Welcome to Julie's Toolbox Talks podcast, your go-to resource for safe digging and protecting Illinois's underground infrastructure. Each episode, we'll share practical tips, real stories, and expert insights to help you dig smart, stay safe, and keep your projects on solid ground. Brought to you by Julie Illinois Facility Notification Center.
Hello and welcome to Julie's Toolbox Talks podcast. I'm your host Jill Sailor. In this episode, we're going to dig into something really valuable. Julie's Essentials online courses. These courses are designed to make it easy to understand the ins and outs of everything Julie. Offering great support, practical knowledge, and clear guidance for anyone involved in safe digging and underground infrastructure.
But before we dig in, let me introduce my co-host, Brian McKenzie. Brian has worked in the damage prevention industry for over 25 years. He started his career locating and marking underground infrastructure for facility owners across Illinois. And since joining Julie in 2012, he has shared his deep knowledge of passion for damage prevention with stakeholders throughout central Illinois. And a fun fact, he's not only a certified storm spotter, but he's also a professional photographer and a very good one at that.
Welcome, Brian. Thank you. Thank you for having me today.
Great. And Brian, let's welcome our special guest, Amy Chamara. Amy is Julie's director of education and strategic projects. She's a not for-profit professional with over 25 years of experience leading strategic initiatives, including more than 18 years in Illinois's underground safety industry. She's also a certified project management professional and has a passion for adult learning, program development, and stakeholder collaboration. Amy, thank you so much for joining us today. Thanks, Jill.
We're excited to get started. So, I'm going to hand it off to my co-host, Brian, and we'll kind of dig in here.
Good morning everybody. Welcome. Thank you for coming. Thank you for that fantastic interview, Joel. It's great to be here with you today. I'm excited because I don't know how many of you on the other end listening today get to interview their boss, but I get to today. So, I am super super excited about that. So, welcome everybody.
So, Amy, let's jump right in here. I'm going to ask you the first question here. What inspired the creation of the Julie Essential Courses and why were they seen as important for our audiences?
It's a great question, Brian. So, as many of you may know, Julie was founded just over 50 years ago. Last year, we celebrated our 50th anniversary. And one of the mission at Julie is that we will educate people about safe digging and damage prevention. And we've been doing that through in-person training since, you know, we started, but we learned that people learn differently. Sometimes people can't attend an in-person training.
Sometimes they want to learn when they have downtime on the job site. So our board of directors gave us the
ability to purchase a learning management system. We have our own proprietary learning management system and to develop courses that people could take that they could do on their own time whenever they wanted to do them. It also looked at how we can look at diverse audiences. So you have some people who learn by doing. So we have some interactive activities in our courses, some people learn by reading.
So there's words embedded within our courses. Some people learn just simply by listening to people talk. and then others learn visually. So we have lots of graphics and inter interactive elements and images within our courses.
So that's kind of how all our courses got started is that we wanted to meet the demand that was out there for our different stakeholders.
That's great.
I'm the I'm the learn by everything Brian. I need all of those things to be able to do it.
Absolutely. Yeah. I'm a visual learner, too. So I I completely uh I appreciate that 100%. You got something in there for everybody. Regardless of how you learn, you will be able to take these courses. And the good part is you can go back and forth as many times as you want.
I love that.
So, let me ask you, who's going to benefit most from these courses? Who do you think like the the different groups that we have? We have homeowners, we have uh Julie members, we have professional excavators out there. Who do you think it's going to help the most?
Sure. So, these courses are for everyone. Um, mostly aimed at the professionals. the professional excavator, our professional member utility owners and operators, locators who work for our member utilities, uh members of various associations, but a homeowner also could take this course if they're just wanting to learn a little
bit more about safe digging practices.
And they're not for just the person starting out in the industry. So, it could be someone who's been there for six months. It could be someone who has been there for 20 years. It could be the CEO of the company. These courses are really meant to help everybody understand what it's like to dig in Illinois and what the best practices are.
That's awesome. I mean, it's uh as you well know, we like to reach out to the excavator who's not in the state.
So, some of the um I'm hearing you talk about the busy excavator out there. What are the features that really make this easy to use or accessible for people that are on they're busy people like that that just don't have the time?
