Examples from WEFTEC's Opening Session... all reinforcing their theme of community (and water)!

• The backdrop was a pretty aqua blue and had circles that reminded me of water bubbles, so it set the stage (literally!) for water to be at the core of their program.

• The local artist who introduced the first performer shared his story of where he's from and how water impacted him/his community.

• The first performer did a dramatic reading related to the Wizard of Oz (which is largely a story about finding your way home with the help of your friends), with the support of a band who... get this... played an instrument that used water (it was like big shells in bowls of water that they tapped like drums)!

• Then, the organization's president came up and shared her story (which reinforced what I'm guessing was their secondary theme, re: DEI) about her experience coming up in the water community being different from others.

• A local government official from the water industry shared her experience in water and how her job is, literally, to support the community's water needs (again, from a DEI perspective, she highlighted the ways she persevered in that journey).

• Next, there were four short presentations (about five minutes each) where water professionals from around the world - Ireland, Belize/Atlanta, Charleston, and Cicero - shared where they're from and why they care about water (often highlighting a cool water-related initiative they're working on)

• Finally, the program finished up with more music. The original performer (and the artist who introduced him) sang a song where "water" was one of the main words - he started by telling a story about the community that sang this song (and songs like it) to provide "cover" for their message and he ended with a call and response of everyone singing "neighbor" to each other to remind us we're all connected... by water, of course!