I recently attended the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) in Knoxville, TN. It had been too long since us solar geeks got together, thanks, COVID :( It was just like attending a family reunion. Amongst all the industry training, booth visiting, and mingling, there was time for some fun.
Mayfield Renewables hosted their version of "Wait, wait... don't tell me". I was invited to participate in a segment where they asked me questions using the Kahoot platform, although they didn't tell me what the questions were or even what category the questions belonged. The host, Scott Nguyen, introduced me and asked me a few questions about the book and my new career change over to Tigo Energy. He then announced the category- Electronic Music. Jokingly, he said since I have a heavy background in electronics from my USN submarine days, that this should be a piece of cake.
I failed horribly. I think I only got one question right and that is because I used the US Navy advancement exam strategy if you didn't know the answer to a multiple choice question: When in doubt, Charlie out. In other words, chose "C". Didn't work so well that time.
Of course, I was already 2 Jack and Cokes, 1 Jim Beam and Coke, and 2 beers in when I took the stage. I'll just blame my poor performance on my impaired brain function. You can se that Ryan Mayfield was studiously going over his reading for the next part of event.
The rest of the game involved the crowd and they did much better at the industry related questions. I offered a signed and numbered copy of my book as a third place prize. I brought 25 books with me since this would be the first gathering with my industry friends and I sold all but 6. I think I should have promoted it more but the organizers of NABCEP did an outstanding job mentioning my book to the 400+ attendees.
The solar industry has a history of working hard and playing hard. That philosophy was magnified due to the long separation of 2020-2021. If you want to get involved in this awesome industry then please reach out to me! Our industry needs good people and everyone is hiring. There is more work than people to help out and we need you!