History of PSAI’s “Nuts & Bolts Educational Conferences”

The June 1976 headline in the “Portable Sanitation Association News & Views” newsletter was:

“MIDDLE-MANAGEMENT SEMINAR SLATED FOR 1977”

Our relatively new 5 year old association announced that a “Task Force of Industry Leaders is slated to meet on September 10, 1976, to formulate a proposal for a conference of second-echelon management personnel to be held in the early Spring of 1977.”

The article continues as it quotes a PSA Member saying “this educational conference is for the folks who have to stay home and mind the business while the boss is away at the PSA Annual Meeting and Trade Show.”

The Board approved Task Force consisted of:

• John Vande Velde of Warning Lites Illinois - PSA Vice-President and incoming President for this new conference in 1977. Prior to joining our industry, John was a member of both the 1968 and 1972 US Olympic Cycling Teams. John was familiar with our industry in the midwestern US.

• Harvey Heather of United Sanitation – PSA President in 1972-73, who was also at that time working on the patent for his “Strongbox” portable restroom unit. The patent for this rotomolded polyethylene unit in a one-piece shell design was issued later that year on December 10^th. Based in California, Havery had many PSA Member contacts in this area.

• Bill Meister of the Port-O-Let Company – Port-O-Let founded by Leroy Eger in the early 1960s was the first to develop portable restroom franchises. In 1975, Port-O-Let companies were in 175 cities in the US and in Puerto Rico. Bill had input from many companies throughout the country.

• Charles Bier of Virginia Fiberglass Company – As a Charter Member of the PSA, this company had numerous customer contacts throughout the country and also brought the perspective of an industry supplier to this project.

After much investigation and conversation throughout the summer and fall, the January 1977 “News & Views” newsletter announced:

“MID-YEAR OPERATIONS SEMINAR – FEBRUARY 3-5”

Oakbrook, Illinois would be the host city for this inaugural event and the newsletter captures the intent of these soon-to-be-famous conferences quite well:

“Whereas our Annual Meeting and program in Atlanta (November 1976) was geared toward management skills, this meeting will stick to the ‘nuts and bolts’ subjects: it will be of special interest to small contractors and to the second-echelon employees of larger companies.”

(Does that highlighted phrase sound familiar?)

This inaugural event featured classes from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on Friday and morning classes on Saturday. On Saturday afternoon there was an optional tour of Warning Lites of Illinois, John Vande Velde’s company in nearby Addison, Illinois.

The classes offered in 1977 are as pertinent now as they were then:

• Trucks

• Chemical and Their Preparation

• Routing

• Pumps, Valves, and Hoses

• Waste Disposal

• Customer Relations

• Repairing Units

• Employer/Employee Relations

(Note that these were classes with question and answer sessions as opposed to the later and more famous “Roundtables” with more topic areas and small groups of participants.)

After this exciting new event, the “News & Views” headline read:

“OPERATIONS SEMINAR ATTRACTS RECORD NUMBERS”

“This new operations seminar provided a forum for the in-depth discussion of technical subjects unique to the portable sanitation industry” and “the response was greater than anticipated.” With an expected participation of 20-40 attendees, some 47 were at this inaugural event. It was also noted that between 1974 and 1977, the PSA’s Annual Meeting and Trade Show had increased 35% per year. It was hoped that the same growth would be seen with the Mid-Year Operations Seminars.

EARLY GROWTH AND SUCCESS

The 2^nd Annual Operations Seminar was successfully held in Reston, Virginia in 1978 and the 3^rd Seminar was held in 1979 in Los Angeles with the February-March Newsletter proclaiming “MOST SUCCESSFUL EDUCATIONAL MEETING EVER” with 70 participants from the US, Canada, and Australia.

This Mid-Year Operations Seminar also attracted one of the most storied and admired companies in our industry to join the PSA. Here is a letter from Barry Gump stating that his company is joining the PSA as a result of this event:

WHEN DID THE NAME OF THIS EVENT CHANGE?

The minutes from the Board of Directors’ Meeting in Snowmass Village, Colorado on September 7, 1979 state: “Hereafter the February Meeting will be referred to as ‘Nuts-and-Bolts Workshop’ rather than Mid-year Operations Seminar.”

The motion was passed and Fred Cutler was asked by President Bill Wilson to serve as the Program Chairman for the event.

Here is the headline for the February/March 1980 “News & Views” :

Even with chalkboards and reel-to-reel tapes, valuable industry knowledge was shared and attendees were able to use this knowledge to further improve their companies!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Since that time, as they say “the rest is history.” Nuts & Bolts Educational Conferences continue to grow, to expand, and to educate its’ members. These events are invaluable to our industry and to our Association. Register and attend annually!

For even more interesting facts on the history of our Industry and of our Association, click on the link below and order your History Book today. All proceeds benefit the PSAI Scholarship Program.