On Wednesday the 21st of December, the ESA Certification Corporation hosted its second-annual virtual business meeting. As we posted on this blog last year for the 2015 Business Meeting, the annual meeting switched from a live meeting held in conjunction with the ESA Annual Meeting to this format in an effort to boost its reach, attendance, and staying power (by virtue of a recorded webinar).
We had 56 people register for the webinar and 31 who actually attended it. While this is a slight decrease from last year's 37 attendees, it remains a strong improvement over previous in-person meetings.
Dr. Zia Siddiqi, BCE (2017 Chair of the Certification Board (CB)) presided over the meeting with additional commentary provided by Forrest St. Aubin, BCE-Emeritus (2016 Chair of the CB).
The webinar is live on the ESA YouTube channel and can also be accessed by clicking on the video below. Selected questions that were submitted to the webinar that we were unable to answer during the session are also addressed below the video.
Questions and comments submitted during the webinar that were not addressed during the live event:
Question: Is there an ACE award application online? If so, where do I find it?
The ACE Award site is on the ESA Awards site. It can be found here: www.entsoc.org/awards/ace-professional-award.
Question: Will hiring a new certification manager affect our relationship with Chris Stelzig?
Yes, but only to the extent that the new manager will take over the daily operations of the program. Stelzig will continue to manage the program and oversee all activities, including attending some meetings, but the new manager will soon become a familiar face at many pest management conferences and meetings in the United States and around the world.
Question: RE nominating persons for an ACE Award -- It might be a good idea to involve the editorial staffs of Pest Control Technology (PCT) Magazine and PMP magazine, as well as appropriate NPMA faculty/staff members, to help promote the choice and submittal of ACE-credentialed co-worker and colleague names within the structural pest management industry.
Agreed! In the past we have used our social media platforms, our industry partners (like NPMA) and ESA's regular communication vehicles like eNews to distribute announcements. All ACEs and BCEs are encouraged to watch their inboxes for the awards announcements and distribute to their networks.
Question: Maybe ESA can explore a special registration option for ACE professionals who would like to attend Annual Meeting or Branch Meetings for continuing education without being ESA members.
Actually, ACEs already enjoy a discounted rate to attend the ESA Annual Meeting. It is not quite as steep of a discount as ESA members enjoy, but ... hey, it's an ESA membership meeting, what do you expect?
Question: I suggest that serious consideration be given to having webinars in specific areas that could also serve as educational resources for ACE and BCE. There are a lot of members who are academics and may have good material that could be presented online.
Thank you for the suggestion. We have investigated this option in the past and would still consider it for future expansion and resources that we can offer to applicants.
