Archive for April, 2008

Okay, I have talked with my friends Tommy Mayne and Carl Segneri and have a pretty good perspective from the organizer’s view point, which will be the subject of more postings. The undertaking is awesome, but runs so smoothly (planning is the reason) that most attendees never consider what it takes to keep them so unaware. But, what about the exhibitors? What do they go through to have the attention grabbing floor space everyone will be talking about years later? Remember the talking robot that wandered the show floor a few years ago, or the New Orleans jazz band leading everyone up and down the main aisles, or the Swiss Village recreation, the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, the Blues Brothers? They all make up exhibitors’ efforts to make our visit memorable. Exhibits come in all sizes, shapes, and complexities. For that reason, I contacted another friend, John McDonald. As Immediate Past President of PES and GM of Marketing at GE John has been on both sides of the equation. The amount of resources committed to an exhibit is remarkable. At first glance GE’s exhibit is a comfortable habitat for attendees. It will be about the total experience of thinking “outside the bowl.” Rumor has it there will be fresh baked cookies – that got my attention. Audio/Visual technology will be inclusive, but not intrusive. To achieve that goal, 50 to 60 people (engineers, designers, A/V experts, computer geeks, technicians, you name it) have been working on this exhibit for the past 3 or 4 months – that is a lot of man-hours. The entire exhibit (a 60’x60’ space) was assembled and tested. It was then taken apart and packaged for shipment to Chicago. It comes together next week. I am going to see if I can get some more exhibitors to share their experiences. I’d welcome any and all comments.

When you talk with Carl Segneri you can’t help getting excited. He is totally focused on the pending PES T&D Expo and showing off Chicago at its best. With less than a week to go he says, “You can taste the excitement in the air.” Carl is the Chairman of the Organization Committee. In 15 minutes, he gave me a two hour overview of the gargantuan effort taking place to host this event – I got excited. The “Windy City Wise Guys” (30 organizing leaders) have worked for roughly two years arranging for hotels (over 20 last count), food service, transportation (18 buses), technical sessions (rooms, projectors, etc. in McCormick Place), and volunteers. Yep - an army of over 320 volunteers has been assembled. The volunteers are the key to a successful Expo. They will be giving us directions, staffing information desks, riding on the shuttle buses, manning the bus stops, guiding our companions, and most importantly being a friendly face in crowd we can turn to for help when needed. With over 20% of the Expo attendees coming from overseas, Carl explained one of the biggest challenges was finding interpreters. Fortunately the team has found a couple of dozen volunteers with this talent –these “Wise Guys” are on top of it. I’d welcome any and all comments.

When my wife Pam accompanies me on the trip, it is more comfortable and much more civilized. Pam is organized and plans ahead. She packs in advance of the trip. I pack just before leaving for the airport. Left to my own devices my business trips can be a little reminiscent of “Survivor”. I always think I have packed everything, but when I get to my destination there is something missing. Thank God for those kind folks at the front desk who supply toothbrushes, razors, toothpaste, etc. when I have forgotten mine. Have you ever had to buy a tie, because yours is safely at home – yeah me too. I am so glad Pam likes to accompany me to the PES conferences. It is a chance to meet friends for her too and to enjoy the companion activities, which brings me back to the civilizing influence of having my wife with me. She has interests outside the engineering field. Engineers, as we all know, are notorious for being focused on engineering and very little else - yeah me too. The 2001 PES T&D Expo was held in Atlanta. Pam found out there was an exhibit at the art museum of Winslow Homer, one of America’s greatest watercolor artists. Heck, I had never heard of him; after all 19th century artists is not normally a part of your typical engineering curriculum. Who would have guessed, it was a fantastic exhibit and a highlight of the Atlanta visit. Dang, when I Googled (hey, I’m still a nerd and surf for everything) Chicago for some trip information, up came a web page listing a Winslow Homer exhibit at the Chicago Art Institute. I told Pam and we started reminiscing about the Atlanta trip. Now we are going to add an extra day to the trip and spend some time in the museum with Winslow. It is funny, I normally don’t think about these intangible benefits of attending something like the PES T&D Expo, but they can be just as important as the educational aspects we sell the boss as a reason to attend. I guess that is why it was called enrichment in college. I’d welcome any and all comments.

