Although the global economy and the H1N1 (swine) flu had caused stutters in the start-up of projects for customers and a slowdown in travel restrictions, it seemed inconceivable to Yokogawa Corporation of America (YCA) that the 2009 Technology Fair & Users Conference was in doubt. "We're the band," said Bruce Jensen, Manager, Systems Marketing & Sales Support and Co-Chairman of the Users Conference. "We play no matter what." Approximately 350 attendees and an 80's music band named The Spazmatics showed up to attend the conference held May 19-21 at the InterContinental Hotel in Houston, TX.
The General Session
The conference began with a General Session on Tuesday morning that featured a challenge from Terry Jones, Founder & former CEO of Travelocity.com. "Innovation will be the driver to get companies out of the economic slump," he said. "It is the fresh thinking that creates value." Jones also warned attendees of "the "Dopeler" Effect - the tendency of stupid ideas to sound smarter when they come at you rapidly" and the "Bozeone" Layer, "where middle management stops bright ideas from getting implemented."
Others speaking during the opening morning session included David Johnson, President & CEO; Matt Arcy, Chevron, and Steering Committee Chairman; and Bruce Jensen, General Manager, Systems Sales & Marketing. Johnson talked about the growth of Yokogawa outside of Japan and the success of some alternative marketing initiatives like the VP Van, the company's regional mobile demo unit. Jensen presented the annual Technology Innovation Award and the 2008 Best Presentation Award.
The second day of the conference began in a short general session. Jensen presented Yokogawa's technology roadmaps. David Lassiter of Microsoft showed his company's vision of the plant of the future. Mark Peters, publisher of Hydrocarbon Processing magazine, informed attendees of the HPI (Hydrocarbon Processing Industry) report.
The Users Conference
The Users Conference was a 2½ event held away from the hustle and bustle of the Technology Fair and the hotel's traffic flow. The conference featured six technical session groups separated into five tracks and identified as workshop sessions, presentation sessions and tutorial sessions. Topics ranged from alarm management to upstream solutions and wireless management.
More Information
For more information on this or other Yokogawa Corporation of America Technology Fair & Users Conferences, please contact us at enews@us.yokogawa.com.
Keynotes/General Sessions Presentations
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Introduction  Matt Arcy, Chevron |
Welcome Constantine Lau, Yokogawa |
Keynote Terry Jones |
Industry Outlook Mark Peters, Hydrocarbon Processing |
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Technology Award |
Seminar Presentations
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| Practical Guide to Ethernet IP Mark Cureton, Yokogawa |
Maximizing the Value of FieldMate Chris Schneider, Yokogawa |
Tunable Diode Laser Spectrometer Don Wyatt, Yokogawa |