Beyond Data Management Podcast
The definitive podcast for government data management and stories from the field - with a special focus on Environment Health professionals.
Beyond Data Management Podcast
NEHA 2026 AEC Conference Just Got WAY Easier: Exclusive HS GovTech Navigator App Demo
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🚀 Special Episode! We're giving you an exclusive first look at the brand new **HS GovTech Conference Navigator App** built specifically for the NEHA 2026 AEC in Kansas City.
If you've ever felt overwhelmed trying to navigate dozens of sessions, conflicting schedules, credit hours, and everything Kansas City has to offer — this app is for you.
In this demo, host Cameron Garrison and Adam Smith walk through the powerful features including:
✅ **Smart Scheduling** – Browse sessions by day, add to your personal agenda, track credit hours
✅ **AI Recommendations** – Private AI (trained only on conference data) suggests sessions based on your role (food inspector, septic, etc.)
✅ **Conflict Detection** – Never double-book yourself again
✅ **Private Notes & Presenter Decks** – Take notes and access slides after sessions
✅ **Built-in Trivia Games** – Test your food safety & environmental health knowledge, compete on the leaderboard, and win prizes at the HS GovTech booth!
✅ **Kansas City Local Guide** – Walking-distance restaurants, stores, coffee, BBQ, nightlife + rideshare integration with safety alerts
✅ **Community Feed** – "Reddit for the Conference" – share photos, violations, stories, and connect with other attendees
✅ **Digital Drink Ticket** – Claim your free drink QR code in the app
Whether you're attending NEHA in Kansas City or just want to see the future of conference apps, this is a must-watch.
**Download the app now and start planning:**
➡️ https://neha.conferenceguide.ai
First 25 people to set up the app get a special prize at the HS GovTech booth!
**Timestamps:**
00:00 - Intro & Why We Built This
01:30 - App Overview & Onboarding
03:15 - Session Scheduling & Credits
06:45 - AI-Powered Recommendations
09:20 - Private Notes & Presenter Decks
11:10 - Conflict Detection
13:00 - Email Your Agenda
14:40 - Trivia Games & Leaderboard
19:30 - Kansas City Local Guide & Navigation
23:45 - Community Feed ("Conference Reddit")
26:10 - Digital Drink Tickets & Prizes
28:00 - EDH Appreciation Lounge & Live Podcast Recordings
Powered by HS GovTech | Beyond Data Management Podcast
#NEHA2026 #EnvironmentalHealth #ConferenceApp #GovTech #AI #KansasCity
Please remember to like and subscribe - and reach out to us with your stories and show ideas Beyond@hscloudsuite.com
This is the Beyond Data Management Podcast powered by HS GovTech. Now here's your host, Cameron Garrison. Well, EH Day Shit, if you're watching this, it's not a normal episode, a special release. Because there's something exciting that the folks at HS GovTech have been working on that we want to uh show you here today for those of you that will be attending Kansas City's AEC, the Niha 2026 AEC. There um, you know, conferences are tough because there's always more sessions than you can go to, and they're it sometimes it's really hard to keep up if you've got like a sheet of paper and you've like taken chicken scratch of where you want to go, and it's just can become a thing. So we're gonna do a quick debut of an asset that you can actually access and download now and plan your conference experience in advance a lot better. And joining us to take us through it, the mastermind of all things uh marketing and trying to make your lives easier every day. No stranger to the show, Adam Smith. Adam, welcome back, man.
SPEAKER_00Glad to be here and excited to unveil the uh the app.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, this is this is fun. So tell us just sort of a quick overview of what this concept is and uh what we're about to show folks uh that they will be able to immediately go access, and the link to it will be in the description here of this video.
SPEAKER_00So it all started just from an idea of you know, we you and I have been to Niha plenty of times, and it's always chaotic, and there's so many things to do, comp uh sessions to attend, places to go eat and drink and have fun. So the concept was you know, how can we provide a more uh you know organized and pleasant experience for people traveling to a conference and they can organize their, you know, plan everything ahead of time. So we developed an app that contains all the content schedules and the local uh flavor of Kansas City all in one app for people to plan their trip.
