Healthy Indoors Magazine - USA Edition

T h e W l d i s L is ten i ng By Susan Valenti 20 | Januar/February 2022 By Susan Valenti practice, and field responders. I had hopes of each being curious of the other, proactively learning from and sharing information. But what I experienced as I listened to the presentations was researchers talking to their familiar colleagues, and practitioners talking to the same small group of familiars. I exited the final day of the conference disappointed and depressed." (See page 26) Imagine Healthy Buildings-America 2021 as a massive flood of information that first you must immerse yourself in and then choose what interests you. Trying to swallow more than 250 presentations in three days online, or even in-per- son, and you're going to drown. The point of bridging the gap between research and practice may be better done after the event in this case to find those bite-sized morsels of informa- tion that you can see for what could be… trends to follow. For example, Dustin Poppendieck of the National Insti- tute of Standards and Technology (NIST) live-Tweeted the event on Twitter using the hashtag #HBA2021. From January 18-20, you can see his work on his Twitter feed at @Poppend- ieck and then there's some more on the ISIAQ feed at @ ISIAQ. Again, just another way of taking in the conference in small doses. Poppendieck's live Twitter feed was also a remind- er of some of greatest lines of indoor air quality information. Claire Barnett of Healthy Schools Network has been saying for years/decades that: "Children are not little adults. Schools are not just little offices." She repeated it at the school's ses- sion at Healthy Buildings. Poppendieck posted it on Twitter under the event hashtag. Boom! Now a new (and old) au- dience has the benefit of remembering that information. ISIAQ has also traditionally posted the videos from the conference plenary speakers on their website. So maybe we can enjoy those sessions with Joe Allen, Terry Brennan, Jordan Peccia, Anita van Breda, Greg Whiteley, and Lidia Morawska for eternity. In the meantime, let's hope that there's an ex- tension to catch up on the recordings or an effort to re- package the event into smaller chunks at low prices. T he greatest indoor air quality show of 2021 finally happened in 2022. Not in Hawaii proper, although there were a few speakers who kept their vacations there. Many just made do with a Hawaii shirt for the event. The live online version of Healthy Build- ings-America 2021, sponsored by the International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate (ISIAQ) and hosted by the Cleaning Industry Research Institute (CIRI), feature more than 250 science-based oral presentations, plenary speakers, poster presentations, and workshops focused on "Bridging the Gap Between Research and Practice—In the Age of COVID-19 and Beyond." The show was chaired by Dr. Kerry Kinney of University of Texas in Austin and Dr. Richard Shaughnessy of University of Tulsa. (Shaughnessy was in Hawaii for the event!) John Downey served as the host for the event as executive director of CIRI. As the pandemic subsides and the mask mandates disappear, Healthy Buildings-America is probably the last industry event to have to intentionally pivot to an online platform this year. CIRI's John Downey said before the conference that "to cre- ate and maintain healthy buildings, we first need to understand the research. Attendees to this conference will leave equipped with the scientific data they need to make informed decisions around creating and maintaining healthy indoor spaces." In this issue, Healthy Indoors Publisher Bob Krell and Columnist Carl Grimes give their opinions about what worked and what didn't at the event. Krell said, "My takeaway from the event— numerous presentations of interest on a vast array of subject areas, but not much in the way of facilitating the conference's professed goal of "connecting" researchers with practitioners (and vice versa), with limited chat Q&As, and no direct interac- tion between attendees. But for the price, the conference does offer a great body of information for industry professionals." (See page 4) Grimes added, "I was initially excited about the pros- pect of seeing what might happen by bringing together research, IAQ Researchers, Practitioners Respond with Inside Look at Their Work

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