Miscellaneous Musings from the Technical Director
It is hard to believe that METS 2008 was two weeks ago. With our Thanksgiving holiday the middle of last week, time sure has flown by. In between, I’ve been absolutely swamped with follow ups and development planning that are a direct result of the show.
I’ve been asked the same question a number of time since I have returned – “So how bad was the financial news and what was the mood at the show?” I have to honestly say that, while there were stories of projects being delayed and canceled, the mood was pretty upbeat. We had a lot of high-quality traffic at the stand, and people were talking about new projects and investment in software tools.
Strategic planning with colleagues is one of the more valuable aspects of any trade show. Our stand was hosted by our European dealer, Nick Danese of Design Systems, and shared by HydroComp and DRS-C3 (the developers of Orca3D). In addition to Nick and myself, you could find Bruce Hays (DRS-C3), Steve Baer (McNeel), and Carlos Perez (McNeel Europe) in conversation with visitors. When the day was over, we took the opportunity to discuss common development and business objectives, as well as to enjoy the wine and munchies from the various reception parties. Look for some outstanding new developments in 2009!
Old friends – and new – always make the long days at the show much more pleasant. In particular, “cheers” to Tony Castro, Paul de Roock, Sune Ehrenskjold, Brad Miocevich (ever found the missing seven-blader?), Steve Vincent, Gerard Petersen, Bob Doyle, Jorg Adamczyk.
The show itself was about as expected. With seven large exhibition halls, I find it difficult to take it all in. You can always count on something that makes you go “hmmm….”, and this year was no exception – the Axiom Propeller. Very nice people, and I wish them the best. The design of the propeller is very curious, and somewhat contrary to many of the fundamentals that we’ve been taught about propeller performance. You really need to see it to understand. For me, I would like to see some more systematic comparative trials before I cast an opinion.
And on a personal note, I really enjoyed my day at the Amsterdam Hockey and Bandy Club. I’m a field hockey goalkeeper (just “hockey” outside of North America), and AHBC has some of the best club players in the world. My thanks to one of the club administrators, Bonnie Groenemeijer, for her kind hospitality. Very inspiring. The indoor hockey season start soon. Time to go train…
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