Keynote Session
Tuesday, March 5 | 3:00 – 4:30 p.m.
The Keynote Session is our grand gathering of all Convention participants, and it’s packed with entertainment, an inspiring keynote address and association honors. Plan now to join us for this exciting kickoff event!
Keynote Address
Becoming an Idea Factory: How to Turn Yourself (and Your Organization) into an Innovation Machine
Kyle Scheele
Creativity-sparking innovator Kyle Scheele – known as “the patron saint of crazy ideas,” is this year’s keynote speaker. Scheele believes in the power of “crazy ideas” – such as hosting the world’s largest “fake marathon,” or setting afire a 16-foot-tall cardboard Viking ship containing the written regrets of 21,000 people – to produce wildly outsized outcomes, energizing and engaging people in the process. He is known for making people laugh while pushing them to understand that creativity, like any other business skill, can be learned.
His address is designed to:
- Inspire audience members to harness their own capacity for creativity and innovation
- Give practical tips for how to get more (and better!) ideas out of your work team
- Help you avoid common idea-killers in your organization
Come ready to laugh and also to learn, with the hope that you’ll walk away with some crazy ideas of your own
WQA Leadership Awards
WQA’s Leadership Awards presentations are always a highlight of the Convention. Hear from our newest Hall of Fame and Lifetime Membership Award recipients, and help us celebrate all these industry leaders, including the newest member company to be honored with the Excellence Award.
Hear From Industry Leaders
What is ahead for the water treatment industry in 2025? What are WQA’s strategic goals for the next few years? Hear how WQA is supporting its members and how members will be supporting WQA as we move into an uncertain economic climate – but a certainly exciting future.
Pauli Undesser, MWS
Chief Executive Officer
Water Quality Association
Amanda Moore, CWS
Atlantic Filter
2023-24 WQA President
Tom Bruursema, MS
Chief Operating Officer
Water Quality Association