Program Review
WEFTEC programming undergoes a rigorous quality and review process, orchestrated by a panel of experts in the water sector. This process ensures technical merit, relevance to current water challenges, and potential to provide actionable insights.
WEFTEC Program Community
Consisting of more than 150 water and wastewater sector community members, the Program Community strives to build a well-rounded technical program for all WEFTEC attendees.
In alignment with WEF's strategic plan, the WEFTEC Program Community goals are to:
- Provide extraordinary opportunities for connection, growth, and education.
- Creatively develop and deliver content and programming
- Integrate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in all we do
- Collaborate for collective impact
Applications for the WEFTEC Program Community will re-open in 2024.
The WEFTEC Program Committee is responsible for developing WEFTEC's technical program. This includes Technical Sessions, Workshops, and Technology Spotlights.
Their work can be categorized by three responsibilities.
Call for Content
Each year after the WEFTEC Call for Content closes, the program committee is responsible for reviewing and scoring all of the submitted content (abstracts and session proposals). The content review takes place from January to February and the program committee is charged with two tasks.
- Review and score 80% or more of assigned submissions.
- Score submissions impartially, consistently, and without bias.
Winter Meeting
After reviewing the submitted content, the program community is tasked with developing technical sessions based on the content that has been submitted. The community meets for 2-3 days at the Winter Meeting where they:
- Suggest content/topics attendees will want or need to hear during WEFTEC.
- Design creative and engaging sessions based on industry trends and attendee interests
WEF does not provide funding for travel to the Winter Meeting.
Facilitation
Lastly, the program community takes up the roles of WEFTEC session facilitators and moderators. Between the Winter Meeting and leading up to WEFTEC, it is the responsibility of community members as facilitators to:
- Maintain regular correspondence with assigned speakers.
- Communicate with speakers consistently regarding WEFTEC-related matters.
WEFTEC's Spark Ignites Continuous Action
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Annual WEFTEC Program Timeline
The WEFTEC submission process follows the same general timeline each year. For specific dates, refer to the Speak at WEFTEC page.
| August - December | Call open for Workshop proposals. |
| October - January | Call open for complete Technical Session proposals and individual abstracts. |
| Mid-January | All Technical Session submissions are finalized within the speaker portal. The submission review process begins immediately after the deadline. Therefore, late submissions are not accepted under any circumstances. |
| January – February | WEFTEC Program Community reviews and scores all submissions. |
| March – April | WEFTEC Program Community develops the schedule for Technical Sessions and Workshops. |
| March - June | Call open for Technology Spotlights and Pavilion presentations. |
| Late April – May | Workshop and Technical Session and Workshop submitters are notified of submission acceptance or rejection. Accepted authors must confirm participation in WEFTEC 2024. |
| July | All accepted Technical Session authors must submit a full paper for the conference proceedings Final acceptance into the technical program is contingent upon receipt of the final paper. |
| MONTH | Technology Spotlight and Pavilion presenters are notified of submission acceptance or rejection. |
| August | Technical Session paper authors and co-authors must provide an electronic signature for the WEF license agreement for the paper to be included in the proceedings. |
| MONTH | Speakers must provide biographical information and photos via the Speaker Portal to populate the mobile app. |
| MONTH | Speakers should upload their presentation decks via the Speaker Portal. |
