Conferences

[Latte]

Hi Guys,

Probably most of the UK bases guys like myself keep getting RAC conference details coming through the post most weeks, my question is does anyone ever go ?

Now, i would like to go, the lates one to drop through my door is called "cooling with CO2" at Earls court but a £300 + VAT I don't think so.

Are these any good, they should be at the cost or are they aimed at management who can just book it to expenses. Until the cost comes down i certainly wont be at any

Regards

Fatboy

[Brian_UK]

I'll go along with your third option Fatboy..

[Argus]

I will confess to keeping a personal and professional eye on legislation and other issues.

RAC and other magazines in the UK frequently bombard readers (and anyone else?s e mail they can get hold of) with flyers about conferences. I?ve set my spam catcher for these; for the magazines they are a seriously good earner.

The magazines have latched onto the changes happening in Europe and there are numerous conferences lately:


F gas phase-out
Alternative refrigerants
Hazardous Waste
Health and safety.


However, I don?t say that I haven?t been to any of the conferences. They are useful if you need an executive summary. The last one I went to was on F gases in London ? quite useful, but expensive. The going rate for any type of conference or training is about ?250 -?300 per day. The serious work is done at committee level either in standards groups, government policy groups or in the EU.

Most of the conferences are on enforced new trends, but there are other methods of understanding what?s going on ? for free if you are prepared to do a little work and a lot of surfing.

DTI, DEFRA and the EU all have web sites that detail the latest actions. Additionally DTI / DEFRA and ODPM policy groups are obliged to consult industry, and that means anyone who has an interest; how effective that is open to debate, but they will hear your views. On the subject of F gases there is a Stakeholders? group that have meetings on the subject ? there was one held this week ? top of the agenda was the proposed phase out of F gases in Europe.

What is underlying the issue and is even more serious, in my opinion, is the general lack of knowledge and understanding throughout the trade in the UK to the point of eyes glazing over whenever the subject of unwelcome changes ? legislation- is brought up.
Generally speaking, as an industry in the UK we are sometimes exceptionally uninformed.

Are the conferences any good? Yes, I think so for those who need a quick look-see at prominent issues.

Those who need to do some serious planning have already got to work.

.
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