SPEAKER_01It's really exciting. So let's look at it. The bottom line is the HS GovTech conference navigator app, right? So let's go ahead and talk folks through what you're seeing. This this screen will only appear one time, right? When they first go there, and it's very light on information. It's just your name, your agency, and your email. And um we'll watch the little uh robot fill it in here, and then we can get to the good stuff, Adam, and explain to us what we're looking at. This is AI enabled, right? Now you're gonna see this here in a second. It it's actually only trained on the conference stuff. And it's really exciting. So take it away, Adam.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so your point. It's only contained, it's self-contained, so it's secure. Uh obviously contains all the session information, the location, the number of credits, the date and timestamps, all that sort of stuff. So you can go in, you can organize it by or search by day, and add the stuff to your schedule that you want to do. So that's what it's showing right now is clicking through some of the days, and it'll probably scroll down here in a minute. So you can see the number of sessions, the number of credits, and then a detailed list highlighting you know the name of the session, the number of credits, and you can add stuff to your basically to add stuff to your dashboard.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and so here we've got we're scrolling through um, I guess I think it's Monday. Yeah, Monday's events here. And every single conference is there. As you mentioned, it's got how many credit hours are available for it, uh, and a lot of really good information. I think we're getting ready here in the video that folks see to pick. Hopefully we are. Uh, getting ready to pick a session. Yep, there we go. Can you see it on your end, Adam?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I can. Yeah. So it's right on the opening keynote, the one that everyone wants to attend.
SPEAKER_01Yes. And so one of the other features is there's a section for any session you attend. You can take your own private notes, share it with no one, right? And there's no limit to what you can put in that field. And uh you can email them to yourself or just save them in the app. Yep. Correct. And uh a second, here we're gonna see that.
SPEAKER_00And it also will allow the presenters, if they want to share their presentation decks and stuff like that with the attendees afterwards, that can also be hosted in the app.
SPEAKER_01I love that. That's a great idea because so many times you're like, man, I wish I could see that deck again. Um and there's not an easy way. So I've marked uh it looks like we're marking attending. So you can put them on a watch list, right? Or so it'll remind you you may have had an interest in it, or you can say, I'm definitely going, and it puts it on your calendar. Excellent. And I think here it also does duplicate tracking. I think that's where we're getting ready to see. Talk to us about that a little bit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so to what we said originally, there's always there's so many sessions to attend. Oftentimes they might be occurring at the same time, it will alert you that oh, so much goodness.
SPEAKER_01You have a choice to make. And so your options there are oh, never mind, I want to keep the session I already had. And what does add anyway do? Uh, and we're seeing it on the screen there. It puts them both, and I guess it looks like it highlights them in red, right? So it alerts you that you can't be in two places at once.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01Interesting. And because Nihon does the check-in at some of these sessions for the credit hours, I don't think you can be checked into two places at once either, at least if you want to have credit hours. So what these little tiles here give you at a glance, orient you to your day, right?
SPEAKER_00Correct. Yeah. So it'll filter you down to the number of sessions per day, and you can pop open each one of them, and it'll show you basically what you have on the docket for the day.
SPEAKER_01And conflicts in red. Um, and ask. The ask button is that to cue questions you had for the presenter so that you could dialogue or follow up with them if there's no QA at the session or it runs short. Correct. Very, very cool. And that top search bar um is not just a search bar, is it? It's actually tied to a private AI model. Uh, tell us a little bit about what that AI model was trained to do.
SPEAKER_00Well, I think we're getting a little bit ahead. Because the first thing we're gonna do is we're gonna email that schedule to ourselves in case you want that hard copy in your inbox.
