The Column - June 2008 - (Page 14)

Incognito The Column www.thecolumn.eu.com June 2008 Stockbyte/Getty Images Conferences and Exhibitions — Worthwhile or Not? Following a recent trip back from the ASMS meeting in Denver, Colorado, USA, Incognito reflects on the changing nature of conferences and exhibitions and assesses their value in the world today. This month I find myself writing and filing my copy as I travel back from the 56th International Conference of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry in Denver, Colorado, USA — commonly known as ASMS. My week out here in Denver has caused me to reflect on the changing nature of both international and UK based meetings and conferences and how they have changed in the time that I have been attending — so first a brief note on the highs and lows of this year’s ASMS meeting. The week(end) started badly as my carrier managed to lose my baggage — I guess a four hour transfer time just isn’t enough these days!! The compensation offer of $50 USD meant that I was able to purchase the necessary accoutrements to allow at least a modicum of personal dignity to be retained! My immediate observation during the conference opening event was the drop in attendance of colleagues from the UK and Europe — perhaps this was due to the current financial climate and corporate travel restrictions or perhaps because the techniques of LC–MS and GC–MS have reached a certain stage of maturity and practitioners feel that they no longer need to attend the event every year. Opinion varied but nonetheless UK and European numbers were definitely down. I talked to well over 100 colleagues and new acquaintances over the week and observed the company names on literally thousands of delegate badges. I’m increasingly concerned about the changing demographic at this type of meeting. I see many laboratory managers/department heads as well as thousands of university students but there seems to be increasingly fewer “bench analysts” in attendance. While I appreciate the need for more senior company representatives and under/postgraduate students to attend, surely the practising analytical chemist should also be represented to both expand their knowledge during the Author: Incognito E-mail: incognito@thecolumn.eu.com lecture sessions and get a flavour of existing and emerging technologies from the exhibitor booths. After all, it is this demographic who are carrying out the analysis and who could, perhaps, most benefit from the experience both personally and from a company perspective. This demographic shift is not only noticeable at the international meetings but also at meetings that I have attended in the UK recently — so I’m assuming that the cost of travel is not the reason behind this change. Monday evening at the conference heralded the opening of the “Hospitality Suites”, which never fail to amaze me. For those of you not familiar with the concept — these are fairly large rooms within hotels or the conference venue that are given over to the major instrument vendors in which they provide free food and “liquid refreshment” in return for visitor time within the room, which is usually packed with the latest equipment and representatives who are on hand to walk you through why their instrumentation is the best. Unusually, I am not going to comment on the validity of the concept from the vendor’s perspective — in fact I applaud them for arranging these (usually) excellent expositions of their hardware. No, instead my comments relate to the behaviour of the attendees in the hospitality suites. I never fail to be amazed at the attitude change in normally level-headed, sensible and mostly mild-mannered scientists when the prospect of free food and beer is offered. I was present at the opening of the first suite on Monday evening (6 pm as opposed to 6.30 by other vendors), and there was literally a stampede of scientists with a crazed look in their eyes who would stop at nothing to reach the refreshments first. In fact one vendor employee recalled their pre-opening briefing where she was told “Don’t get between the door and the food otherwise you may be killed in the rush.” As the evening progressed it was possible to observe increasingly unsteady 14 http://www.thecolumn.eu.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Column - June 2008

The Column - June 2008
Contents
Sensory Quality Control of Food and Packaging Products
News
Incognito Conferences and Exhibitions – Worthwhile or Not?
Market Trends and Analysis
Tips and Tricks: GPC/SEC How Do I Calibrate a GPC/SEC System?
Analysis of Macromolecular Branching by Triple Detection GPC/SEC

The Column - June 2008