As already mentioned in the editorial for this year’s June issue during ACHEMA 2009, the Valve World 2010 Steering Committee meeting also took place on Tuesday 12 May. During this meeting the committee created the guidelines for the first Valve World Conference to take place in Düsseldorf from 30 November until 2 December 2010 together with the Valve World Exhibition. Here is a report of this first meeting.by Christian Borrmann
In spite of the travel restrictions that some members of the committee are now faced with, the meeting was well attended and attracted 24 delegates. The meeting started with an informal lunch during which all the attending members could meet up and chat over recent personal and professional developments. Of course, the global economical situation and its possible consequences was one of the hottest topics as it affected everybody.
Following the lunch, Mr Ralph-Harry Klaer, from Bayer Technologies and Chairman of the Valve World 2010 Conference, opened the meeting officially and welcomed all the members who were able to attend this first get together of end-users and valve company representatives. After this, the steering committee quickly got down to the point of creating the guidelines for Valve World 2010 Conference by evaluating the previous conference from 2008. As always, changing the schedule, reducing or extending the amount of time a presenter is allowed to speak, or the aspect of quality over quantity were, amongst other things included in the feedback from conference attendees.Important preparations
These results were taken as a basis for discussing the outlook of the 2010 edition which, according to all members, will need good and careful preparation as the economic situation could play an important role in putting together the conference programme. Says Mr Klaer: “Putting together a conference is like manufacturing a valve. It takes a lot of research and good preparation to produce a good valve/conference and that has to be the main purpose of this Steering Committee.” With these thoughts in mind the committee immediately delved into the selection of topics, which are of high importance for the next conference:
• Reliability
• Applications
• Castings, forgings, materials
• Trims
• Control fugitive emissions
• Field experience
• Actuation
• etc.
Also some new topics were mentioned by the members including:
• Safety Integrity Systems (SIS)
• Fireproofing automated on/off valves
• Wear and tear of valves
• Safety equipment
• Testing
• Conflicts between valve standards
Further to deciding on the main topics for the conference, the committee also discussed the possibilities of extending the workshops as they constitute one of the most well attended and most interesting features of the conference. Other presentation possibilities such as, for example, the Round Tables and group discussions were another topic talked about at the meeting in order to be able to set up another great and successful conference next year.
In order to get a better understanding of the facilities of the Congress Center Düsseldorf (CCD), Mr Gerrit Nawracala from Messe Düsseldorf gave a short presentation and answered the Steering Committee’s questions about the rooms and the various possibilities that they can offer in order to match the requirements of the conference programme.
These results were taken as a basis for discussing the outlook of the 2010 edition which, according to all members, will need good and careful preparation as the economic situation could play an important role in putting together the conference programme. Says Mr Klaer: “Putting together a conference is like manufacturing a valve. It takes a lot of research and good preparation to produce a good valve/conference and that has to be the main purpose of this Steering Committee.” With these thoughts in mind the committee immediately delved into the selection of topics, which are of high importance for the next conference:
• Reliability
• Applications
• Castings, forgings, materials
• Trims
• Control fugitive emissions
• Field experience
• Actuation
• etc.
Also some new topics were mentioned by the members including:
• Safety Integrity Systems (SIS)
• Fireproofing automated on/off valves
• Wear and tear of valves
• Safety equipment
• Testing
• Conflicts between valve standards
Further to deciding on the main topics for the conference, the committee also discussed the possibilities of extending the workshops as they constitute one of the most well attended and most interesting features of the conference. Other presentation possibilities such as, for example, the Round Tables and group discussions were another topic talked about at the meeting in order to be able to set up another great and successful conference next year.
In order to get a better understanding of the facilities of the Congress Center Düsseldorf (CCD), Mr Gerrit Nawracala from Messe Düsseldorf gave a short presentation and answered the Steering Committee’s questions about the rooms and the various possibilities that they can offer in order to match the requirements of the conference programme.Extras
Other new features that proofed to be successful in the previous edition such as the Masterclass, given by Mr Cor Bannerth, the Speakers’ Corner with Mr Barrie Kirkman and the learning lounge, presented by Rotork and Transmark Fcx will again be featured in the Düsseldorf conference. For example, Mr Barrie Kirkman has already agreed to do another session of the Speakers’ Corner and Mr Richard Baars, Transmark Fcx, supported the idea to encourage other companies to join them and Rotork in order to boost the Learning Lounge so making it even more attractive to exhibition visitors and conference attendees.
Other new features that proofed to be successful in the previous edition such as the Masterclass, given by Mr Cor Bannerth, the Speakers’ Corner with Mr Barrie Kirkman and the learning lounge, presented by Rotork and Transmark Fcx will again be featured in the Düsseldorf conference. For example, Mr Barrie Kirkman has already agreed to do another session of the Speakers’ Corner and Mr Richard Baars, Transmark Fcx, supported the idea to encourage other companies to join them and Rotork in order to boost the Learning Lounge so making it even more attractive to exhibition visitors and conference attendees.
A great start
So, all in all, the first Steering Committee meeting for the Valve World 2010 Conference was a success and, according to the Chairman, a great start for the up and coming months until the next meeting, where the conference programme will be put together. This next meeting will take place in Düsseldorf in the conference facilities of the Messe Düsseldorf. Until then you can expect the Call for Papers to arrive in the autumn of 2009 and given the facts mentioned earlier, you might want to prepare yourself for another great Valve World Conference in 2010.
So, all in all, the first Steering Committee meeting for the Valve World 2010 Conference was a success and, according to the Chairman, a great start for the up and coming months until the next meeting, where the conference programme will be put together. This next meeting will take place in Düsseldorf in the conference facilities of the Messe Düsseldorf. Until then you can expect the Call for Papers to arrive in the autumn of 2009 and given the facts mentioned earlier, you might want to prepare yourself for another great Valve World Conference in 2010.