SPEAKER_01I get so excited, I was getting carried away and get into the AI stuff. So, yes, um, you can send an email for any day and email yourself your agenda. So that if you'd rather have it in a nice formatted email, you can uh access it there. And we are doing this, by the way, on the live app, right? So this is a live app on a real iPhone, not a simulator. Um and yep, because they're going over to the email. And that is the email that you'll get that actually shows you at a glance what you have scheduled for yourself for the day.
SPEAKER_00And I believe the app also, if you want to manually email it to yourself, you certainly can, or the app can do that for you prior to the early part of the day, basically.
SPEAKER_01That is really, really cool. Uh, so I think now is the AI dashboard, right? Uh the AI part of it. Talk about what that what it's trained on and what it's capable of uh of doing for you.
SPEAKER_00Well, right now it's still showing some of the other sessions, but eventually we'll scroll all the way up to the top and talk over it a little bit. But yeah, so you know if you're uh maybe I'm a septic inspector or something like that. Oh, or here we go. So I'm a probably food inspector, would be my assumption is gonna type in there. So it'll curate the information you're putting in and then filter down and give you a recommended path. Here's the sessions that I recommend you attend, and then it'll give you links to them.
SPEAKER_01That is really cool because you can actually, instead of having to scroll through, and there it is, it gives you a path, a recommended path, based on who who you are and what you do. Oh, that's really cool.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and something that we'll we'll be working on is in this bolded list. Uh if it is if you scroll further down, which I believe it'll show in the recording, but the the sessions are down there. What we're gonna do is add some shortcut buttons right there so that it's above the fold, you know, to use an old printing term, so you can just click right there and just add it.
SPEAKER_01That is really cool. And it shows at the bottom, it's showing its session, it's homework too, right? Showing its work. It says it's from the session schedule. So the AI is not trained on anything from the wild web, it's just actual session data, and as we'll see here in a few minutes, actually some uh Kansas City related data too, right? Correct. Very, very cool. All right, oh, the fun, the trivia. So I will say for the app, so for for this to be screen shared like this for broadcast, there is actually a menu button at the bottom. Uh and again, the description in the description of this uh episode, you can see the link and you can go to it and uh set the app up and you you can plan. If you're a planner, this is a dream come true, right? Because you because you don't have to just show up and wing it. You actually can know before you get on a plane what you're doing every day.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm. Very good. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01So the trivia, set this up for us, and then we'll show folks the trivia game.
SPEAKER_00So I mean, you know, what's everyone loves a good trivia game, especially the folks at Niha. So uh we have two baked-in trivia games that anyone who's downloaded the app can take. Um it'll step through, you know, some of the questions, uh, you know, hints and so forth. Uh, but the ultimate goal is just to have some fun in the app while you're there, test your knowledge. And then uh you know, internally at HS, we pressure tested the questions in there with our in-house EH folks to make sure that the content is actually accurate and we didn't just guess. So it's all in there, and then the winners of the uh trivia games that can actually come to the HS GovTech booth and redeem a prize.
SPEAKER_01That is really cool. So do you remember the Dukes bean? Roll that beautiful bean footage, and there we go. Uh the app footage is here. So there's two categories, right? Looks like food and pools, and you can choose which path you want to play. And um let's see how we do. We're actually, I think, gonna go through the quiz here and um hopefully not put lie to the fact, and there we go. Yeah, hand washing sink's not the right answer. Um it will take you through 12 questions. It is randomized, you will not get the same board twice. Like if you play it eight, nine, ten times to try to better your score, it's not a hat to cheat from your memory.
SPEAKER_00For those with photographic memories, though, they might remember some of these questions and that's a fair point.
