It’s hard to keep up with blog-able news when your laptop battery dies.  Finding a power outlet in an airport is not easy… and that’s the only place I’ve had “spare” time lately.  Thanks to those of you who noted my absence and “gently chided” me to get busy.  Anyway, here’s some news from the road…

Montreal.  It didn’t snow while we were there, but the snow had drifted outside the hotel ballroom window taller than a person.  This was the second time we had used this year’s material.  Course feedback was generally positive with some folks asking for more details in one area or another while other folks asked for just the opposite.  The one constant was for more demos.  We don’t often get emails from attendees after PROFINET events (except for the occasional question), but here’s an excerpt from one we got from Montreal: “Thank you for the training, it was really interesting. I was with those who thought that you couldn't achieve determinism and Real Time with Ethernet. But you convinced me. … thanks for the nice training. It is one of the best I've seen so far (good service, good information, good food, good sense of humor, good entertainment, good knowledge and free...what else can we ask for).”

Toronto.  Well, Burlington really.  In the small world department, I used to work in Burlington.  If fact, I had a chance to visit my former colleagues at Avantis.  Back to the class itself, we had a lot of positive feedback from the attendees here; typical: “Great day, educational and enjoyable.”  We always have one or two requests for “hands-on” time.  It’s just not possible with the size of these events.  Our compromise in this area is to do the demos.

Cleveland.  (More of a homecoming for me since I was born and raised in northeastern Ohio.  I should have snuck out to the Indians game Wednesday night but I didn’t bring my long-johns.)  A couple negative things from Cleveland – the room was too warm and the presentations jump around a bit.  We’ll fix the latter before Raleigh and as far as the former goes, I’ll have to remember I’m not in Scottsdale.  On the positive side: “Nice job!  Well organized, prompt!  I was able to gain the amount of information and exposure I was looking for in a single day event!”  I always give the sponsors/exhibitors a Course Evaluation form as well.  One of them identified themselves as a sponsor and commented: “I am very impressed with your program.  From setup to attendance to content – fantastic job!”

Las Vegas and Houston.  Mike A was in Las Vegas for the PROFIBUS one-day training event and with Mike B in Houston for the PROFIBUS in Process training class.

I feel like I’m tooting our own horn a lot here, but we deserve it (he says humbly).  Seriously, come to one and judge for yourself.  You will learn a lot.