HVAC Excellence is pleased to announce the 2021 National HVACR Educators and Trainers Conference will be held online, making it simple, affordable, and safe for all to attend.

Over the past few months, the HVAC Excellence executive board has been closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation, CDC guidelines, and the valuable feedback and input we received from those who participate in, and support, our annual event. After carefully evaluating all the data available to date, the board has unanimously decided to move forward with a virtual event for 2021.

Many of our trusted industry partners, participating organizations and attendees have expressed concerns regarding their desire and/or ability to travel based on a variety of personal, organizational, and/or medical issues. HVAC Excellence, in part by convening its annual conference, knows that our industry’s educators reap great value from the training sessions, comradery and partnerships that are forged and strengthened by the event. HVAC Excellence also realizes that significant benefits can be realized by our educators and trainers regardless of where the event is convened or how the valuable content is delivered.

When the pandemic reared its ugly head, many who were teaching live classes one day, found themselves learning, very quickly, how HVACR training could be offered differently. Blended, remote and distance learning, once thought to be options to support live training, are now taking the lead in terms of content delivery. These instructional methods are forging the path toward a new normal in education. Even after a vaccine for the virus is found, proven and readily available, it is highly unlikely that the delivery of HVACR training will return as we knew it in our pre-COVID world. With that in mind, HVAC Excellence concluded that there is no better way to conduct the event than in a manner that closely mirrors the face of today’s training.

The 2021 conference will be an event unlike any before! Participating organizations will be able to

conduct training programs from their facilities, allowing them to showcase technologies not readily available at an event conducted at a hotel or convention center. A face-to-face conference typically runs for a few days, offering many concurrent sessions, forcing attendees to ultimately select one session over another. The 2021 conference format ensures that all attendees will have the opportunity to attend ALL sessions and learn about ALL the companies that make the event possible. How? All sessions will be available not for two or three days, but for 120 days! This format will allow ALL attendees to attend EVERY session as they are broadcast beginning March 15, 2021, watch them again and again, or show them to students if they so choose. Upon completion of a session, attendees will be prompted to download a continuing education certificate, which they can print or file electronically.

The $129.95 conference registration will include: access to all sessions as broadcast, access to all sessions post conference for 120 days, the opportunity to learn about industry partners that can strengthen and support your program and earn continuing education units that directly relate to the content being offered. Those who have previously registered will receive an account credit to compensate for any difference between the registration fee paid and the new registration fee. This account credit can be used for HVAC Excellence or affiliate examinations, publications or elearning products.

Understanding that instructors must request permission to participate in training events such as this one at the beginning of the academic year, it is imperative that a schedule of offered sessions be readily available to them early on. As such, HVAC Excellence has already begun to reach out to our educational partners about the sessions they may present during the event and hopes to have a list of sessions available by the end of August.

It has been, and will continue to be, the mission of HVAC Excellence to improve the overall quality of education in the HVACR industry. With no travel, hotel, or meal costs to consider, professional development for HVACR educators and trainers has never been easier. We invite you to learn more by visiting https://www.escogroup.org/hvac/.