Alliance for Water Efficiency Education and Outreach Committee 11:00 a.m. Central CONFERENCE CALL PARTICIPANTS Melissa Anderson Cramer, EM Tim Brick, MWD of S. California Alice Darilek, PCR Resources Mary Ann Dickinson, Staff, AWE Liz Gardener, Denver Water Jeffrey Hughes, Staff, AWE Paul Lander, Chair, Dakota Ridge Peter Mayer, Aquacraft Janet Nazy, Vice Chair, PWC Kathy Nguyen, Cobb County Mary Lu Nunley, City of Phoenix Becky Pearson, Great Lakes Comm. Robert Pfeil, Rain Bird Claudia Powell, NC DENR Jeff Ripp, PSC Wisconsin Amy Vickers, AV&A Brian Vinchesi, IC INTRODUCTION Paul Lander welcomed the members on the call and reviewed the agenda, which consisted of staff reports, work group reports and new business, including the AWE Facebook page. STAFF REPORTS Member Survey Mary Ann Dickinson reported that the member survey had gone out this week and that results would be gathered within the next two weeks or so. She thanked the committee members for their work in helping to create the survey questions and said that a compilation of the survey results should be available for the next committee meeting. Board Topics Mary Ann Dickinson said that the AWE board would be holding a strategic planning session in September to review the member survey, the strategic plan and goals, and other issues identified by AWE members. The board would then adjust its planning goals appropriately. Mary Ann said that input from committee members would be welcome and suggested that committee members review the strategic plan so that this topic might be discussed further at the next committee meeting. 1 Page
Mary Ann added that Alice Darilek would be able to relate the committee s comments to the board at the planning session. Mary Ann also noted that committee reports are presented at each board meeting. For example, the results of the membership survey will be given to the board at their April meeting. Miscellaneous Topics Mary Ann Dickinson alerted committee members to an outreach issue that has come up in the press regarding sewer odors in San Francisco. She said that press reports and media blogs have blamed low flow toilets and water conservation for the problem, when there are a number of other issues, such as sewer maintenance, that are the cause. John Koeller is creating a fact sheet on the issue that AWE will provide to its members; and Peter Mayer is writing a related article for the AWE newsletter to be posted on the website. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is a new AWE member; and AWE is trying to provide support to the city, while also providing factual information on the issue to other entities across the country. Several committee members said they had recently become aware of the press reports. Amy Vickers suggested that AWE elicit help from WaterSense; and Mary Ann said she would contact them. Paul Lander encouraged AWE to seek assistance from other partners and asked committee members to consider providing support. WORK GROUP REPORTS Webcast and Workshop Training Work Groups Liz Gardener said that the Workshop group had considered many potential workshop topics. However, the group did not reach consensus because of the need to operate the workshops without losing money at a time when travel budgets are restricted. She said that the group began discussing the value of using webinars to present some of the information and then started working jointly with the Webcast group. Alice Darilek reviewed some of the follow up actions from the last Webcast Training Work Group meeting: further discussion and choice of a web service; research on video conferencing; holding a first webinar associated with the Home Water Works website; and choosing two or three additional webinar topics based upon results from the membership survey. Liz Gardener added that the group decided to test the web service with one webinar and evaluate results before holding further webinars. Mary Ann Dickinson said that the committee could run a test of the webinar service at its next committee meeting. Robert Pfeil said that his research on video conferencing indicated that the current cost (at $300 per site) was prohibitive, but that, as the technology developed further, prices would fall. He also said he would be attending an elearning conference soon and would report back to the committee on what he learned. Peter Mayer said he would like to see AWE take the lead in offering webinars and position itself to offer video conferences when they became more affordable. Mary Ann Dickinson said it was important that AWE build a good reputation for offering interesting, timely and useful webinars. 2 Page
After further discussion, including Becky Pearson s summary of her organization s experience with web services, the committee decided to recommend that AWE choose GoToWebinar for its web service. Mary Ann Dickinson said that AWE should be ready to begin the service in time to try it out for the next committee meeting and then follow with the Home Water Works webinar some time in early May. Media Campaign Work Group Janet Nazy reported that the work group had completed the RFP for a media design firm. The RFP was issued this week; and proposals are due April 4. After proposals are reviewed and a firm selected, work on the project is expected to begin at the end of May. Janet said that the work group had agreed to review ten or so proposals; and, if more were received, she and AWE staff would review all and select the best ones for work group review. Mary Ann Dickinson added that most of the responses should arrive the week of the due date. She said that a report on the proposals received would be presented at the next committee meeting. Website Consumer Section Work Group Peter Mayer noted that the project was moving along well. He and Mary Ann Dickinson met with the consultant, Breakthrough Technologies, in Chicago last week. Work is progressing on an