Archive of the 'Presentation Highlights' Category

The super session on the Smart Grid was super. There was standing room only. The engineers seemed to be soaking up every word (there were a few checking their eye lids for holes - hope the boss doesn’t read blogs). Hopefully they now have a better understanding of this brave new world. Don’t miss these sessions. They really get the experts and the attendees together.

I have to report GE does have fresh baked cookies. I got two of them. I also got to see what is behind the special door. GE is cooking up some pretty amazing things at there exhibit. Go see what you can find out.

I just got back from the HVDC panel session. My buddy Wayne is making a great presentation. The room is full. When I stood up to answer my phone, someone jumped into my seat. I can’t blame them. It is a great session. I’m going back as soon as I finish this, but I wanted to get the word out to those of you texting.

In the next 5 years there is going to be a brain-drain the likes of which has never been seen before. The “Baby-Boomers” are poised for retirement - surveys place the exodus at 50%. Many in the industry refuse to acknowledge it. Some utilities have a plan – hire the retired! Some “new” engineers can hardly wait until the “Old-Guard” is gone and they can modernize the grid. Where do you fit? My friend Wanda Reder, S&C’s VP of Power Systems Services is chairing the “Aging Workforce – Overcoming the Technical Talent Challenge” Super Session on Tuesday afternoon. It will be a very interesting session to say the least. 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.