Conferences and Cost

Well 2009 is really starting to take it's toll on conferences. Last month Bentley canceled the BE Conference that was scheduled to be held this May in Charlotte, NC. Which really sucks since Charlotte is just down the road from my house and I was looking forward to attending.

Then a couple of days ago I received a email for Paul Fort in NJ informing me (and others) that the HEEP Area I meeting that was being planned for June was canceled mainly due to State DOT Travel Restrictions. Which is a short sighted shame (not on Area I's part, but on the states). Bentley also cited the travel restrictions as a reason for the BE cancellation also. (Although I think it may have been a money saving thing for Bentley not its customers).

Anyway,

It is a shame that agencies, organizations and company's cut back on travel and training when the economy is down. You would think it would be just the opposite since their work loads are down they would have time to train, learn new skills and make personal contacts, which will help them thrive in the future. But that makes a bit to much sense I guess.

So what is your organization doing, building for the future or hunkering down for the quarter?

P.S. check out HEEP.ORG the Area II and International meetings are still on and you won't find a better conference deal anywhere...

Five weeks and two HEEPs

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to post a blog entry from Cluj. Wish I could say it was due to lack of connectivity but it wasn't I was just lazy. As a matter or fact the hotel we stayed in was the first one in five years in what was Eastern Europe to have hotel wide wireless connections that worked great.

The HEEP Area V /TEM meeting went well. While not as many countries attended as usual there were enough to make it interesting. Our Hungarian host went out of their way to make us feel at home. Got to visit Braun Castle (home of Dracula), see a lot of the country side and visit the largest highway project in Europe. So it was a great trip.

Area V was the first HEEP meeting of the year and I just got back Wednesday from HEEP Area II in Atlanta. Like the Hungarians the GADOT people who put on the conference went out of their way to make all the attendees to feel right at home. The Biggest question to come out of the conference was what does an 11 million dollar condominium in Buckhead look like? Seriously the biggest topic at the conference was the use of technology in surveying and construction. With Automated Machine Guidance (AMG) and it's various parts being front and center. We had 8 of the 12 Area II DOTs represented with at least 6 State Surveyors and State Construction Engineers represented.

We even got the chance to spend an afternoon on a GADOT AMG project site which was a first for HEEP. I even got to climb up in the cab of grader and see how the operator does it. Very cool.

Lunch is about over so more later.