Day 3- Tuesday- Socializing and taking off…

The main focus for today was walking the exhibit hall, socializing with some people, and getting out of town…

I recommend getting up early for the continental breakfast…imagine the scene…it seemed like dozens of engineers surrounding the bagel table…just keep your hands and feet away from anything that can be piled on a small plate and you should be ok…the coffee tables were just as bad, but we were all desperate for the caffeine so it didn’t get too ugly…

(I’m just kidding…it wasn’t just the engineers…it was the sales reps too…)

Speaking of sales reps…I was asking around and found that people felt that the exhibit hall was pretty empty until the educational sessions let out for coffee breaks…I have found this to be typical of the Annual Meeting…

Most of the exhibits are simple desktop displays…some vendors did make the effort with some nice product displays… but nothing as elaborate as Interphex, for example…although, I have heard that the Pack Expo makes Interphex looks small…

While walking the exhibit hall, you have to take note of the various booth give-aways…Invensys takes the coveted “coolest thing being given away” award…for the helicopter…

It was nice to be able to spend some time talking to people outside of the high pressure project environment and just have a conversation… catch up on who is up to what…it’s surprising who you might run in to…

A good example of this was running into CJ Sabol…I used to work with CJ some time ago…he and his wife now live in Puerto Rico and run Carribean Cleanroom Products… talk to CJ and Conchetta if you are in need of clean-room construction on the island…he was busy with a project bid right in the middle of the exhibit hall…

I introduced myself Jim Redenbarger from LS Planning Group…and had a brief conversation… So it is possible to meet some new faces at the meeting also…

I had to check out as I wasn’t going to be able to spend another day away from home, but I did manage to spend a bit more time walking around…checked out the student posters…no sessions today, unfortunately I was running out of time…

I was lucky to finally catch up with Marsha Strickhouser…Marsha is the Public Relations Manager for the ISPE…we had been exchanging e-mails about the inaugural edition of the ISPE Blog…it was good to be able to finally meet Marsha and put a face to the e-mail address…I got my picture taken with Marsha for being the “original” blogger for the Annual Meeting…I hope to get a copy or get to link to the posting…

Anyway, that about wraps up my time at the meeting…off to the airport in time to jet home…


Review of Day 4 to come…

ISPE Annual Meeting