The annual Portable Sanitation Association International (PSAI) Nuts & Bolts was recently held November 5th - November 9th, 2019 in Houston, Texas.
The first day was packed full of committee meetings. These committees are geared toward making our industry better by setting & executing strategic plans. I currently sit on the Executive Board of Directors as Vice President and will move into the President role come March 2020.
I am the Co-Chair of the Public Information & Education (EI) committee. I also sit on the Finance Committee, The Nominating Committee, the Awards Committee and Membership Business Success.
While in Houston we had a wonderful opportunity of visiting two other successful portable toilet companies: NTR Rents and Texas Outhouse. First stop, NTR Rents. Great facility, friendly & very informative team! So thankful to them for hosting us. I love the extra steps they take for safety (back up camera & extra hood mounted mirrors).
As for Texas Outhouse, I absolutely LOVED their facility. We were in awwww. Just the concrete area alone was amazing! Those in the industry get it (ha ha). I didn’t take a picture but they have an on-site water treatment plant. Holy awesomeness!!!
We in the portable sanitation industry are one large family. We meet 2-4 times a year to work on making the end user experience a much more pleasurable one considering the stigma that comes along with portable toilets.
On November 4th, I got to eat dinner with some of the very best colleagues! #PSAIHouston2019 at Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse - Houston, TX.
After the site visits, we then sit in various presentations given by public speakers. This video describes in greater detail what went down.
One of our events held within the conference is the Urgent Run. We organize a 5k walk/run, raise funds, and those funds are donated to two organizations.
One of the organizations is always located within the city we host our event. This year's Urgent Run raised $8000.00 in which half was donated to the local Food Bank in Houston, a charity that was a critical part of the disaster relief efforts in the city after Hurricane Harvey devastated the area in 2017. The other half was donated to Karibu Loo, a portable sanitation company helping kids in Kenya affected by AIDS.
Our next event is the Annual PSAI Convention and Trade Show that will be held March 25 - 28, 2020 at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland. Hope to see all my friends and colleagues there!
If you attended, I'd love to read your thoughts in the comments below.
~Jennifer