Sure. So the good thing about these courses are they can be used on your mobile phone, on a tablet, on your computer, on the go. Basically, if you have an internet connection, you can take these courses and you don't have to take them all at once. So our excavator course might be 45 minutes, but you don't have to sit there for 45 minutes.
You can take a segment here, stop, it remembers where you're at, comes right back to it. Um, it could be a course that you do on your phone. One of our courses is for out of state excavators.
So if you work in another state like Iowa, Indiana, one of our neighboring states, and you know about safe digging, but you don't really know how the laws apply here in Illinois, we have a quick 30 minute course. It's easy to take on your phone. You can learn what's different here versus the state that you're working in. So it really is adaptable.
Uh we see a lot of people using it to onboard some of their new employees to give them kind of a taste of what's out there. We also see that um it's being used in downtime. So in Illinois, it's not always the greatest weather, especially in those off months in the winter. So when it's snow on the ground and you can't send a crew out, have them take this course. It just gets them ready for when dig season does start.
Absolutely. It's uh can't stress that enough. Looking forward, how do you see the essentials evolving or expanding to continue support of safe excavation?
Sure. So, we started out we started out we were going to do a course for excavators, a course for members or member utility companies, and then a course for the locators who locate for them. Not teaching them how to locate, but some of the basic terminology that may be used, some of the basic information and how locators can work with the Julie system. So, we had kind of three various courses and then we added in the out-of-state excavator. Since then, it's kind of just blown up and blossomed.
We've seen courses now—we have courses on the new law. We have courses on the positive response system that's coming. We have a course we're working on for joint meets. And what we found is instead of having long courses that we're dividing things up into these micro modules. So they could be anywhere from 4 minutes to 10 minutes. People's attention spans aren't very long. We're used to the world with TikTok videos and reels and we want quick and easy and easy to understand. So we're breaking things up into that.
We're also developing these things called quick digs that are going to be these refresher courses where you can take those and maybe you've taken the longer course and it's been a while and you're like, “What did they say about pre-marking? How do I pre-mark my job site?” You can take them on your phone. They're meant to be done on your phone. You tap your screen. It gives you some basic knowledge. You're like, “Ah, that's what they were talking about.”
So, we're looking at that. We're also looking that we have Spanish-speaking crews that work within Illinois. So, we're looking at converting our courses into Spanish courses for next year. So, kind of looking at what's out there. We do a needs assessment every year to see what are the needs for the topics, what are the needs within our industry, what are people saying, what do they like about our courses, what's missing, and we kind of evaluate where we need to go from there.
That's fantastic. I had a question on that, too. How can people give feedback? Is there a way for them to give feedback?
Sure. So, all of our courses, which I didn't mention, you can find at julieessentials.com, or you can go to our website, juliebeforyoudig.com, and click on the Julie Essentials logo to get to our courses. At the end of each course, there is a survey that asks some basic questions and there's where you can give some feedback. Or if there's something you're looking for and you're not finding, we encourage you to reach out to either me—find my information on the Julie website—or one of our damage prevention managers. Brian's one of four in the state, and they're always happy to answer questions.
Oh, that's perfect. Yeah, because I love that you guys are starting to break them down into those micro type of learnings because it is, you're right—sometimes you have done a piece of learning and then you're like, I just can't remember. I use it a lot when I'm trying to fix something in my house, right? Like I watch the whole video and then, how do I get back to that quick spot where I need something to be able to get that answer? So, I love that you're doing that and getting the feedback. That's awesome.
Thanks.
100%. You know, and I'm reminded of a question I'd love to be able to ask you now that we have a captive audience and I have you in front of me here because there are a lot of misunderstandings about Julie. Are there anything in this course that could potentially help clear up those types of misconceptions about Julie?
Sure. There's a couple things. One of the things we hear a lot is, “Oh, Julie was late getting out to mark my utilities.” Julie's not a locating service. We do not own, operate, or mark any utilities. We are actually a communication hub. So, anyone who's excavating, whether it's a professional or a homeowner who contacts Julie either online or calls into our call center, we take that information and we relay it to the utilities that are within their dig area. Then it's up to those utilities to either send someone from their staff or one of their contract locators out to mark.
So, we try to clear up that misconception as often as we can. Julie does not locate—we let others know that you're locating. Rather than you having to call the gas company, the electric company, the phone company to let them know about your plans, you contact us and then we contact them on your behalf.
