As we speak the Furnaces North America (FNA) 2020 virtual heat treat exhibition is in full swing and we have been checking it out. At 96 exhibitors it is substantially smaller than in past years which is no surprise but having said that the organizers have done a very good job of making this an enjoyable experience.  For those of you who are not attending we will give you a brief summary of what a virtual show is.

After signing in you arrive at the home screen designed to look like the reception area of an exhibition hall (the screen shot below). This gives you a number of different options such as visiting the exhibition hall, going to the conference centre (this is an extra cost) or joining the networking lounge.

If you choose to go to the Exhibit Hall you are presented with a list of exhibitors, click on the one you want and you arrive at a “virtual booth”, the example below shows Heat Treating Services Unlimited. This screen in turn gives you several options including a brief Company Bio, a list of contacts who are available by phone, text or e-mail and a section listing technical papers and videos. Our experience is that some booths have a long list of well prepared articles and videos others are shall we say-more modest. The whole set up is easy to use and user friendly. As far as visits go the jury is out. Some have told us they are receiving as many inquiries as shows gone past, others have a very different perspective, we will have to wait until the show is over.

One thing I think we can all agree on is that a virtual show is not as much fun as a real show and came up with these;

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Joern Rohde and Jordan Montgomery, FNA 2016 Nashville, TN

FNA Nashville, TN 2014-the SSi Team

 FNA Orlando, Florida 2010-Pat Torok, UPC

 FNA Orlando, Florida 2010. Kirk Springer, Chuck Wiberg and Mary Springer of commercial heat treater Therm-Tech of Waukesha, Gord Montgomery