Professional and Career Topics

With ASCE 2027 on the horizon, I've been thinking about industry conferences.

Conferences come in may sizes and varieties. Some folks love them, others just go out of obligation to their employer or client. I'm interested to hear from you about your conference experiences. 

• Do you have an impactful memory or takeaway from a conference you've attended?
• Has networking at a conference impacted your career or professional development?

Maybe you have ideas that you wish had been or could be implemented. I'd be curious to hear about those as well.

• Who/what would you be sure to include if you were planning a conference?

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Heidi C. Wallace, P.E., M.ASCE
Tulsa, OK
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There are so many conferences that I COULD attend that I have to be really selective otherwise that's all I'd be doing full time and not serving my clients. My perspective has changed from my early years to now. In my younger years the learning and networking was enough to justify my time. Now, it all depends on who the target attendee is of the conference.

Sometimes I go for reconnaissance of a market or trend; sometimes I go to present as a subject matter expert: Sometimes I go to scout new vendors or design partners; sometimes I go just because my client is there and wants to meet. 

Most of the time I get very little from the sessions. The expo floor, the hallways and the hotel lobby is where most the business gets done. When I was younger I totally missed that perspective. It makes the conferences a little less fun when you look at them like that but there's definitely a couple conferences that I look forward to attending to catch up with people I've met over the years.

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Jesse Kamm PhD, PMP, .M.ASCE
Vice President of Engineering
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Heidi – I see professional conferences as two basic types, in terms of the inclinations the organizers emphasize. Although both share some common elements – yet some are geared towards more of business networking, promotion and meetings – while others are more professional and technical in nature. In both, friends refresh their connections sometimes siting on the same dining table.

Also, some are more of a local type – while others are international.

The emphases in one way or another – depend on the motives and interests of the sponsors and organizers. In some of them – a company participates, because by not going and having its name on the conference pamphlet – is considered to be out of loop – out of business circles. It is somewhat like with academic professionals – where publish or perish rush mentality prevails.

I have attended both types – including standing on booths presenting our products and services. I enjoy chatting with curious people wanting to know more – sharing business cards and all that. And, going around the booths of others trying to know more, connecting.

In others – we have specific recommendations to meet and contact people, both technical and business – all looking down into the future.

Does such networking help? I am not sure. It certainly does to a certain extent, it helps measuring each other in person. But business dealings are much more than that – as we all know, there are many factors that come into playing a role.

About technical conferences – in most of which I had a presentation – I always pick on two types. In one – I try to attend (not easy sometimes because of many parallel sessions) the presentations of some well-known authors whose works I knew and used. In early years, I was too shy to ask questions – later my confidence grew, and tried to connect by asking questions. It is fun interacting that way – it lets clarification of things.

In others – I try to pick on subjects that are sort of cutting-edge – or of something innovative – be it from young presenters or from veterans. Again interacting through questions and answers.

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Dr. Dilip K Barua, PhD

Website Links and Profile

The best conferences in my view are those where a topic is covered in detail. This could be via a well moderated panel session or series of papers covering multiple dimensions of a single project. Here, the sessions at the Offshore Technology Conference covering a significant achievement come to mind. 

I often find one off presentations to lack context, lack insight or be poorly presented. Presenters tru to do too much. This is also a review issue. 

I think the traditional conference approach presents a great opportunity for disruptive change. 

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Mitch Winkler P.E.(inactive), M.ASCE
Houston, TX
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Super questions, Heidi.

I get the most from conferences with longer speaking slots -- 45 min and up. The 15-20 min talk grows out of an understandable desire to accommodate as many speakers as possible (and collect their fees) but content is often insufficient.  As Mitch points out, coordinated sessions with all papers focused on a topic can overcome some brevity limitations.

One of the better techniques I experienced was having an expert panel question presenters before audience questions. That provided a sort of instant peer review that gave everyone better insights. It took more time, but that was the point. The subjects got more thoroughly explored.

Pre-publishing presentation abstracts helps attendees better discern which parallel session to attend.

I found BIG conferences to be less useful than specialty conferences. The annual TRB conference is a horror to me. It will be interesting to see if ASCE 2027 can change that.

Bill Mc

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William McAnally Ph.D., P.E., BC.CE, BC.NE, F.ASCE
ENGINEER
Columbus MS
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It's very hard to share experience and expertise in a short presentation.  Those speakers who can pull 10-12 slides out of their usual presentations to hit on key insights are incredible teachers - there aren't many of them, as I've found with a series of webinars I've organized on energy, environment and sustainability. We haven't used the format of moderators asking questions of a 3-5 person panel who only get about 2 min each to respond.  

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Sarah Simon P.E., M.ASCE
RETIRED
Ipswich MA
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-29-2026 11:13 AM
From: William McAnally
Subject: Conferences: Content and Connections

Super questions, Heidi.

I get the most from conferences with longer speaking slots -- 45 min and up. The 15-20 min talk grows out of an understandable desire to accommodate as many speakers as possible (and collect their fees) but content is often insufficient.  As Mitch points out, coordinated sessions with all papers focused on a topic can overcome some brevity limitations.

One of the better techniques I experienced was having an expert panel question presenters before audience questions. That provided a sort of instant peer review that gave everyone better insights. It took more time, but that was the point. The subjects got more thoroughly explored.

Pre-publishing presentation abstracts helps attendees better discern which parallel session to attend.

I found BIG conferences to be less useful than specialty conferences. The annual TRB conference is a horror to me. It will be interesting to see if ASCE 2027 can change that.

Bill Mc

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William McAnally Ph.D., P.E., BC.CE, BC.NE, F.ASCE
ENGINEER
Columbus MS
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