educational game, site content is being created, web pages will be built, and coordination with the Field Museum on their water use calculator is continuing. Peter estimated that the Home Water Works website would be launched in April. Membership Mary Ann Dickinson said that the membership survey had been the focus of Alice Miller Keyes recent work on membership issues. She also noted that Alice is the AWE board vice chair for membership and therefore holds broader membership responsibilities for AWE. Mary Ann and Jeffrey Hughes directed committee members to the hidden AWE website page that holds membership solicitation tips and includes member testimonials. Mary Ann said that AWE would like to have more member testimonials from both committee members and others. Paul Lander made the point that membership solicitation and retention were topics suitable for discussion by the full committee in future meetings. Conservation Tips Mary Ann Dickinson reported that the conservation tips for residential and commercial, institutional and industrial water users, assembled by Bill Christiansen with help from the committee, had been sent to a graphic artist for final design. The tips will be posted as PDFs on the AWE website; and the residential tips design will then be reworked for the Home Water Works website. Jeffrey Hughes will ask Bill to forward the residential tips to Peter Mayer for that purpose. Mary Ann added that the tips should be posted some time within the next week; and staff will send an email notification to committee members and others when that happens. NEW BUSINESS Paul Lander told committee members that the AWE had launched a Facebook page and said committee members, as well as other AWE members, should play a role in helping to develop the page. He urged members to access the page and talk about their involvement in AWE. 3 Page
Mary Lu Nunley commented that adding a Facebook page was a positive step, but there was a problem with municipal employees not having access to Facebook or Twitter at work. Mary Ann Dickinson acknowledged that this is a problem, but noted that other AWE members could access Facebook more easily and hoped that municipal employees could be encouraged to sign onto the AWE page at home. Mary Lu and Mary Ann agreed that AWE needs to market the Facebook page more, as the page currently has only 35 friends. Mary Ann noted that AWE could send a notice to AWE s email list of 3,500 people to announce the availability of the page. Paul Lander added that the page could also be promoted in the AWE newsletter. Mary Ann Dickinson said that AWE could use the committee s advice about the type of information that would be appropriate for the Facebook page, and added that this might be a good agenda topic for the next meeting. Tim Brick said that the trick is to use short Facebook announcements to drive visitors to the website. Jeffrey Hughes noted that the staff has done this on several occasions and plans to use Facebook tips to direct visitors to the new Home Water Works website. Tim added that the Metropolitan Water District s Facebook page (Be Water Wise) could serve as a model for AWE. Paul Lander encouraged committee members to share any Facebook ideas with him, Alice Darilek and other AWE staff. Mary Ann said that Jeffrey had reserved Twitter space too, and that Twitter, an appropriate tool to reach consumers, would be used for the Home Water Works website. She encouraged the committee to consider ideas for Twitter use to discuss in the next couple of committee meetings. COMMITTEE OPERATION Paul Lander discussed making the work group and committee meetings function more efficiently and effectively. He said that work groups were appropriate for intensive, short term specific projects, and that other committee topics might be more suitable for discussions in the full committee. He expressed concern about overloading volunteers with too many work group tasks that AWE staff was available to carry out. Mary Ann Dickinson said that most work groups consist of the same committee members and agreed that it would make sense to have more discussions in full committee meetings, rather than in numerous work group meetings. Alice Darilek commented on the status of the existing work groups, saying that some were already getting close to completing their specific assignments. Mary Ann asked the committee members for further input on this issue. Tim Brick offered that efficiency should be an emphasis for committee operation. Paul Lander said that the next committee meeting agenda would include staff reports, reports from the media campaign and consumer website work groups, and full committee discussions on webcast and membership issues, as well as other topics. After further discussion about the pros and cons of using webinars for future committee meetings, the committee decided to experiment with the webinar option to see how well suited it was for these meetings. 4 Page
Review of Assignments and Next Meeting AWE Staff to present member survey results at next committee meeting AWE Staff to sign up webinar service GoToWebinar AWE staff to arrange test webinar for next committee meeting AWE Staff to report on media campaign proposals at next committee meeting Jeffrey to forward residential tips to Peter AWE Staff to send notice to committee when tips are available Mary Ann to contact WaterSense re: San Francisco PUC sewer issue Robert to report on elearning conference Committee members to send Facebook/Twitter ideas to Paul, Alice D. or other AWE staff Committee members to consider items to be brought to Sept. board planning session Committee members to review AWE strategic plan for input prior to Sept. board session The next committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 6, at 11 a.m. Central. If AWE is signed up for web service by then, Jeffrey Hughes will initiate the webinar from the AWE office. 5 Page