Returning home from a Connecticut Maritime Association meeting, and following two days at the Boat International Superyacht Design Symposium, I opened up my Facebook. I was greeted by a high school friend's comment: “Facebook is to face-to-face communication as La Guardia Airport is to on-time departures.” Whatever your thoughts toward, and your usage level of, online social networking venues (I hesitate to use the words “resources” or “tools” because some sites would be falsely dignified by those terms), I believe we can agree on one point. There is no substitute for direct personal interaction. And, the opportunities I’ve received and taken for these face-to-face contacts within our industry, particularly through SNAME, have proven invaluable.
I'm truly grateful to have served as your Meetings Committee Chair last season as so I am to serve now as your Section Webmaster. I'm further gratified to report that Mr. Carmine Biancardi has graciously volunteered to perform the honorable duties of Meetings Committee Chair for the remainder of the current 2010 - 2011 season. I truly found serving in that position, as I hope Carmine will likewise, the gratification of contributing to the success of our Section, of giving back to the Society, of hearing and being heard within the fellowship of our members and officers. However, I would emphasize that perhaps the greatest gift of serving in SNAME and NY Met is the enhanced connections made in face-to-face contact at our meetings. On the other hand, connection at the personal and professional level is not reserved for those of us holding an office or position. All of us who come to the monthly Section meetings and share with each other during cocktails, dinner and after the technical session create opportunities for successful business associations and enduring friendships. These relationships become only deeper and more galvanized through repeat encounters by regular meeting participation.
Perhaps you recall my soapbox speech last month promoting our Fellowship's Annual Meeting - and, yes, I truly believe it's worth your while to come on out to Bellevue even with the added logistic of eleventh-hour flight and hotel bookings and AM registration on-site. Those of you who know me well know what a fan I've become of marine industry conferences, symposia and trade shows of all sorts. More than just an excuse to get out of the office, the chances to meet my colleagues - industry leaders, innovators, professionals sharing my career path who have become my exemplars - face to face are more than ample reward for the time, logistics and cost to attend these events. Naturally, the technical, business and other educational content I've found at the SNAME AM, CMA Shipping, IBEX, Tugs & Barges, InterFerry, the American Superyacht Forum - the list goes on! - can generally be found nowhere else. Yet, even when I find some of the topics tangential to my field, or for events where I could just "buy, download and read the papers after the conference" (if this option is even available), I've found no match for the opportunity to learn from others' experience through direct interaction. Face time is quality time in every sense of the term. Never underestimate its power and value. Avail yourself of every practical opportunity for those connections.
Warmest greetings again to all of you whom I've met through SNAME and our Section meetings to date - and to all whom I haven't yet met - I'm eagerly awaiting our contact.
If I don't see you in Bellevue, I'll see you Wednesday, November 17th, at Moran's!