There’s some very exciting news this month on p55 of the international magazine. We’re proud to announce that Tunnels and Tunnelling and the British Tunnelling Society are bringing you the ‘Tunnels & Tunnelling Conference 2009’, to be held in London on September 29th.
You may be asking, “Do we need another conference?” Well, the truth is, yes. We’re not organising this event because there aren’t enough conferences, but because there are too many, too many that simply aren’t technical, or specific enough for the requirements of the tunnelling engineer.
We’ve been to a multitude of conferences over the years, some quite excellent, some quite awful, and looked into what makes an event worth attending. We’ve asked a lot of delegates a lot of questions and come to a few conclusions:
1) There are too many ‘brochure’ events. These are the type where you spend hundreds of pounds to attend and learn very little that’s new. They almost always lack technical information, and often turn into marketing platforms for the speakers.
2) A lack of content focus tends to make a conference feel disjointed, or even incomplete.
3) Way too much is crammed into a day. This goes hand in hand with point 1). Giving a speaker 15 – 20 minutes to present a whole project or technical subject is simply not enough, and something has to give. Unfortunately this is usually exactly the information an engineer is there to hear, the real meat of the subject.
4) There is not enough interaction between delegates and speakers in the form of questions and answers. Healthy debate is vital to ensure we don’t keep re-inventing the wheel.
5) Exhibitors are asked to pay way too much, and then have to suffer the indignity of not being allowed into the talks!
So, we and the BTS are organising a day of presentations aimed specifically at you, with the sole aim of ensuring you leave at the end of day knowing more than you did when you arrived! There is also the added bonus of the excellent networking possibilities a crowd of delegates at a BTS/T&TI event will give you. In a nutshell the day will feature cutting edge international site reports, and technical presentations of extreme relevance to the here and now, each up to, or even over 40 minutes long, with time for some serious Q&A afterwards.
We’ve already lined up some of tunnelling’s top names as speakers, and secured the QE II Conference Centre in Westminster, which is regarded as London’s finest, to ensure the day runs smoothly for all. Make 29th September a date in your diary to spend with T&TI and the BTS, we’ll make it worthwhile!
Finally, on another educational note, the BTS is holding its week long ‘Course on Tunnel Design and Construction’ from 15th – 19th June, at Brunel University, Middlesex, UK. This really is a cracking course for the young engineer. Places are going fast, so for more information go the BTS website: www.britishtunnelling.org.uk or email: lynn.richman@mottmac.com
See you in London on 29th September!
Tris Thomas
Tris
