Steve Mitnick is Editor-in-Chief of Public Utilities Fortnightly and author of the book “Lines Down: How We Pay, Use, Value Grid Electricity Amid the Storm.”
PUF’s Steve Mitnick: It was great to attend the fortieth national conference of the American Association of Blacks in Energy, AABE. Tell me why it was a success in your mind, as its leader.
Paula Glover, AABE: By all measures this was our most successful conference ever. We’ve been doing this for forty years. So, some of it is timing.
Some is knowing what works and what doesn’t work. We have strong leadership and a conference planning team that had a real vision about what we wanted from this conference. And who stayed focused on delivering a great conference experience.
It was the right speakers and the right topical areas that people responded to. When we do conference planning, we’re saying to the attendees that their participation is a big key to making sure that the conference delivers what we promised. I truly believe that the members of this association are the best and the brightest in the business.
Absent their participation, we’re all just kind of sitting around listening to something. Their participation is what makes it a dynamic dialogue. It’s something that not only the presenters get a lot from, but other attendees get something from that conversation as well.
PUF’s Steve Mitnick: It was a huge audience. Just the networking seemed awesome.