I've seen where a few people have asked Rodney Gold if he'd come to America for next year's ARA Show in Las Vegas.

Some superficial checking of flight costs from Capetown to Los Angeles, say that it would take thousands of dollars for Rodney to make the flight; not to mention nearly 30 hours on a plane.

The longest flight I've ever taken (including connecting flight) was a 7 hr. U.S. coast to coast trip. That was as much as I could personally take.

I can see why Rodney never responded to the questions. :-) 

If there's enough demand for Rodney to come to America, next year and if we could set up an educational event, with Rodney as a special guest, I'd be willing to pitch in to a "Bring Rodney to America" fund, which if not covering his full costs, would (hopefully) heavily subsidize the trip.

Of course, ultimately, that would be up to Rodney's willingness to make the trip.

Just food for thought. :-) 

David,
I went to Ghana four years ago ( Accra to be exact, and it cost about $2100.00 USD. Long trip but not I did not think that was really unreasonable. ) Of course fares have gone up.......but I think it would be up to Rodney to make the decision to come and for him to figure out how.

Why did we ( you ) not offer to subsidize Peter?

Just my two cents. Want change?

Heh , I'm flattered that you WOULD want me out there.
It's not a problem for me to come over in terms of money, time however is problematic in that I have my own business to run and a week or 2 away from it does impact somewhat. The other reason I have never come over for a show like that is that there is very little for me to "see" at such a show or there is little advantage for me to be there.
It's fairly specialised for my type of business which is very multifacted and the whole awards/trophy business model in the USA is somewhat different to ours. We source most of our components from Europe and Asia and manufacture a very high percentage of our own stuff.
I also have a lot of knowledge in other areas , like signage , digital printing , point of sale display and so forth and my BIGGEST forte is the ability to put products together using various processes and various material and forsee manufacturing problems as well as being cost effective or working to a budget and to still maintain the aesthetics of it all. So I'm geared more to a production environment and am not sure I COULD give a huge amount of advice to folk who aren't that way inclined.
We dont have access to the product range available in the USA so thats why we often "make a plan" and do it ourselves. What I would like to do at some stage is either write a book or produce a CD , but doing this man alone is a huge mission.
Obviously , if someone WAS kind enough to send me a ticket and organise accomodation etc , I wouldn't say no and would be more than willing to host a seminar (along with other specialised folk) as a form of "repayment". The idea is to involve laser mnfgrs , material suppliers and other interested folk who would reap benefits from this to put together some form of "workshop" or roadshow , but the problem of competition would arise. For example I am not in favour of CnC machinery that uses a no feedback stepper motor in their motion systems so whoever produces that type of machine would NOT like what I say. Other problems arise in terms of that I feel that some manufacturers of substrates are ripping us off and that one can easily make equivalents or better at a fraction of the price , those guys are also not going to like what I say. I'm also not conversant with tax laws and USA legalities so my business advice might not be all that relevant?
If I could sell my business , It would be a different story , I would love to semi retire and work with various mnfgrs and suppliers on new ideas I have , strategies , market direction , materials and so forth and supplement my income by touring and lecturing or consulting , but I don't think thats going to happen soon:)

David - Interesting thread.

I agree that I would love to meet and talk with Rodney, probably more so from the sign side of things. No doubt a book or CD from Rodney would be great. But Rodney does make some strong points in his reply - he has a wealth of knowledge to share but the difference in markets, products, laws and even raw materials vary quite a bit.

Chuck brings up some very good points in his post on this subject. Is the end of a long day the best time to have an educational event??? Does a larger group make a get together better?? Is the short time we have together of an evening the optimum time to offer adult learning?
I applaud your enthusiasm for wanting to help people grow in their knowledge base of our industry. My question is - How much can the brain absorb in such a short amount of time.

The reason the forum works so well is people can get (in most cases) specific questions answered quickly and by (in most cases) several people (points of view). This approach is very good for adult educaiton, - think of it much like using a rifle with a scope - very much to the point and on target. Immediate need (question), immediate response.

I am all in favor of educational events - you can always count me in - I personally believe in taking as many of the classes offered a the ARA show as possible. I have never failed to lean something at each one I have attended. Some are exceptional enough that I have taken them more than one year. My personal feeling is if your listening and open minded something is going to be new and rewarding to learn.

My question is - Do went want to turn the LV EE event into an adult educiton event or do we want to have the time to enjoy each other socially? I am not opposed to either one - just feel that there is a time a place for both.

As Chuck says - thats my "two cents worth" - and you may well deserve change.

David,

You are getting some good candid advice here.

I think that the ARA Show in its current format offers no shortage of educational opportunities. Even though this is the most heavily attended industry gathering, I believe an EE educational event will find its attendance a bit diluted, primarilly because there is so much going on already.

I believe your efforts will be better served by hosting a stand-alone event at another time and place, without the distraction of a trade show? Of course, an educational event like this will require an all-important social gathering. :-) 

David(s),

Do I hear the Midwest EE event raising it head????

That format could easily use some educational topics without overloading people's minds after being on the trade show floor and in seminars all day long. A light social event later in the day/evening would top off the EE experience.
;-)