Virtual Educational Conference

Details by Day

Tuesday - Industry Day

Inside Rental: ARA's Look Down the Road

COVID has changed things, and the next few years will be different than those that have gone before. This session will look at data gathered by ARA and discuss what it portends for the rental industry in the years ahead, giving you insight that will aid your business planning and execution today.

• Speaker: Tony Conant, CEO of the American Rental Association
• Handouts and recording will be posted as they become available

Post-COVID World: Updating Our Standards for Worksites, Fields, Labor Camps, and Events

Every five years the PSAI leads a process by which ANSI standards related to the portable sanitation industry are updated. This session will look at the impact the recent pandemic and other factors have had on the industry, what it likely means for the future, and offer a preliminary outline on how the standards will likely be updated. Participants will learn how they can get involved in the process of updating the standards and provide comments as well as how they can leverage the standards to provide better experiences for users.

• Presented by the PSAI Standards and Guidance Committee
• Hanouts and recordings will be posted as they become available.

Roundtable I: Evolving Water Storage/Truck Design

Hand washing is in high demand. More customers require fresh water for cleaning and other needs. How will your trucks need to evolve to meet these new requirements? This roundtable will feature discussion on things that have been tried, ideas under consideration, and a lot of sharing of needs in the field.

Roundtable II: Grow Your Business with Specialized Trailers

Portable restroom trailers, showers, and laundry trailers are growing in popularity. There's money to be made—but is investing in this high-end equipment right for your business and your market? Share your thoughts and learn from others' experiences as we explore these questions.

Wednesday - Service Personnel Day

10:00 am CDT

HOLLway I: Tips and Tricks of Servicing

If you are a service technician or you supervise them, this session is for you. Many shortcuts harm quality. The tips in this session will save you time and money, without compromising the excellence your customers deserve. 

HOLLway II: Maintaining Restroom Trailers in the Yard and Field

Trailers are complicated and valuable pieces of equipment. This session will cover the things you need to focus on to keep them in tip-top shape, ensuring the equipment isn't damaged and users are dazzled.

12:00 pm CDT

HOLLway III: Placing Sinks in the Field for Use and Service

Hand washing has always been important, but in the post-COVID world it dominates site considerations like never before. Learn the latest thinking on how to best place these units so that users can make the most of them, service is simplified, and theft is minimized.

Roundtable I: Dealing with Difficult Job Sites and Difficult Customers

No matter what you do, you'll always have that customer who is a little testy, or who changes what they want every 15 minutes. Then there are those complicated worksites where more than average consideration needs to be given to everything from arrival and service to billing and follow up. Come and learn from others as they discuss how they handle these challenging situations.

Roundtable II: Service Tech Brainstorm-Procedural Changes to Improve Service Efficiency

The people who do any job are generally terrific sources of insight about how it can be done better. This session will feature facilitated discussion between service technicians, exploring their ideas and observations about how to improve things in the field without sacrificing quality or profit.

Roundtable III: Route Service Techs and Field Sales

Generally speaking, service technicians have more contact with customers than anybody else in the company. This discussion will focus on the best ways to leverage their relationships and knowledge of what is happenign on site to boost sales and improve customer experiences with your company.

Thursday - Sales and Support Staff Day

The Future of Large Special Events

COVID has been a game-changer in the event industry. As events start anew, the people who work them expect their safety and health will be protected. Meanwhile, attendees will bring their own beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes with them as they enter the gat. Portable sanitation companies will need to respond to all of this, and help their customers do so as well. Our speaker--an expert on the considerations that will be necessary for large events--will help you explore the various considerations for getting it right.

• Speaker: Steven Adelman, Vice President, Event Safety Alliance
• Handouts and recording will be posted as they become available

Panel: Promote, Find, Bid and Succeed with Special Events in 2021

A panel of portable sanitation company leaders with experience in marketing, sales, and delivering events in the post-pandemic world will share their insights and lessons learned. Whether you plan to rush wholeheartedly back into the event business or to take it slowly, you won't want to miss what these people can tell you about the promises and pitfalls of this kind of contract in 2021.

• Handouts and recording will be posted as they become available

Roundtable I: Recruit and Retain Personnel

Having the best team possible is key to your company's success. With so much competition for drivers, sales staff, and other pros, you need to be sure you're doing everything you can to find and keep good people. Nobody has a silver bullet, but this discussion will focus on what is–and isn't–working for portable sanitation companies trying to round out their staff teams.

Roundtable II: Letting the Company Grow Up

Portable sanitation companies often start as very small businesses. With success and growth come dilemmas. Do we keep our growth down so we can control everything directly? Or do we find a way to let go and turn parts of the operation over to others? What are the pros and cons of each? How have other companies navigated these questions? Join the discussion and find out!

About Our Speakers

Tony Conant is the Chief Executive Officer at American Rental Association. He joined ARA in November 2016 and is responsible for enabling operational excellence across the organization and building capabilities to support ARA’s strategic plan. His professional experience includes over 20 years working in operations and supply chain functions at world-class companies like Intel, BASF, Whirlpool and Bank of America. Prior to ARA, he was the Chief Operating Officer at the Institute for Supply Management, a not-for-profit association focused on the supply chain management profession. He earned a BS degree in Operations Management from Madonna University and an MBA from the University of Florida. He also completed his Six Sigma Black Belt certification from the University of California at San Diego.

Thank You To Our Sponsors

Featured Sponsors

Event Policies

Continuing Education Credit

The content of the PSAI's educational conferences is widely accepted for continuing education hours. Check with us to see if your state/licensing body has approved the courses you want to take. You can also submit the detailed agenda here when you ask for credit. Let us know if you need documentation from us showing your attendance.

Note: to be eligible for this documentation you must (1) register under your own email address; (2) sign in to the sessions using that address; (3) use a camera so that we can verify you are physically present during the live session; and (4) arrive on time/stay to the end. Most licensing bodies will not accept CE hours from watching recordings or where your participation cannot be verified.  If you are a Certified Portable Sanitation Professional or Apprentice, these courses count for your CE requirements.

Please also see our other event policies for information related to this and all PSAI events:

• General event policies
• Anti-trust policy
• Educational content policy