Planning for the UK conference is advancing, and we already have a good quantity of the papers in place – details will be advised shortly. However, we still need more papers – particularly those that fit the conference title: ‘Black is the New Green!’ Papers sought are for thirty minute slots, generally longer than at other conferences thus allowing more relevant information to be given rather than being rushed. For those intending to stay the night at the Quays Hotel venue, please remember that there is a discount on the room for bookings made before the end of September.

One of the changing aspects of the conference timetable is the renaming of breaks as ‘networking time.’ I am a strong believer that one of the big benefits of an organisation such as the IRE, is the bringing together and interaction of members for mutual benefit. Help, assistance, leads, etc, can all be made by talking to colleagues, acquaintances, suppliers, (potential) customers and even competitors: that is, creating relationships.

There has been a major shift in interactions since Covid with far more Teams/Zoom meetings replacing face to face meetings. But in my opinion, even with great advances made with web-based meetings, they are not a complete substitute; so much is being lost without actually having face to face meetings with people at their site. This was made clear in a recent trip of mine to a potential customer in Southeast Asia. I had all the detailed notes from salesmen, had spoken online, and thought I was well prepared. 

But it quickly became clear once on site that the information was not as good as it could have been, and certainly not as good as it needed to be; some details were misleading, assumptions made, and there was much that could only be gleaned by asking the right questions considering these observations. Watching someone react to a question that they have never been asked before (that showed that we actually knew quite a bit about their sort of operation) was informative. The result was that they then opened up with more detail that was not originally forthcoming (nobody thought it was relevant) and problems were solved, purchase orders received, and relationships created – all to the betterment of the business. There really is no substitute to actually being there!

The conference is not the only opportunity for networking. We have reintroduced technical evenings and the golf day, again to encourage member interactions – and I thank my Presidential successor Dominic Oates for his great work in organising these events. Both events this year were successes, and we look forward to increasing member involvement in the future. We want to know from members how they perceive these and what sort and quantity of events they would like to have in future.

Mike Lamkin, President
Institute of Refractories Engineers

#IRE #Institute #Refractories #Engineers #Journal #Conference #Training