SPEAKER_01And there's a hint. So we just used a we used a hint on the last one, and it's very similar, I guess, to compare it to like Who Wants to be a millionaire, right? Where you're like, eliminates one of the wrong answers uh and uh garnish temperatures. Who took this quiz? Um a hand washing sink in a food prep area should be used for what purpose? I think oh dumping hop water, that would probably be my guess. If you want a violation, that is the thing to do. Uh a hot dish machine should have what available for the inspector to verify sanitize detergent label. Come on, man. Um one when must a food employee wash their hands when the manager asks. Whatever their manager asks. You should do that too, by the way. But also, uh, there's a whole bunch of rules with it. Um let's see, I've got two hints left. I used one, so it takes away one of the wrong answers, which improve your odds, I think, by what, 25%? Still missed it. Um and but this will be a lot of fun for folks because as you'll see when we get to the end here, there's sort of bragging rights that are gonna be attached to this. And I'm about to use, I think, my last hint here. Um a delivery truck parking nearby. Actually, not part of the food code, believe it or not. And by the way, this is based on FDA 2022, because I know we're gonna get that question a lot, right? So FDA 2022, and if there's a weird change between 17 and 22, hey, don't argue with us, take it up with the FDA. And uh I think we're down to the last question. What practice is generally prohibited with ready-to-eat food? Of course, bare hand contact. But Adam, tell us what's happening here with the leaderboard and everything.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so it's gonna show the top 10 test takers and their score. Um, so obviously, everyone wants to be at the top. It looks like uh Cameron Garrison has taken this quiz quite a few times, but we also see some of our local talent. Caitlin has in there, been in there taking the quiz as well. So Braggie writes, who you know, who doesn't want to be at the top of the board. And then every rank, based on the number of answers you get, right, gets a title. So code cadet is well, that's the Cameron taking this quiz. So Cameron is the code cadet.
SPEAKER_01Sounds right.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01Uh, but four of twelve, this is gonna be a lot of fun. People can raz each other. Hey, why'd you get four wrong? Uh, and I just calculated that on my phone calculator. Uh, I got a 91.6% with 11 out of 12. So take that, Caitlin Gappa. You might have actually done it in the field, but I'm a test taker. Um, so this will be a lot of fun. You guys, I think we'll have fun with it. And Adam, I believe for people that get 12 out of 12, they'll be directed to the HS GovTech booth for a special little extra prize, right? So if you are the top of the heap, you'll get an extra prize. Just check in at the GovTech booth and they'll see that you're what your score was, and they will hand you an extra prize. It's not, you know, one of the pens or, you know, the normal stuff that everybody picks up.
SPEAKER_00Something a little better than a sticker, right?
SPEAKER_01Yes. Now I love this next section, Adam, because one of the things, so we talked about this actually when we did an hour and a half together recently. Traveling. And when you travel, oh my gosh, it is just like I don't know about you, but I've I've I have so many razors in a drawer. I I have a lot of duplicates because I'll forget and leave it out of my bag. And I now have just come to operate under the theory I'll buy it when I get there. And uh, but the problem is sometimes it's hard to know where to go. So explain the fun and KC section.
SPEAKER_00So basically, what we did, we did a cross-section analysis of pretty much anything within a reasonable walking distance of the venue, and then source that data into the app so you can or and organize by category. So for what you were looking for, you might be looking for like a Walgreens or a Walmart or something like that to get a new Razor. You can drill down right into that section, it'll curate that information for you, tell you where it is.
SPEAKER_01And it gives you the distance, 11-minute walk, half a mile. And there's some extra embedded tech in here, isn't there, with the uh view map, walk and ride chair.
SPEAKER_00There is. Oh, yeah. So if if we click that walk button, it'll automatically open up you know your preferred uh navigation app of choice. I think for you, it's using, I think it looks like Google Maps, as I believe.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's launched Google Maps and actually shows where we're sitting at the studio.
SPEAKER_00It it does. But it's probably it's probably gonna show a hefty walk. Wow. I could like be a subway spokesperson, I'd be so thin after that. When I was testing this earlier, I'm in Dayton, Ohio. So I'll I'm 12 days from Kansas City, so I'll beat you there by two years.
