ASHI Virtual Summit: A Collaborative Effort to Share Expertise with Home Inspectors

In March, ASHI delivered its first live virtual event, the ASHI Virtual Summit (AVS). This event not only provided excellent multiple webinars over several days, but also offered state-specific continuing education units, interactive elements in each session and a streamlined registration process.
But before I go into what made the AVS such a success, I want to thank everyone who joined us for this event. It was thrilling to see the great interest in the event! I hope you found it to be an exciting adventure to attend a new virtual opportunity during these challenging times that prevent us from getting together for traditional in-person events.
Thanks also go to the ASHI staff members who did their part to make this event successful. It was a team effort to prepare this event within a short time frame. Thank you, ASHI team!
As I write this article, the ASHI education team continues to close out the ASHI Virtual Summit’s final tasks of proctoring exams, compiling data for certificates and affidavits, and confirming with states the attendance at each session.
The ASHI Virtual Summit attracted 375 attendees, most of whom attended the entire event. There were six two-hour sessions over three days, so most attendees earned up to 12 state CE units, as well as 14 ASHI CE units.
At the start of the planning for this event, I gave my team a goal of receiving CE approval from 12 regulated states, and they exceeded that goal by receiving CE approval from 14 regulated states. This was no small task, given the number of state applications, each with its own specific requirements. The team completed follow-up tasks to ensure that attendees receive state-specific CE units for attending the live virtual streaming of the sessions, all while meeting state deadlines for CE applications.
We were honored to have a stellar group of presenters—Shannon Cory, Bruce Barker, Reuben Saltzman, Miki Mertz, Mark Cramer and Mike Casey—all known experts in their fields. At the ASHI Virtual Summit, they presented the highest-rated sessions from InspectionWorld® 2020.
Along with presenting their highly rated and engaging sessions, we also asked them to help make the sessions “virtually” interactive and to help attendees retain the knowledge in this new format. Specifically, we asked all of the presenters to include topic-related poll questions during their sessions to satisfy specific state requirements for engagement and to confirm attendance. Knowing the benefits this interaction would provide to attendees, all of the presenters took on this challenge and worked to incorporate well-crafted poll questions into their already comprehensive content. With an average of four poll questions per session, attendees were responding to a poll question about every 20 to 30 minutes.
We received great feedback on the overall event, the content and the speakers. We also took note of the feedback that there should be more time for questions and answers. We tried to address questions during the event, but there were a lot of questions. For future virtual events, we plan to make adjustments to ensure that we provide more time for presenters to answer questions.
Of course, as with any new venture using a new platform, we experienced some hiccups. We learned lessons we can apply to future events—to troubleshoot and streamline registration processes, and to strive for more efficiency in getting attendees onto the platform and into the sessions. But with the help and the in-the-moment expertise of the ASHI team, as well as the kind patience and understanding of our attendees, we were able to solve almost all issues in time for each session.
I can’t imagine pulling off such an event in such a short time frame without the help of the entire ASHI staff, including team members who specialize in education, communication, creative and membership. Each person played an important role at very specific times to ensure a great ASHI Virtual Summit. The presenters also did an amazing job preparing their presentations, making time to meet to practice, presenting their content and answering questions during the event.
All AVS attendees are now able to access the recordings of the sessions for which they registered on the event platform for the next three months. Certificates for the event were sent out at the end of March and affidavits were sent early in April.
The ASHI Virtual Summit is just the beginning! ASHI is excited for our plans to use our new insights to bring you more virtual educational experiences, which will include interaction and collaboration to help practice skills and apply new knowledge. We also look forward to continuing to bring you live, virtual and in-person events.
Thank you for your support of the ASHI Virtual Summit!
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