ATSSA Signal May June 2020

American Traffic Safety Services Association 36 Training Launch of Micro Sessions exceeds expectations Concurrent education session recordings posted online for free for first time ATSSA launched a new educational option known as Micro Sessions at the 50th Annual Convention & Traffic Expo and was surprised by the extent of the response. “They were standing roomonly,” Training ProgramManager Jessica Scheyder said. The Micro Sessions ran for 30 minutes each and were held in a corner of the 65,300 square feet of the Traffic Expo floor, making it convenient for attend - ees to stop by as they toured the exhib - itor booths and checked out the latest roadway safety infrastructure products. Speakers provided information on topics such as traffic paint design for connected and automated vehicles and using new technology to increase work zone safety. For years, ATSSA had been considering trying this format toprovide anotherway to share information during the Conven - tion but there had been concerns about whether the sessions would compete with other activities on the expo floor. “It’s important to continue to try new things,” said Donna Clark, ATSSA’s vice president of Member Services. “Some are going to work, and some won’t. We were pleased to see our members really took to them.” Given thepopularity of the first fiveMicro Sessions at the January Traffic Expo in New Orleans, they will be back at next year’s event in San Diego, Scheyder said. “We will need a bigger space in 2021,” she said, based on the number of people who took part. The five 30-minuteMicro Sessions were in addition to five 30-minute Traffic Talks that wereheldat theATSSAPavilion. Both the Traffic Talks andMicro Sessions took place on Sunday andMonday afternoons and were scheduled so as not to conflict with each other. While speakers for the Micro Sessions came from within the industry and provided amore technical look at specific issues, ATSSA staff led the Traffic Talks. Those included an overview of ATSSA’s new signals committee, engaging young industry professionals, and an update on the status of reauthorization of the federal Highway Bill. Because of scheduling, those shorter sessions did not compete with the two dozen, hour-long concurrent sessions held Monday and Tuesday mornings. The concurrent sessions were held in larger meeting rooms away from the Traffic Expo floor. There was a new twist on the concurrent sessions this year, too. For the first time, recordings of those sessions have been posted online and are available for free at ATSSA.com (Expo. ATSSA.com/concurrent-sessions) . The accompanying presentation materials were also available online. “That way if someone couldn’t attend this year’s Convention or they missed something, they can find out what was shared,” Scheyder said. Given the feedback she received from the Micro Sessions at the 2020 Conven - tion, Scheyder is already starting plans for next year. She’s exploring expand - ing the number of sessions, evaluating the best location for the sessions, and considering additional signage tomake it easier for people to navigate to the session location.  Scott Heydt, director of marketing for Horizon Signal Technologies Inc., leads a Micro Session on “New Technologies for Improved Work Zone Safety” on Jan. 27 at the 50th Annual Convention & Traffic Expo. See list of concurrent session recordings, p. 37.