SPEAKER_01You you really would, and unless it's like the tortoise in the hare and you think you've got an advantage, and I'll pass you in some holler in Kentucky in the middle of the night. This is really great, Adam, because I can go in, I can say, hey, where can I get barbecue? Which Kansas City's kind of known for. Coffee, also a tough thing when you travel. It's like, all right, where's the nearest caffeine fix? Um and uh I think it's gonna show us here in a second.
SPEAKER_00You can also, yeah, you can just view in the map. You can also view, you know, the actual venue, learn more about it.
SPEAKER_01So I can look at the reviews and see if they, you know, what's going on. I can even order a head all from one interface out of the navigator app. That's awesome. And then uh maybe tell us a little bit about the rideshare uh functionality uh that is uh embedded here as well.
SPEAKER_00Sure. So um as you can see here, it's looking at the nightlife. So anything, you know, after hours, looking for that little uh speakeasy, you know, someplace that might not be inherently safe to just walk to, it prompts you. You might want to consider rideshare. If you click that, it'll open it'll give you options for either Uber or Lyft, whatever your choice is.
SPEAKER_01And then that's gonna be an expensive Uber ride for me.
SPEAKER_00It probably will be.
SPEAKER_01And it says I have to rent a car because no one is gonna accept that ride. Um so if you're in Kansas City though, no, I notice it brought in casual animal brewing, so you don't have to even set up the ride. And it'll just pass the parameters to Uber or Lyft, and then uh you're good to go. You just hit order.
SPEAKER_00Correct.
SPEAKER_01And I love it too. It looks like if it's a nightlife or a late place, there's a badge that says you may want to consider ride chair. Is that a safety thing?
SPEAKER_00It is a safety thing, just so you know, for people to be safe out there as because you and I, how many times has it been? Well, we're not gonna talk about how late it's been, but we're walking to a restaurant or to a bar or something like that after hours, and it might be a little sketchy. So try to be safe out there.
SPEAKER_01No, that that's that's really smart. Pay attention to that recommendation badge because it's taking a lot of data into account to make that recommendation. Alcohol and walking through maybe like a dark alley is not always the best mixture of uh for your safety. So I really love this next one. This whole channel and podcast was to kind of create a community water cooler, right? An ability for the community to hear each other's stories, hear from each other, and talk. I love this because this function is I I'm calling it Reddit for EH at the conference, so to speak, right? Tell us a little bit about this because this is really fun.
SPEAKER_00That's really, I mean, that's really what it is. Uh you know, we're just uh the ability to you know post about you know what you're seeing and encountering at the conference. So, you know, uh Kansas City is the uh capital of fountains or pants on a balcony, depending on what might be the case. Uh but yeah, you can post you know funny information you might find or some funny story, or if you see a picture of something that this looks like a violation of something, you know, pond scum in a uh public pool or a public fountain in Kansas City, by all means load it up and let's start talking about it.
SPEAKER_01Any skin marks inside. Well done, Cameron G. So yeah, and we have categories that are just for that, right? So we have uh out and about in Kansas City. You can take a picture of a great steak you had, something crazy, you know, you know, somebody like uh panthandling aggressively, whatever you want, that just kind of lists the spirits and everybody can kind of come up with their best one-liner for. But then there's serious topics in there too, like um I'm struggling, you know, problems that you have, or maybe you want to connect and meet somebody in uh at the conference for a cup of coffee and pick their brain. So unique problems, meet new friends in EH friends, images of Kansas City. There's where you put your fountains. Uh and then find the violation. You can upload the craziest picture you've ever taken on an inspection and uh share it with people that will appreciate it. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that that weed killer is probably not food safe. No, no, probably not. I'm really excited about this, and I know there's some other thoughts on the board for how to extend this more broadly in the future, so folks stay tuned for that. But if you open the app now, you don't have to wait until the conference to start posting. You can go ahead and start connecting with people, putting up funny pictures, and starting the dialogue going into Kansas City. So if you again, the link is in the description and feel free to uh start stocking this up or making some connections with folks. You'll notice there when you make a post, it asks you, do you want the you want to be emailable or messageable from your post? And you'll see here I said yes on this one. And so if somebody wanted to message me and Ribby a little bit, they could do that as well.
