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Plumbing Engineers Engage via Virtual Conference

Dec. 8, 2020
ASPE members from all over the world converged online last week to attend educational sessions and visit virtual product displays. The experience will remain accessible until Jan. 31, 2021.

PRESS RELEASE

DECEMBER 4, 2020 -- Thousands of industry professionals from all over the world spent time at the 2020 ASPE Digital Experience on December 1-3 to chat with our nearly 100 exhibitors and to learn about new plumbing products and technologies in the Expo Hall.

ASPE members also were able to listen to keynote speakers and live technical sessions, as well as network with speakers and other attendees in our breakout sessions.

If you weren’t able to join us live, don’t worry. The Expo Hall and technical sessions will be available until January 31, 2021. You can sign up and view them at your convenience at expo.aspe.org. The Expo Hall is free for everyone to browse, and the technical sessions are complimentary to ASPE members.

Expo Hall

The highlight of the 2020 ASPE Digital Experience was Zurn Industries LLC receiving the "Best Booth Award" for the informative and stylish mix of videos, text, and photos in their booth. However, all of the exhibitors had much to offer, all intended to teach attendees about the latest innovations in plumbing products and technologies. Attendees also had the chance to network directly with product specialists and other participants in the booth chat rooms. You can find out which manufacturers and service providers exhibited at expo.aspe.org.

Keynote Speakers

To kick off the 2020 ASPE Digital Experience, Susan Limbrunner, AIA, and Douglas King, NCARB, ACHA, presented the two-part keynote session: “The Whole Story and Beyond: Planning, Design, Construction and Operations Considerations for Creating the McCormick Place Alternative Care Facility, and its Lasting Legacy on Emergency Response in the United States.”

They shared a first-hand account of the rapid journey to convert the country’s largest convention center into an operating healthcare facility and lessons learned that can be applied to future deployments of alternate care sites in the case of an emergency.

Many convention centers and arenas across the country are being called to the mission of becoming temporary healthcare facilities to alleviate the strain on local hospitals dealing with COVID-19 patients. Chicago's McCormick Place is the only facility prepped to serve acute care COVID-19 patients on a mass scale. McCormick Place ACF was conceived to alleviate the shortfall of beds for COVID-19 patients and specifically ICU bed capacity in healthcare facilities in the Chicagoland area. The facility serves as a satellite patient ward supported by nearby full-service hospitals that provide the logistics, materials, and waste management support, nutrition care, etc. The unprecedented facility has the capacity to treat up to 3,000 low- to moderate-acuity patients across three of the convention center’s halls.

Within 25 days from project award to project completion, the team converted approximately 1.5M square feet of convention space into a facility focused on patient care and providing a safe place for COVID-19 patients as they recovered, beating the upward curve of patient volumes in the Chicagoland area.   

Technical Sessions

In addition to the keynote, four 'live' sessions were also presented:

As part of their registration package, ASPE members also were able to view eight recorded sessions:

All of these technical sessions offer CEUs and are available for viewing until January 31, 2021.