NACE Corrosion Conference 2005, Houston, 3-7 April 2005

Citation

Cox, W.M. (2005), "NACE Corrosion Conference 2005, Houston, 3-7 April 2005", Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, Vol. 52 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/acmm.2005.12852eac.001

NACE Corrosion Conference 2005, Houston, 3-7 April 2005

NACE Corrosion Conference 2005, Houston, 3-7 April 2005

Keywords: Corrosion, Conferences

As those of you who have subscribed to ACMM for some time will be aware, I generally try to get to the NACE corrosion conference, which is held in one of the American cities in the early spring each year. Oh, I realise that those of you around the world may imagine this is just another annual national meeting, but those who have ever attended the NACE conference will have realised that this one is different. Whereas most national conferences are all about vendors meeting (or hoping to meet!) clients, the NACE meeting has a different role; yes, there are still vendors hoping to meet clients and there are arguably a somewhat larger contingent of users who may hope to meet some useful suppliers. However, the difference with this meeting is that it marks the annual coming-together of the globally-active corrosion community, with an agenda to exchange information, find out what others in your industry are starting to feel are the issues, and normally get a heads-up on what are likely to be the hot buttons in corrosion control technology for the coming 2-5 years.

The obvious bit of the corrosion conference is the formal sessions. There are more symposia at the NACE conference than at any other corrosion meeting in the world. Whatever happens to be your interest, you cannot help but find that at any particular point in the week there are at least three papers that, ordinarily, you might like to sit in on, and in many cases there are more than three. This makes for NACE being quite a frustrating experience, but that is just the start. In many respects, sitting in a formal presentation session is the poorest use of your time. You can always read the paper later, if you've got a copy of the CD of the proceedings. Much of the time, the formal papers are really much more of a metaphorical peg in the ground – a formal registration of interest, expertise, or blind ambition in a particular field of interest.

Of course there are good presentations, and good speakers who reserve the really good stuff for the people who bother to go to listen to what they have to say and leave it out of the paper to thwart the efforts of individuals who wish to keep tabs on their progress but don't actually want to spend the time listening to the good stuff.

It takes time – I'd say about 5 years or so – to find your way around the conference. The first thing you need to understand is that the really hot stuff usually happens in the Technical Committee meetings. These are informal meetings on any subject that a group of individuals happens to feel is worth discussing. The longer- established ones are normally working on improved Recommended Practices, or a closer examination of some aspect of corrosion control technology such as cooling water treatment or the application of emerging corrosion monitoring methods. The Refinery Industry specific technology group (STG) has been particularly active in recent years and normally is extremely well supported, as are the Refinery Industry Symposia sessions that are convened by that group.

Every year, however, there are normally two or three informal meetings that suddenly spark into fire. It is extremely difficult to predict which these might be – you normally just have to listen to other delegates to pick up that something interesting is going to occur at this or that meeting, and then just be there to find out what it is. That is the nice thing about the NACE conference, all the meetings are open, so if you are interested to hear what is new on nuclear waste storage or coatings testing and certification, all you need to do is get to the right room on time.

Getting there on time is easier said than done, however, as one of the many benefits of NACE is meeting colleagues, friends, co-workers in the corridors between meetings. I often find that I meet a succession of different individuals on the way to any meeting, such that I never actually arrive there. For certain, I wish I had, but on the other hand I would not have preferred to miss my corridor discussions. These informal meetings often give more value than any number of “lucky-dip” STG's or formal sessions, and that is the thing – you'd imagine that 80-90 per cent of the active corrosion engineers from around the world, or at least of their organisations, are represented at this meeting and if you meet someone in the corridor on the way to a meeting you need to talk to them straight away because if you don't the chances are that you won't get another opportunity.

Then there are the research in progress (RIP) meetings, the international meetings, the TAPPI (paper industry) meetings, the oil and gas production stuff, the cathodic protection and chemical treatment meetings, the exhibition of course... There's so much stuff it's just impossible to get around it all but it's a whole lot of fun doing your best to try.

So what was good this year? I would say the highlights for me were first, the Refinery Industry symposium – yes, I know what I just wrote about formal sessions, but this one was a peach. Second, the exhibition. It's easy to say that the exhibition every year is the same. Yes, many of the same people were there this time, but for some reason I found the booths fresher and sharper this year. There were some new people there and the exhibition seemed busier. People tell me they don't like the meeting being held in Houston (as it is every 5 years or so) because it is too close to home for many NACE members, but that does mean they can pop in to the exhibition once or twice during the week without having to travel around the country to get there. I've heard the organisers say that these free (i.e. complimentary in that they are invited by the exhibitors themselves) attendees don't contribute so much to the financial success of the meeting, but in terms of getting the word out in its home territory I feel these exhibitor delegates can bring powerful support for corrosion awareness within their companies as a result of the visit without it costing anyone an arm and a leg.

I was very pleased to attend the special meeting on “Opportunities and Challenges in China's Corrosion Control Technology and Market”. The NACE stance on international collaboration is a thorny subject. Having watched the consistent approach by the China Anticorrosion Technology Association (now the China Industry Anticorrosion Technology Association or CIATA) during the past 5 or 6 years, applauded the pronouncements of welcome reciprocity by NACE and witnessed the signing of Memoranda of Agreement, it came as a predictable disappointment to hear Helen Alexander, the “Interim Executive Director” of NACE declare to the meeting that NACE intended to support a competitive group within China – the newly-formed “NACE China Section” – to further split the constituency of corrosion technologists in that part of the world in much the same way that the misguided strategy has succeeded in doing elsewhere.

The cost of attending the NACE meeting is an issue, of course. The delegate fee (inclusive of a “complimentary” 1-year subscription to NACE – i.e. the difference between the member rate and the non-member rate), plus a copy of the proceedings, plus incidentals around the meeting – purchase of a reference book at the NACE shop, for example, does not leave much in the way of change from $1,000. Your hotel fee will be about the same. Your airfare to get there is on top. Then add your time. This is not a trip to be undertaken lightly because you're looking at spending the equivalent of at least $3,000-$4,000.

Was it worthwhile? Well yes, I thought so again this year. I missed last year (though I have been most years since the 1985 Boston meeting). I thought there felt to be fewer delegates (though NACE declared 5,000+, which is about normal for Houston), but I thought the technical quality was higher this year compared to some meetings. I took the opportunity to meet with Shiwei William Guan, a member of the ACMM Editorial Advisory Board, and a report on that very enjoyable discussion should appear in due course. I had dinner with Dr Art Freedman and his wife, Sally-Art is a long-time supporter of NACE and respected friend and colleague, and that was most enjoyable too. I didn't hear Coach Mike Ditka's talk “Let Me Tell You About Teamwork”, but I did get invited to a benefit for families of the guys who were caught up in the Texas City Refinery incident, and that was something I was very pleased to attend. Graham Bell set up a “Tex-Mex” meal at Pappasitos one evening and a bunch of people I used to work with were there, including Retha McCutcheon, the lady who used to look after the Houston office of a former company I was with and who I hadn't been in touch with for a while, and that was good too. And that's what the NACE meeting is about – as much business as you can cram into a week but a whole lot of informal networking too. The next one is at San Diego, 12-16 March 2005. I guess I will probably be there.

W.M. CoxAnti-Corrosion Methods and Materials