AWS FabTech Seminars worth it?

Date 10-15-2009 20:27

hey i'm trying to weasel my way into a plane ticket to the AWS fabtech show next month. Along with that I was hoping to get into paid seminars for EB welding.

however my boss thinks it's more of a sales pitch than a seminar and not worth the time to send me down there. I think he may be confusing the free and show floor demonstrations to the closed door paid seminars.

Yall have any personal opinions or literature that could be used to change his mind, or maybe mine?

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 10-15-2009 21:13

I've been to more than a dozen "Expos"

A little research can get you much free information/demo/even seminar stuff.

The training that were paid for were very worthwhile both for me and the persons who invested in my trip.

By ross

Date 10-17-2009 14:56

Meta,

The International Electron Beam Welding Conference at AWS Fabtech is a technically-rich program, not just a sales pitch. It's jointly run by AWS, the IIW (International Institute of Welding) and DVS (the German Welding Society), so it's bringing some international powerhouses to Chicago for two days. It'll be priceless just to network with these folks, to say nothing of the presentations on the state of the art.

http://www.fabtechaws.com/index.php/edu_programs/iebw_session1

If you get there and think it's a sales pitch and not the world's leading minds on the topic, they will give you your money back.

There will also be a half-day free tutorial on EBW: http://www.fabtechaws.com/?/edu_programs/iebw_student_tutorial/

Ross
AWS Marketing

By js55

Date 10-19-2009 17:08 Edited 10-19-2009 17:11

I've been to quite a few of the AWS Seminars, and none of them were sales pitches. They were all actually quite good, though the information is predominantly very basic, as actually should be expected, though questions can be as advanced as you like since I have always found the speakers to be top level folks.
You will get out of it what you put into it.
Oh, and one other thing, the hard copy information/volumes that often come with these seminars never cease to be valuable references for years afterword. They have to be, my senile old mind doesn't retain what it used to.