Call for Presentations

2023 North American Snow Conference
Omaha, NE
April 16-19, 2023

Deadline for proposals: Friday, August 19, 2022

Questions? Email us at cfpquestions@apwa.net for further assistance.

Three easy steps to submitting your proposal:

Read this page for Call for Presentations information and instructions
Click the “Submit Proposal” button below
Complete the Call for Presentations Form

Interested in sharing your knowledge, experience, and vision for the future?

The APWA North American Snow Conference provides education and solutions for public works snowfighters and those who support them. This highly anticipated annual conference offers more than 40 education sessions, technical tours, and a variety of opportunities for collaboration and networking.

The education program provides a dynamic forum for information exchange, problem-solving, and collaboration. Speakers are public works professionals, just like you, who are eager to help their colleagues more successfully manage winter/snow operations, take advantage of emerging technologies, understand and prepare for the challenges that lie ahead, and provide better service to their communities.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for speakers with new perspectives, solid best practices and/or innovative twists to winter maintenance, workforce development, and fleet/operations. At the Snow Conference, participants will have the ability to attend sessions from five tracks throughout the event. Within each track there are presentations specific to that topic. Each year we receive feedback on what attendees would like to learn more about.

Below is a list of requested topics for 2023.

Information Management for Winter Operations:

Emergency management of severe winter events
Winter weather plans and snow/ice control techniques for areas with infrequent winter storm events
7-10 day weather forecasting improvements and maintenance decisions
Community outreach/citizen interaction
How to determine level of service
Environmental impacts of winter maintenance practices

Innovative Solutions for Snow & Ice Control:

Utilization of electric vehicles and how they are changing fleet management
Technology advancement and the evolution of winter operations
Trending technologies and expanded uses for current technologies: (GPS, AVL, RWIS, smart city technologies, mobile apps, asset management, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, etc.)

Leadership & Workforce Solutions:

Workforce development and succession planning
Innovation in workforce recruitment and retention

Materials Application - Snow & Ice Control:

Deicing, liquids, blending, and the exploration of the materials used in snow and ice control
Anti-icing techniques and tips
Chemical usage and selection

Winter Fleet Operations & Equipment Management:

Multi-use vehicles – fleet vehicles serving outside winter operations
Insights on the growing supply chain concern and how to plan for the future
Snowfighting equipment
Winter fleet operations and vehicle preparation
Specification writing and ordering of fleet vehicles

Winter Maintenance Planning & Operations:

Strategies for plowing and disposal
Snow and ice clearing/management around facilities, sidewalks, walkways
Best practices for winter maintenance planning and operations

See where these topic areas fall in terms of the “Track” you can select for your proposal.

What are the education session formats?

Please review the options below for the type and length of format you may select. APWA offers five different formats to ensure dynamic education sessions.

Education Session: (50 minutes)
Education Session: (75 minutes)
Thought Leader Presentations: (20 minutes each presenter)
Innovation Trends Presentations: (20 minutes each presenter)
Workshop: (120 minutes)

Learn more about education session formats.

How are education sessions selected?

Review criteria: All submissions are reviewed and evaluated by the NASC Program Review Committee comprised of experts in snow and ice control and winter maintenance planning.

Your success in the selection process depends on how well your proposal supports these primary criteria:

Practical application: Provides information that can be used by participants in their day-to-day work settings; offers lessons-learned, and how-to-do-it strategies, and offers solutions for sustainability and resiliency of public works operations.
Leading-edge: Addresses emerging trends and technologies, innovative concepts and approaches, solutions that provide improvements to the provision of public works services.
Relevance and clarity: Content is interesting and useful to a significant number of expected attendees. Participant takeaways are clearly stated using active verbs that indicate how they will benefit from the information presented.
Participant Takeaways: All proposals must include three (3) takeaways that indicate how the attendee will benefit from the presentation. The participant takeaways must be worded in response to the phrase: “At the conclusion of this session, participants will be better able to________”.

Get tips on writing a compelling session description.

View/download instructions on how to write appropriate participant takeaways.

What are the rules?

No sales pitches! Direct promotion of a speaker’s/company’s products, services, or monetary self-interest are not appropriate for education sessions. The public works audience appreciates learning about technologies, services, concepts, and new approaches; but are sensitive to the sales promotion approach. We recommend that you describe in your proposal how the public works/end-user perspective will be featured in your presentation.

Speaker registration and travel expenses: APWA does not pay speakers of concurrent technical and professional education sessions. Speakers are responsible for making arrangements and paying for travel and other expenses associated with attending the conference. Speakers may qualify for a complimentary single-day registration. Speakers attending the full conference are expected to register and pay the appropriate member or nonmember NASC registration fee.

When will I know?

Submitters will be notified via email of the accept/decline status of their proposal by November 2022.

How do I apply?

Please read the following before clicking the Submit button.

Important FYI: All correspondence sent to you about your submission(s) will be to the email address you listed in the form. If you have a highly restrictive work email account, please consider using a personal email address. You will receive notification of submission via email.

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