LCGC The Peak - June 2008 - (Page 10)

10 THE PEAK JUNE 2008 Figure 1: Conferees walk on the show floor at Pittcon. tion. And when you consider that the majority of conferees spend multiple days at Pittcon, it would seem highly impractical to think that a conferee could achieve the same experience in a virtual environment. The Internet is Entrenched in the Scientific Community the internet provides a multitude of ways to stay in touch with prospects and customers. Short, focused webinars are used widely by vendors to present new products, discuss specific applications, and even conduct product training sessions. Podcasts have become popular video communication tools that can be viewed at any time online. And of course, company websites provide free access to company and product information. With all of this information at their fingertips, why do people continue to attend conferences like Pittcon? The short answer, I believe, is that Pittcon provides the unique opportunity for face-to-face, personal interaction. Several Pittcon 2008 attendees explained further when asked why they attended Pittcon. One-on-One Interaction is the Key to the Pittcon Tradeshow Experience The internet, however, plays an extremely valuable role in other areas within the scientific community. Scientists can publish their work faster, making it available to others around the world with a click of the mouse. It is a tremendous information resource and search tool — enabling researchers to find just about any type of information relative to their research. For instrument manufacturers and laboratory suppliers, Jacquelyn Cole, a graduate student at Rensselear Polytechnic Institute (Troy, New York), performs analytical research using various techniques including mass spectrometry and capillary electrophoresis. Jacquelyn and her colleagues use the internet frequently. They order laboratory supplies, browse online catalogs from vendors to determine what to order, find instrument manuals, contact online tech support, and download journal articles that apply to their work. Jacquelyn and some of her coworkers attended Pittcon 2008 and said that it provided them with an “invaluable experi-

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LCGC The Peak - June 2008 The Value of Human Interaction Keeps Pittcon "Live" and Well Screening and Optimizing High-Speed, High Resoultion HPLC Methods in the "Lean Laboratory" The 56th Annual ASMS Conference: A Review Industry News Events Education

LCGC The Peak - June 2008

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