As chairman of the T&D Committee I get some pretty fascinating e-mails from folks with questions. Recently one came in asking for help and advice on how to understand the technologies. The writer pointed out that young engineers (he was one of them) are replacing the older engineers and in many cases there is little if any knowledge transfers. I am not suggesting engineers are not sharing. We fall into a trap of assuming “oh, everyone knows that.” This was brought home to me at the last T&D Expo held in Dallas (2004). Dr. Ram Adapa, of EPRI, was the organizer of a panel session of which I was part. The subject was using advanced technology on transmission lines. In my presentation I made reference to something I thought was old hat (was I wrong!). I was interrupted immediately by an engineer in the audience. He had never heard of that before and asked for clarification and more information. Others jumped in agreeing with him. It was a case of me assuming (assuming always gets you in trouble) it was common knowledge. Maybe it was ten or fifteen years ago, but there is a new generation out there. The neat thing was Ram had done a great job assembling the experts and group’s questions were quickly answered. The 2008 Expo has a lot of this type of knowledge sharing on the agenda with all the super sessions and panel sessions - not to mention the wealth of knowledge on the exhibit floor. It should be interesting. I’d welcome any and all comments.

A few days ago, Dr. Satish Ranade from New Mexico State University called to talk. During my graduate school days he was my teacher, advisor, and most importantly my friend. The friendship has continued. It doesn’t matter how long ago graduate school was; when Satish’ voice hit my ear, the years disappeared. Conditioning took over – had I forgotten an assignment? Go ahead and laugh, but think about it. I suspect we all have those in our lives with this ability. It can be a parent, teacher, or mentor; they impacted our lives in a very positive way. We still respond to that positive influence and we are still the kid in their presence. Satish has been beating the financial bushes (not an easy task with the current state of the economy). He has raised enough money so far to send six undergraduate and six graduate students from NMSU to the PES Expo. Keep in mind; this is not going to be party time in Chicago. Satish works very hard finding sponsors and expects his students actually to learn something. As we talked, I could see the direction we were going. I volunteered to meet his students at the Expo one afternoon and take them on a tour of the exhibit floor. Not only that, Satish expects me to explain whatever equipment we might run into (how am I going to explain those green electrons), and excite them over the prospects of working in our industry. This is going to be fun! When was the last time you visited with one of your professors? I hope it hasn’t been too long ago. I’d welcome any and all comments. I’d welcome any and all comments.

The elephant has a gestation period of about 22 months – a long time. Fine you say, what does that have to do with anything. Well, I was talking with my friend Tommy Mayne; he is North American T&D Chairman and heads up the team responsible for the T&D Expo. Tommy told me the PES T&D Expo takes 6 to 8 years from the first planning meeting until the doors swing open and the attendees enter the exhibit floor. That made me think about elephant gestation periods – hey I told you earlier I have a different thought process than most people (friends say it comes from getting hit in the head too many times). Seriously think of it, 6 to 8 years of work by hundreds of volunteers and staff. I knew the process was a lengthy one, but I had no idea it was that long. Tommy went on to explain planning is everything in this business. The day after Hurricane Katrina; the team started wheels turning for the 2010 T&D Expo’s return to New Orleans, while at the same time moving to Dallas in 2006. Dallas was a fantastic T&D Expo. Tommy said the team motto is “New Orleans is ready for you, but are YOU ready for New Orleans?”

Stay tuned, I’ll be talking more with my friend about the efforts of the team for our benefit. I’d welcome any and all comments.

Let’s talk about shaking knees, Mickey Mouse, HVDC, and biting off way more than I should have. What does that have to do with the IEEE, PES, or the EXPO you might ask? Well, that was my introduction to the IEEE PES Transmission and Distribution Conference and Exposition back in 1986. The 10th EXPO held in Anaheim to be exact. A friend of mine, Nari Hingorani, suggested I write a paper for IEEE on an HVDC project I had just finished and present it at the panel session he was chairing at the 10th EXPO. Okay by 2008 standards that is no big deal. It seems I am always making presentations somewhere, but everyone has to start somewhere. Granted, most people have the sense to start off small and not at an international gathering of geeks and eggheads. In 1986 I had never written a paper, taken part in a panel session, or even been to a conference for that matter. What was I thinking of when I said I would do it? I wrote the paper and dang if it wasn’t accepted. To keep sane, I thought of it as if I had won an essay contest. Kind of like an all expense paid trip to Anaheim. I have to confess, the fact that Anaheim was the home of Disneyland and just across the street had more than a little to do with my decision to write the paper. I figured if I made a fool of myself, no big deal that had happened before. If the PES Expo was a big sales promotion, I would slip off to the Magic Kingdom and no one would be the wiser.

Well the panel session must have gone well – I don’t even remember it except for the bruising brought about by knees knocking together and Nari is still my friend. I do remember the exhibition hall was unbelievable, so much so I have tried not to miss any PES EXPO since. There was so much to see and do with so little time to do it – to heck with the Mouse. Okay, I have to admit the Mouse had evening hours after the floor closed, and the siren song of the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, and Pirates of the Caribbean was quenched. I’d welcome any and all comments.