Lots of water posts on here all of the time about panelists, summits and such featuring guests from huge utilities but rarely anyone from smaller and rural systems.

Can't say that I'm feeling represented.

Continued.....

Listening to representatives from cities with populations in the 7 digits range isn't always helpful to those of us in the size range of say 25k to 250k populations.

It's very hard to relate when treatment sizes, tech and......continued

Operating budgets are so different that there really is no comparison.

It'd be nice to see blogs, podcasts and articles from small to moderate size systems more often. I want to know what my comparably sized sister city is doing in similar situations. Continued....

Then, to really stick the knife in and twist, many of these summits and other similar events have price tags starting at just under $1000.

Rural communities can't afford to send anyone to an event with this price tag and that's not including travel/ accommodations. Continued...

Some of the leadership training is just as bad. I received one in the mail the other day for a water industry leadership program which will go unnamed.
The price tag was around $13K.

There are some fine leaders in this business that could benefit.....

but they will never be able to go because their small systems can never afford this. No amount of professional associations scholarships can fix this problem.
I don't have an answer but if we keep doing what we're doing then we are going to keep getting what we're getting.