The Association of Aquatic Professionals Annual Conference seems in a good position to break records again.
Preregistration figures for AOAP’s event, scheduled Feb. 12-15, 2024 in Reno, Nev., were twice what they normally are two months before the event.
Pre-conference sessions begin Feb. 10, while post-conference instruction runs until Feb. 17.
Juliene Hefter, executive director and CEO of the organization, credits this in part with the expanding scope of the annual event.
“AOAP has been known as a one-stop shop for aquatics professionals,” she said, “and we keep expanding it with various partnerships.”
While this is the second year that the event has been co-located with the National Drowning Prevention Alliance’s Water Safety Conference, this is the first where registration to one event entitles attendees access to any sessions at the other.
Additionally, conference organizers have increased instruction geared to two groups — maintenance technicians and health inspectors. The Aquatic Technician Workshop takes place that Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 12 and 13.
For health inspectors, a course on pool operation will be presented through the Council for the Model Aquatic Health Code on Sunday, Feb. 11. A MAHC track will be held throughout the conference, while CMAHC — the group that oversees the revisions of the federal aquatics code — will hold its vote for the next edition Feb. 15-17.
Aquatics International also will hold its annual General Session and Awards Ceremony at the event, Wednesday, Feb. 14. Here, recipients of AI’s Best of Aquatics and Power Issue recognitions will be honored. Also at the special session, fan experience expert Ruby Newell-Legner will share how she provides “Seven-Star Service.” Newell-Legner has developed customized service experience programs for more than 1,000 businesses, including 29 professional sports teams.
New to this conference, session attendees will automatically receive continuing education units upon completing a course evaluation on their smart-phone apps.