It’s the lull before the storm.
July and August provide a relatively calm backdrop to the slew of events that fill our schedules every autumn.
One event I didn’t have to attend this year was the Industrial Wastes Conference, which is sponsored by the Water Environment Federation. That is because after 10 years, the association decided to roll it back into its main event, WEFTEC, which will be held Oct. 29-Nov. 2 in Washington, DC.
Feedback regarding effects of tightened travel budgets since 9/11 and the impact on trade show attendance in general was cited as part of the rationale of the WEF Industrial Waste Committee’s decision for that.
WEF has corralled the event into eight “Industrial Issues & Treatment Technology” technical sessions running Oct. 31-Nov. 2. There also are two related workshops, “Adapting Process Excellence (Six Sigma) Tools to Prevent Effluent Quality Violations” and “Liquid/Solid Separation Chemistry for Industrial and Municipal Water and Wastewater Treatment.”
This is three more industrial sessions and one more workshop than were held last year at WEFTEC, said WEF Industrial Program Manager Rob Schweinfurth. Next year, the committee is planning up to a dozen sessions and three workshops.
“We also will be hosting a networking reception on Monday evening this year just for industrial waste people,” Schweinfurth added. “...And an additional benefit is we’ve been able to lock in WEFTEC sponsorships that normally would go to the specialty conference.”
For the complete WEFTEC program, see: www.weftec.org. For more on WEF’s industrial offerings, see: www.wef.org/Whoweare/WWIndustry/industrial.jhtml.
Another event you don’t want to miss in the shuffle is the 66th Annual International Water Conference (www.eswp.com/water/), which will be Oct. 9-13 in Orlando, Fla. - the first time it hasn’t been in Pittsburgh.
“One of the big points I want to make is we’re excited about the new venue in Orlando. When we couple that with the historic quality technical program that the International Water Conference has put on, we’re expecting quite a few new attendees,” said Brad Wolf, IWC general chairman and vice president of industrial and biosolids projects for Veolia Water North America.
“We have several new topics and are continuing efforts to further diversify the technical program,” Wolf added. “We have sessions for the resorts and hotels in the area, including a paper from Disney. Last year, we introduced Legionella as a theme and that’s proven to be of very high interest to the hospitality market. We introduce desalination as a theme this year. And we also have developed a session in conjunction with another organization, AWT, building on similar successful collaborations with ASME.”
You may also find of interest, Autovation 2005, Sept. 18-21 in Long Beach; the Association of Water Technologies Expo, Sept. 21-24 in Palm Springs; Worldwide Food Expo, Oct. 26-29 in Chicago; and ChemShow, Nov. 1-3 in New York, and Power-Gen, Dec. 6-8 in Las Vegas. I noticed the International Bottled Water Association chose not to continue its affiliation with WWFE and is hosting its own convention and exhibition Sept. 27-30 in Orlando.
Since the Food & Beverage market is a focus of this issue, it’s worth noting that there are a number of other related events for this and other niches posted in our comprehensive “Industry Calendar” on our website (see “Events” at www.industrialww.com).
