC and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD's) Healthy Homes Conference. Our two conferences joined forces in San Antonio from June 13–16, 2016.
Not only was our partnership with HUD new to our programming this year, but we also redesigned the layout of our annual event. We departed from our usual conference schedule and started the AEC on Monday afternoon with the Opening Session & Keynote. Immediately following this event was the always popular Exhibition Grand Opening & Party. We also made changes to the Exhibition, which opened the first night of the conference and stayed open all day on the next, and the Awards Ceremony, which was a stand-alone event this year (and only one hour long!). Another major change this year was adding the Texas Social in lieu of the President's Banquet. Instead of ending the conference in the evening at the President's Banquet, it ended with a plenary closing session at 1 p.m. on Thursday to allow for travel that afternoon.
What did not change, however, was the vast array of educational sessions, meaningful networking opportunities, and amazing comradery among all in attendance. With the introduction of all these new facets to the AEC, we knew it was going to be a big year. And with over 1,300 attendees, our predictions were not wrong.
NEHA 2016 AEC Wrap-Up, Journal of Environmental Health | PDF