Spring Conference Season 2026: A Recap

It's been a few months since I wrapped up the early part of my conference season, and I wanted to reflect on my experience. So here it is.

I've been attending conferences since the beginning of my career, but this year was the first time I went to three back to back. APWA Washington in Vancouver, PNWS-AWWA Water 2026 in Tacoma, and APWA Oregon in Seaside. They were fairly close together, each with a very different feel, different flow, and different crowd. It was interesting to experience all three in the same season.

I saw a lot of familiar faces across all three, and a shoutout to those who do the full conference circuit. That's no small commitment. I also met a lot of new people and came away with a lot of great industry perspective.

One thing I appreciate about these conferences is how many different backgrounds show up in the same room. Same industry, but very different disciplines, roles, and experience levels. The presentations that always stand out to me are the ones that teach the basics well, especially when they're in a different specialty than my own. Those are the ones I usually learn the most from. It's no wonder I'm drawn to them, because teaching the basics well is one of the foundational reasons I built Oxsen Learning.

I'll dive in a bit on each conference and highlight my favorite presentation from each. You'll notice that theme I mentioned weaves into all of them.

APWA Washington Spring Conference — Vancouver, WA

This was my first time at APWA Washington, and honestly I wasn't sure what to expect going in. It's right in my backyard, so it was a no-brainer to attend. What I found was a really well-run conference full of people who are passionate about what they do. I spent a good chunk of time walking the vendor booths, talking to different firms, hearing about the ways people are using AutoCAD, and just getting to know who's out there. The booth layout made it easy for everyone to move around and connect. It felt like the whole room was networking.

I also got to catch up with Dawn Nolan from GRI, always a highlight.

Photo at APWA, OR - Laura Oxsen (left), Dawn Nolan (right)

One of the highlights for me was a session called "Boundary Surveys — What's So Complicated?" presented by Chris Sherby, PLS and Matt Faulkner, PLS, CFedS, both Business Owners at S&F Land Services. I actually attended a lunch and learn Chris put on years ago, and I still remember how helpful that one was.

On the engineering side, we work with surveyors constantly. Survey work is the foundation of everything we design on, so understanding what surveyors actually do and why certain things have to happen a certain way is critical. This presentation walked through what a boundary survey really involves, the research, the investigation, the steps required to do it correctly, and what can go wrong when those steps get skipped. It was detailed without being inaccessible. Technical enough to be useful, but clear enough for any audience to follow. And rather than focusing on a specific design, it covered the field as a whole, including just enough history to understand why things are the way they are.

PNWS-AWWA 2026 — Tacoma

This is the conference I've been attending since the beginning of my career, so this one is always an important one for me. This year I showed up repping two hats, Oxsen Learning and Grayling Engineers, which was a great experience. I got to connect with colleagues and also talk about the business I started with so many people in this community. I'm really grateful for everyone's support and excitement around what I'm doing.

I started off the conference as a hole sponsor at the golf tournament, my first time ever tabling as a business. I had a photo booth, brochures I designed, and a lot of great conversations. I also got the opportunity to judge the YP Poster Competition, which ended up being one of my favorite parts of the whole week.

PNWS-AWWA - Laura Oxsen at golf tournament as hole sponsor

AWWA continues to amaze me every year. The sheer number of sessions and activities offered is impressive, and I walk away from every conference with a deeper appreciation for the technical depth of this industry. It always leaves me proud to be in the water industry.

The session that stuck with me most was "Growth by Design: Restructuring a Division for Talent Development and Sustainable Growth," presented by Mari Orama, EdD, PE, PMP and JC Hungerford, PE from Parametrix. They walked through what it actually looks like to restructure a division from the inside, the growing pains, the gaps that surface when teams scale quickly, and the intentional decisions they made to redesign their systems rather than just patch problems.

I'm in organizational development work myself, so this one was very relevant to me. What I appreciated most was their willingness to show the hard parts. Not everyone wants to put their growing pains on display, but we all have them. We're all going through the same things. The more we can learn from each other and realize we're dealing with the same challenges, the better we can make our industry as a whole. And ultimately, that means having a workforce that feels supported, fulfilled, and structurally sound enough to keep delivering the important work we do in the water world.

APWA Oregon — Seaside

Last stop of the season, and a familiar one. APWA Oregon was actually the very first conference I ever attended, which I wrote about in a previous post: My First Conerence and What it Taught Me. It's always good to be back.

What struck me about this conference is how tight knit the group is. There's a wide range of municipalities represented, and you really get a sense of how important it is to connect our industry together. Lots of engineers, vendors, and public works folks from cities of all sizes, many of them smaller communities. That mix made for some really good conversations.

It was also great to see a lot of familiar faces and reconnect with previous colleagues. My favorite activity was the YP mixer, a great low-key way to just get to know people without the structure of a session or a booth. Exactly the kind of thing that makes a conference worth staying for.

The session that stood out most was "Extending the Life of Wastewater Lagoons" by Gordon Munro, PE from Tetra Tech. Gordon did a great job explaining a specialty topic in a way that was accessible to a broad audience. He walked through the design considerations for lagoon systems and made a clear case for when they're actually the right fit, especially for smaller communities. With so much focus on advanced treatment technologies, it was a good reminder that sometimes the simplest solution is also the most cost effective, and the most manageable from a maintenance standpoint, which matters a lot for utility managers and public works departments working with limited resources.

I came in knowing very little about lagoon design and left feeling like I had enough of a baseline to have an intelligent conversation about it. That's a good indicator of a great presentation.

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Overall, conference season was a success. I walked away inspired, with new ideas and a lot of great conversations to follow up on. I'm already looking forward to the fall, where I'll be heading back to APWA Washington and APWA Oregon. I submitted abstracts for both, so hopefully I'll have the opportunity to present this time around.

The topic I submitted on is AutoCAD Civil 3D for project managers. My goal is to give project managers and utility staff a high level understanding of the software, what it can do, what it takes to learn, and how long certain tasks actually take. When the people managing a project understand the tools being used, it helps keep things on track and sets everyone up for a smoother process. I'm excited about it and hope to see you there!