Prepare to Saddle Up for Safety at Next Year's PDC & Expo
If you are still seeing the afterglow from all the neon burned into your retinas after last week's ASSE extravaganza in Las Vegas and still catching up on your sleep, you might find it pleasant to know Safety 2009--happening roughly a year and a week from today--will be getting down to business in the history-filled city of San Antonio, Texas. Best known as the home of the Alamo, the city also is the site of the world-famous Riverwalk, one of the state's top entertainment destinations located one story beneath the city's downtown. Offering less glitz and definitely less neon than Vegas, the site is nevertheless full of charm, as its parallel sidewalks wind and loop under bridges arching over the San Antonio River, the banks of which are lined with restaurants, shops, and other attractions.
Also nestled along the river's banks, and indeed at the heart of the historic Riverwalk district, is the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, which from June 28 to July 1, 2009, will be the site of Safety 2009, ASSE's next edition of its annual Professional Development Conference and Exposition. The convention center hosts more than 300 events each year with more than 750,000 convention delegates from around the world, but it's safe to say that no event next year will attract a higher concentration of SH&E professionals.
The site spans an impressive 1.3 million square feet to include 59 meeting rooms, three expansive ballrooms, four exhibit halls with a contiguous space of approximately 440,000 square feet, and seven registration areas. The convention center complex also features the Lila Cockrell Theatre, a 2,521-seat performing arts theater. The Alamodome and more than 9,600 of the city's downtown hotel rooms (more than 25,000 citywide) are within minutes and walking distance, as are all kinds of eateries, featuring everything from fajitas to French cuisine.
For those interested in presenting at the conference, ASSE has already set up a Web site for you to submit a proposal for review by the Conference Planning Committee. Safety 2009 will provide a forum for attendees to learn the profession's best practices and to:
- Identify key issues facing SH&E professionals
- Expand their knowledge to improve their professional skills
- Prepare for the challenges in the SH&E fields
- Engage in the discourse concerning the profession
- Identify emerging issues relevant to the profession
The committee says it is particularly interested in advanced, technically oriented, and practical presentations. To submit your proposal online, go to www.asse.org/speakerpage09/. To read the society's 2009 Call for Presenters, go to www.asse.org/education/pdc09/2009callforpresentersfinal2-5-08.pdf. We here at OH&S look forward to seeing you in San Antonio!