SPEAKER_00Correct. And it's it's like any other social media platform. You know, you can comment on in threads of someone's funny picture or something like that just to keep the conversation going.
SPEAKER_01And everybody's favorite part here next, the drink. Everybody loves getting the free drink ticket at HS Booth. Tell us how we're tell everybody how we're doing it this year, integrating it to the app, making it a little more orderly.
SPEAKER_00Correct. So if you're able to download the app ahead of time and you claim your QR code, so it's already claimed here, but there's a button that says you know, get QR code or get your drink ticket, it'll generate a unique QR code unique to you. And then all you need to do is stop by the booth, verify with an HS staff member. I've already claimed it, they're gonna hand you the drink ticket, and you're and off you go to the bar to enjoy your libations.
SPEAKER_01That is excellent. So um, I believe for those of you folks who watched all the way through this little demonstration of this, first of all, Adam, well done. You guys outdid yourself on this. But secondly, I believe it's what the first 25 people that go into the app will get earmarked for a again, an additional prize that you can come to the booth when you're in Kansas City there uh Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and actually get an extra prize for being an early person to set the app up, right?
SPEAKER_00Correct. Yeah, HS staff members will be alerted to you know, here's people to be on the lookout for. So if you happen to stop by, that you happen to you know, someone might just hand you a prize at random. So Adam. Or seemingly at random.
SPEAKER_01The um it'll be in the description, but what's the URL that people watching can go ahead and go to and play with this themselves and go ahead and start planning their AEC experience in Kansas City?
SPEAKER_00Niha.conferenceguide.ai.
SPEAKER_01Niha.conference guide.ai. Something tells me with the conference guide.ai that this may in the future become uh an asset that other conferences in the space can use if they don't have an app or if if they if they would like to provide this to their participants. This is I I smell more coming.
SPEAKER_00Oh, absolutely. And because it's it's self-sourced, all the you know the other conferences have to do is provide what relevant information do you want the app trained on because we can spin it up for them.
SPEAKER_01That is great. Adam, just great job to the whole team. And I um that's what I love about HSGUFTE, of course, the uh presenting sponsor of of this channel, but is that desire to try to give tools and things to make the folks who do the work every day just a little bit easier and less stressful? We can't get rid of operators that are jerks, we can't get rid of flight delays, but things like this can can be meaningful. So um sort of in closing, go to uh niha.conference guide.ai. Adam, any other thoughts? Uh anything else you want to tease uh for people to when they see the booth uh on that Sunday night opening session. Anything else you want to leave with people?
SPEAKER_00Well, one of the main things is uh we'll have our traditional sales booth like we do every year, but right across the aisle we'll have our EH Appreciation Lounge. And when I say yours truly, I don't mean me, I mean Cameron. We'll be there doing live recordings of the Beyond uh Management Podcast there. So sign up and you can record there and have your own episode right there on the floor at Niha.
SPEAKER_01Looking forward to it and can't wait to see all of you all see in the Appreciation Lounge. And how can we forget, the podcast will have a mobile studio set up, and you are we're gonna be taking drop-in conversations with people just like we did last year. It's gonna be a lot of fun and look forward to seeing all of you all in Kansas City, and of course you too, Adam, and the famous stash live and in person.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it will be there, it will make an appearance.
SPEAKER_01Alrighty. Thank you all so much for watching this sort of special preview of this uh great app. Go to it now, niha.ai, conference guide.ai. And you can go ahead and get the app set up. And uh, we'd love to hear your feedback as you get into it. If you have any questions or anything, uh please feel free to reach out and let us know. For all of us here at the Beyond Data Management Podcast, thank you so much. We will see you in Kansas City in just a couple of weeks.