New England 2022 NATCA Activism & Training Expo Recap

Dec 22, 2022

From Bryan Krampovitis, NATCA New England ARVP

Last week, NATCA members from all over the country met in Las Vegas to kick off the very first Activist Training Expo, NATCA ATX. This was the first of what will become a bi-annual event that runs opposite of convention years. Thirty members of the New England Region attended throughout the week. The event was set up in a “groundhog day” style, allowing everyone to have access to the same training, regardless of when they were able to attend.

ATX was about giving people a taste of all the different categories of work this union does and building their interest so they can get more involved in the future. The classes taught were not full, in-depth briefings on individual subjects, they were high-level, summarized courses. These courses were designed to give you enough information to go home and get more involved. Like a “Hey did you know the union does this? Here is some more information, if you are interested sign up or volunteer for this in the future”.

Attendees were given a list of classes and times and asked to build their own schedules. You could spend a day focusing on Safety, and the next day on Labor Relations. Or you could cover multiple subjects in one day attending one class from each subject “track”. For the more focused attendees, there were course “tracks” designed around each different area of work our union does. You could go to ATX and strictly attend courses in the subject area of the union that interested you. Simply put, there was something at this event for everyone, and it was set up to work for everyone attending.

In closing, ATX was a phenomenal event. It allowed attendees to get training on days that worked for them, using both RDOs and leave. The fact that NATCA pulled off an event of this size, for the first time, without any major issues is extremely impressive, and a testament to the ability of our members and employees to work hard and deliver results. In the rest of this update, you’ll get to hear first-hand experiences of ATX. I hope this inspires everyone to seek out this event in 2024!

From Alon Gesundheit, BGR Member

ATX 2022 was the first time I witnessed how large NATCA is and what types of things it does for its members and the community. It was great to be around people from all over the country with whom I had so much in common. There was a sense of community there you don’t see that often in day-to-day life outside of work! I look forward to future events!

From Denton Green, ACK Member

NATCA ATX was a great event and I hope it continues year to year. There was such a wide variety of classes offered that allowed attendees to build on what they already knew as well as learn something new. From Professional Standards to Runway Safety, there were classes for everyone. I really liked how the mornings started with a Regional meeting which was followed by a National meeting. This allowed us to talk about New England-specific topics and then hear about what is happening at the National level from NATCA President Rich Santa. As with every NATCA event, it was nice catching up with old members and meeting new ones.

From Curt Fischer, Collaboration Facilitator, Eastern Service Area North, A90

ATX presented a unique opportunity to provide an educational avenue for our membership. As Collaboration Facilitators, we normally focus our efforts on training ATMs and Facreps, and as is often the case with scheduling, our reps begin working in their roles as leaders for a period of time without training. ATX allowed important outreach to members before entering into those roles. Having members from across the country in the same room sharing stories and learning together was another key benefit of this newly created platform.

6 NATCA CFs held four different classes daily for each of the five days of ATX:

What Article 114 can do for you
History of Collaboration
Building Professional Relationships
Collaboration Q&A

Attendance and participation in each of the classes were robust and we look forward to the next opportunity to participate in the next ATX!

From Matt Murray, NATCA New England OSHA Rep, ZBW

Last week I attended NATCA’s inaugural Activism and Training Expo (ATX) in Las Vegas. I was asked to attend and present on behalf of the OSHA Committee but I will admit I was a little unsure of what this event was or how effective it was going to be.

Back when we started the NATCA Reloaded program one of the key things we tried to do was identify new members who had a passion for NATCA and help guide them to a place where their talents and knowledge would best be utilized. I have to say ATX is the perfect way to allow members to take a sneak peek behind the curtain at each of the dozens of committees and national workgroups NATCA participates in.

As a presenter, I was pleasantly surprised at how many members attended our OSHA Rep Basic class. We had between 10-15 members in every session I presented in. There were more than 20 different classes in each of the four daily sessions ranging from Nextgen technology to Lobbying Congress. Though our presentation was the same each day, every session was different based on who was in the class. We would get deeper into specific issues based on the different questions we would receive from our audience.

I truly hope that ATX becomes a permanent event to educate our members, identify new activists, and to continue grow our union for the years to come.

From Shannon Lyman, NATCA New England Communications Lead, ZBW

It was great to have the opportunity to attend the first-ever NATCA Activism & Training Expo. I got to see both sides of the event as I was a presenter and also attended classes. I presented 8 iterations of “Social Media 101 and The Communications Committee” and also expanded my NATCA knowledge by taking the following classes:

Drug & Alcohol Committee
Region X – Get to Know Your Brothers & Sisters
Collaboration Facilitators Q&A
NATCA OSHA Rep Basics
NTSB Basics for NATCA Activists
Professional Standards Committee
The NATCA Puzzle: How Do You Fit? (A Union Synergy class)

Our NATCA sisters and brothers work hard on the behalf of all of us in so many different capacities and it was intriguing to see all of the opportunities there are within our union!

President Rich Santa and EVP Andrew LeBovidge gave us multiple opportunities to ask them any questions we had and discussed many important topics our union is facing. Also, they invited members from 3 other unions to share their experiences and the struggles and successes their unions face. That was a great addition to this event.

Lastly, we had time to visit the booths of many of our different NATCA committees and learn how to get involved. My committee, the NATCA Communications Committee, set up a photo booth which many of our members took part in, adding a little fun to this educational event!