One of the other things I think that's important to know is that if you don't follow safe digging practices and follow the law here in Illinois, you could be penalized. But Julie is not in the enforcement business. We're here to educate. We're here to be the communication hub. We're here to help bridge that gap between the excavator and our utilities, but we're not the enforcement body. That is through the Illinois Commerce Commission, who actually takes complaints of people who are not doing best practices or following the law, and they are the ones who would enforce the law.
Sure. Yep.
You always tell the best stories, and I know we're getting real close to time here. The last question I have for you—because you tell the most fantastic stories—is do you have a favorite story or a moment from developing and teaching these courses that shows the impact that you're making?
You know, I do. There's a couple of them. One, when we first started out having the courses, we really reached out and recruited different excavation companies or associations to take the course. We had a couple of different companies who took the courses and everyone in their company took the course—the entire organization. So Brian was with me and our PR manager, and we took sandwiches or donuts and coffee and lots of Julie fun things like hats and water bottles, and we went to their offices and we celebrated them. That was really a lot of fun.
We haven't done that recently, but if you're watching and listening to this and you are interested in having your entire company take that, let us know—we'd love to come out and celebrate you.
One of the other stories that was really interesting is we did on-site video and actual footage for our Julie Essentials for Locators. Brian was with us on that video shoot. It lasted three or four days. We had an entire company out. We used GoPros, drones, cameras, 360 cameras. It was a lot of fun and some really interesting stories.
We were on job sites with hard hats and steel-toed boots and all our safety gear filming. Brian pretended to be a locator—he has been one in real life, but also played one on our course for TV—out there with drones above him shooting that.
But one of the most exciting or scary parts of that story is that we had a locator from the city of Joliet, where our offices are based, and she was going to show us how to hook up to a fire hydrant and locate water on a street. The crew decided to put the GoPro inside the fire hydrant and had it attached. She hooked up, she did her thing—it was great footage, just awesome showing her reaching in and actually doing it.
They went to grab the camera and it slipped, and we almost lost that camera. So the footage you're seeing and the ways we get that are quite interesting. When you see some of that, know that it is real life. Lots of fun things happen with that.
We definitely do our own stunts here, don't we?
We do. We're we're our own stunt men, our own cameramen. It's it's it's a lot of fun.
It sure is.
Um, one of the things I'd like to just throw in and add is, you know, come check out the courses. Um, one of the things we do offer is CEUs. So, if you're a water or wastewater operator here in Illinois, we are certified that you can get credit towards your recertification. Um, other certifications can use those for, you know, professional development hours. If there's an organization or association where you would like it to be certified for hours and it's not, reach out. We'd be happy to do that. Um, like I said, we have seven CU courses currently, one in production, which is the joint meet. Um, we have two for positive response, which is a a system that will be coming mandatory and into law in 2026 here in Illinois. Um, so members or excavators can learn how to use that. and lots of courses in the work and things we're looking at doing um like planning and design and some how to do pre-marking and our quick dig courses will be coming out shortly. If you are an excavator and you do not receive our e newsletters once a month by email, sign up so you can find out when our new courses are coming. If you are a member utility company and you're not hearing about the courses, let us know. we can put you in touch with your member coordinator who can make sure that you're getting that information as well. Um, and if you are like, hey, I really loved this course, but I'd love to have somebody come out and teach that to an entire group of 20 or 30 people at my organization.
We can do that, too. Brian or one of our other three damage prevention managers are happy to come out. We do all of this for free. So, our courses are all free.
Um they're anywhere from you know 15 20 minute micro courses on the law to a 30 45 minute course for excavators. Um and we keep updating them. So they're always updated to the most current law. And if things change or once the course we feel has run its its course is no pun intended there um then we will revise it and and add things in.
Excellent.
Sounds exciting.
Yeah. Amy, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it.
And we also appreciate all of the incredible work that you're doing to expand education and awareness. Brian, always great seeing you as the co-host.
Look forward to next time.
Absolutely.
And to our listeners, thank you for tuning in to this episode of Julie's Toolbox Talks podcast. If you'd like to learn more about Julie's Essentials courses, make sure you check them out at their website, juliebeforyoudig.com.
And you can see how those resources can support you, whether you're a homeowner, a contractor, or a utility professional.
So, until next time, stay safe and remember, safe digging is in your hands.
Contact Julie before you dig. Thanks all.
