2023 Speaker Information

Thanks for agreeing to be part of the Florida Chamber’s 37th Annual Environmental Permitting Summer School scheduled for July 18-21, 2022 at the JW Marriott Resort in Marco Island, Florida. 

Based on registrations to date, we are anticipating a great crowd this year!

This letter is intended to provide the information necessary to be a successful part of our team of instructors for 2023.  

1. If you haven’t already done so, please connect with the rest of your panel as soon as possible! For your convenience click here to view the grid showing panel date/times as well as the course curriculum. In addition, we are also utilizing the same online scheduling web application as we did the previous two years,  SCHED (www.sched.org), which will allow you to log in and see your course description and schedule of speaking times. SCHED will also provide you with the contact information for every speaker on every panel. Once the registered attendees begin making their individual course selections, you will be also able to see, keep track of, and even communicate with those who have signed up for your panel. For example, you could use the application to send out a survey of potential topics or news articles of interest to build excitement for your session.  SCHED can also be simply used as a business development tool for you to interact with other speakers and attendees. We hope you will agree that this is a powerful tool to communicate with your fellow panelists and your audience, and we encourage you to take advantage of it before the conference or afterward.

2. Important!!! The “course coordinator” or “moderator” of your panel should be in contact with you in the next couple of weeks to begin planning your discussion. If you don’t hear from him/her by then, call them or call us, and we’ll call them for you.

Listed below is some feedback we have collected over the years from our registrants. We hope you find this information will help you in preparing for your speaker role and improving the experience for you and your audience!   

  • Review your course description.  Course registrants select their schedule based on the description in the brochure. The description should be interesting and informative, so registrants will be encouraged to attend your course. You and your fellow panelists should also ensure that you actually present the material in the course description. If any changes are needed, PLEASE send those to us as quickly as possible. 
  • Coordinators should divide the presentation among presenters. It is up to the panel coordinator (first speaker listed under the topic) to keep the course moving and to ensure that adequate time is left for questions and answers. Each course topic is scheduled for 1 hour and 40 minutes, except for the double courses and early bird sessions, which are 3 hours and 20 minutes of instruction with a break at the halfway point.  Double courses are indicated by consecutive letters, i.e., J&K, JJ&KK, OO&PP, TT&UU, NNN&OOO, etc., and are meant to be taught one time only over two-course periods. Most other courses are taught once over the three-day period, but some are taught twice as indicated by a number after the course letter, i.e., A1 and A2.  Please click here to view the GRID for your course(s) date and time.
  • Introduce the panel. Course coordinators should take a moment before the course begins to briefly introduce the panel members.
  • Registrants know when speakers are organized and prepared. Being well prepared comes across in the form of great reviews from our registrants. Do not read your presentation, stay on time, and be sure not to duplicate the content of someone else on your panel.
  • Courses should be unbiased. The purpose of this conference is to provide the latest information in a balanced way. This can be achieved through an individual speaker’s unbiased presentation or by balancing the viewpoints of individual speakers on a panel.
  • Do not promote yourself or your firm.  Reserve your marketing pitch for social events such as lunch, breaks and the reception. 
  • Audio visuals need to be of good quality and legible to those in the back row. Ask your audience if they can see and understand materials displayed on the screen. Make necessary adjustments where you can. All the rooms will be set up with a screen, audio visual accessory cart, a power cord, and a LCD projector. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOU OR SOMEONE ON YOUR PANEL MUST BRING A LAPTOP WITH PRESENTATIONS LOADED. If you have additional requests, please forward them to Linda at your earliest convenience.

4.  Remember that speakers receive complimentary registration to the conference. Unlike in past years, we are requiring speakers to register for the conference. Please visit www.floridaenet.com/registration and choose “Speaker” as your registration type. Then you will see an option for Complimentary Speaker Registration. We welcome and encourage you to attend other sessions while you are not speaking. 

5.  The course materials are due by July 1, 2022, and should be sent via email to Jamie Sheehan at jamie@floridaenet.com. We will then upload presentations to Sched.org for easy reference by instructors and attendees. Remember, the materials you submit will be used as reference materials by many people, so it’s in your interest to produce a great product.

6.  A directory with every instructor’s name, address, phone number, and e-mail address can be found by entering the Sched App. Click here to download the speaker directory for your convenience.

7.  The program is posted on our website at www.floridaenet.com with links to the conference registration site. We welcome and encourage your promotion of the Summer School. Please let us know if you have any email lists which we might utilize to send information regarding the conference.

We are looking forward to a great Summer School, and we sincerely appreciate your important role in helping us to provide the best environmental instruction in Florida. Please contact us at (850) 443-5937 or jamie@floridaenet.com if we can assist you in any way.

FRIENDLY REMINDER – June 16th Update

It’s us again! The 37th Annual Environmental Permitting Summer School is approaching fast and we are forecasting an extremely well-attended and outstanding conference! Our exhibit hall is completely sold out and we currently project over 1,000 conference participants.

We have sent two notices regarding your role as a speaker that included a link to SCHED (www.epss2023.sched.com) that details the course content, speakers, schedule of your speaking time, etc. This is a great tool for attendees and speakers to communicate with one another, see who is scheduled for classes, etc. We have uploaded all speakers into SCHED so you do not need to register yourself. If you haven’t already done so, please log in to verify your contact information, see your schedule, etc. on SCHED. Please notify us if you are having trouble logging in to SCHED or locating your speaking time(s).

Each breakout session will be set up in a conference room with a screen and an LCD projector. REMEMBER THAT SOMEONE ON YOUR PANEL NEEDS TO SUPPLY A LAPTOP WITH PRESENTATIONS UPLOADED FOR USE IN THE COURSE. If you have any additional AV needs please notify Jamie Sheehan as soon as possible.

Course presentations, when complete, can be uploaded to your SCHED speaker account or emailed to Jamie Sheehan at Jamie@floridaenet.com. If you have any issues, we will be happy to take care of posting your presentation materials on SCHED.

Below is a quick summary of how to upload your presentations to SCHED. If you have questions or problems uploading your materials, please email jamie@floridaenet.com.

Step 1.  Log into your speaker SCHED Account (If you have not already created your account, you should have received an email invite from SCHED. If you are still having trouble, please let Jamie know and she will help you set this up.)

Step 2.  Find your individual course page (it should look something like the picture below)

Step 3.  Click on the Speaker Tools tab to the right of your course title

Step 4.  And last click on the Add Presentation tab (And then your page will look like this)

In this last step, you should be able to upload your presentation, as long as it is less than 50MB. PowerPoint and PDF files are preferred.

PLEASE NOTE: If you have a reservation at the Marco Marriott and are a no-show on night one of your reservation the hotel will cancel the reservation in its entirety. Please make sure that you arrive on your scheduled day of arrival or contact the hotel directly to make changes to your reservation. We also wanted to let you know the parking fees and process. Parking rates are listed below. For day drivers, identify yourself as being with the conference. A parking attendant will give you a sticker which will give you 50% off their rates. For day drivers you will receive a new ticket every time you arrive at the lot and pay each time you leave.  

PARKING RATES
                $12.50 a day for Self-parking
                $15 a day for Valet

These rates are 50% off of the hotel’s prevailing rate. 

Thank you again for your support and dedication to the Summer School program. As always, we are here to help, so feel free to contact us if you have any questions.