This year's conference was held again in Estes Park from October 1st to October 3rd, 2004.

The Holiday Inn was the place to be that weekend.

Friday, October 1st, 2004

This year Mark Rowzee, Director of Education & Certification with the National WQA, gave our members a treat. For anyone pre-registered for WQA certification exams, Mark covered in a morning group session samples from the test questions. This was an excellent opportunity to check your knowledge and feel a little bit more at ease what to expect in the afternoon, when the real tests were handed out and administered. A full dozen of our members took advantage of the opportunity to get WQA certified.

Estes Park 18 Hole Golf Course

Those that wanted to have some fun joined together for a round of golf at the “18 Hole Golf Course” nearby the hotel.

Our vendors sponsored the evening event. It was a chance for all to see our vendor’s products and a chance to improve profits or service. It also allowed our members to meet new faces, make new friends and re-acquaint with old ones.

We would like to thank this year’s vendors very much for their participation and dedication to our State organization by traveling from all over the United States to share with us.

These were this year’s vendors (in alphabetical order):

Clear Water Tech Ozone’s John Dittberner & wife

GE Osmonics’s Terry Heckman

Kinetico’s John Rickert

Purolite’s Chubb Michaud

Quality Wholesale Supply

Resin Tech’s Ken Ciaccio

WQA’s Mark Rowzee

Saturday, October 2nd, 2004

Today was the day to learn from the experts. We started at 8:00 AM and with breaks and lunch in between had a fun time learning and earning CEU’s for WQA re-certification. The CWQA tries to get you as many WQA approved programs and speakers so that you can earn CEU’s without necessarily having to travel out of State and incur additional expenses.

During his opening remarks, current CWQA President Peter Waelti welcomed members to your conference, covering also our goal and purpose as a State organization.

Chubb Michaud with Purolite in California is a well-known speaker even for the National WQA. Today he covered the subject of Ion Exchange Resin Oxidation. This subject was of interest to many dealers. What happens to resin when it ages? And more importantly, how can we revive it!

Mark Rowzee, WQA’s Director of Education with the National WQA traveled all the way from Illinois to share with us WQA’s “E-Learning” On Line Feature. This was a guided tour of WQA’s new “e-learning” tool. Anything you always wanted to ask and were afraid of! Mark stressed the fact, however, that the e-learning tool does not replace taking exams at WQA’s convention or State conferences.

John Dittberner, Regional Rep for Clear Water Tech Ozone in California covered the ever so more popular subject of different Ozone Applications. Where and how to use it. His handout was helpful to follow the presentation.

After these first three speakers we had another opportunity to mingle with new and old friends during lunch, which was included in the registration package. Our guest speaker Mark Rowzee covered an update of the industry and projects the National WQA is taking on right now to better all our future.

Skip Ruedeman and John Rickert, treasurer and past president of our CWQA continued WQA’s interactive workshop of Selling Ethically. We split up in groups, watch a short clip of various situations and discuss the “right way” and the “wrong way” of selling ethically to the consumer. Attendee participation makes this always a fun session.

In past years we did not provide education for service & installation technicians and neither help nor ideas in marketing and sales. This year we changed that by providing a breakout session for Service/Installation and simultaneously one for Marketing & Sales.

Peter Waelti, current CWQA president and owner of a larger dealership in Denver, covered with an enthusiastic bunch some marketing ideas, now that we all are affected by the National “Do Not Call” list. We showed examples on what we can print on flyers and door hangers and what is not approved with the new guidelines. The BBB nowadays gets more and more involved in “shady” business practices and we all want to make an effort to keep the industry ethical and presenting a good image. Ideas on how to create more sales in a more difficult market were shared by all participants. For this having been the first session of it’s kind on a State level, the attendance was great and everyone was pumped up to go back to their dealership and use some of the ideas we shared.

John Rickert, past president of the CWQA, who ran his own dealership in Eagle and is now a Regional Manager for a well known brand, enlightened his group with updates on plumbing codes. Also, because of his vast experience over decades in the industry (John was born in a brine tank and when he was tall enough to lift the lid of the brine tank, the entire world has profited from this gentleman’s knowledge.) John has also served on WQA’s Board of Directors on a National level and has participated in many task forces for the WQA.

As we started last year, we closed our conference with an Open Forum Discussion. This conference is for you, the members of the CWQA, and therefore we value your input and ideas to better the association year by year. It allowed us a “monologue” rather than just “dialogue”. One of the items “voted” on by the participants was the location of the next conference. Overwhelmingly it was suggested to use the same facility again. So, next year we will return for a third time to Estes Park. Also it was suggested to hold our yearly conference in the second part of September, so that we do not coincide with Europe’s Aqua Tech and the Bottled Water Association conference. It was also mentioned that holding a conference at the end of the month is not ideal for those of us that have to do “year end inventory” at the end of September/beginning of October. We welcome your input also during the year and encourage you to use the “feedback” feature on this web site to voice your comments and opinions.

The CWQA would like to thank Ray Zinsmaster from Rocky Mountain Bottle Water Company for providing complimentary bottled water throughout the entire conference. You saved us from guzzling down chlorinated water, Ray, and we thank you on behalf of all members very much!

A larger number than last year got together Saturday evening for dinner and drinks at Claire’s Corner in downtown Estes Park. All attending the event had a wonderful time.

Sunday, October 3rd, 2004

The Board Of Directors meeting started at 8:00 AM. This business portion of the conference was open to all active members of the CWQA. The Board decided to hold the next conference in the second half of September, based on feedback from the members the previous day. It was also decided to call next year’s conference “Rocky Mountain Water Association Conference”, sponsored by the CWQA and invite dealers and manufacturers from the neighboring States of Wyoming, Nebraska, New Mexico and Utah. At next year’s National WQA convention in Las Vegas ( March 30th through April 1st, 2005) we will have a booth to attract even a greater member body and also more vendors from all around the States.

CWQA’s Vice-President Larry Northup and Secretary Leslie Cope are no longer working in our industry. To make the transition of new officers easier, current President Peter Waelti was re-elected for another year. Board Member Larry Lewis was elected as new Vice-President and Board Member Jeff Spencer was elected as new Secretary. Additionally the Board Of Directors also elected Greg Hazelett, Territory Manager for RainSoft, a division of Aquion Partners LP and Ray Zinsmaster, owner of Better Water Company, d.b.a. Rocky Mountain Bottled Water Company as the newest Board Members. For contact information on all Members Of The Board, feel free to click on Officers & Board Of Directors and look at those “pretty faces”.