YOUNG ENGINEERS CORRESPONDENTS: October 2008

Cathedral (or Dom, as the locals call it) in Koln

As I sit on yet another airplane this week, I’ve got a few moments to reflect on last week’s trip to attend the European Young Engineers (EYE) Conference in Dusseldorf, Germany. In ASME’s effort to reach out and collaborate with engineers and engineering societies worldwide, two other ASME-ers, Tom Perry and Eduardo Barrientos, and I crossed the Atlantic to see what our brethren in Europe are doing. There we met an incredible group of people, who were extremely gracious in showing us North and South Americans some German and European hospitality and culture.

The EYE conference is a biannual event, held in May and October, with the conferences held in various member countries. For more information on EYE, see their website: (http://www.e-y-e.eu/). The conference is a two-and-a-half-day event, which began on Friday with tours and a gala, followed with a keynote panel and workshop on Saturday, a dinner cruise on Saturday evening, and the EYE Council meeting and closing session on Sunday. The conference drew attendees from all over Europe, and had the sponsorship support of local and multinational companies.

So what did I take away from this? A reinforcement of how crucial social and networking events are at early career functions and events. How many times does our enjoyment of something stem from the interactions with other people? For me, it is just as important for me to connect with other people in peer and build relationships as it is to learn a new technical skill or improve my business acumen. I also came away somewhat in awe of what a fantastic job EYE does at securing sponsorships and corporate support. The cost of the conference was highly subsidized, and the bang for your buck was phenomenal – I mean really, a dinner cruise on the Rhein River complete with DJ and bar at no added charge? What’s to complain about that – almost nothing (the almost comes from the fact that I heard many of the attendees lamenting that 1 am was too early for the cruise to end). Finally, Eduardo, Tom and I made some incredible new friends, and opened the door for future collaborations between ASME and EYE. Who knows, maybe in the future we’ll see some joint conferences, webcasts, or other events with our peers across the “pond.”