The Marine Chemist Association held a Board of Directors (BOD) meeting July 9th at the Francis Marion Hotel in Charleston, SC. This was followed by the 64th Annual Seminar. Information on the seminar, board meeting and general Marine Chemist activities follow. This newsletter will focus on two main topics, the annual seminar and the changes to NFPA 306 although other information is provided.
At the annual seminar there were 38 registered Chemists, two trainees, and six gas-free engineers. We also had 74 spouses, friends and children in attendance.
Typically, attendance at annual seminars averages 34 chemists. Hopefully, this slight increase can be attributed to the location, technical presentations, and the incentive which essentially covered the registration fee and three nights in the hotel. Due to the large turnout at the virtual annual seminar estimating the number of chemists who may attend based on past history is difficult. Please note that the last day to apply for the incentive payment is September 10, 2023.
Also, several reminders went out requesting chemists to make room reservations early, some did not do that and they were not able to get a room at the hotel. (180 room nights in the block were reserved and the hotel extended it to 220 before they sold out). The MCA must estimate the number of rooms to reserve in the room block and must pay for unused rooms, so a conservative number is used. If you are thinking of attending the annual seminar plan to make a reservation early as you can always cancel it. Due to the room block selling out the incentive was extended to chemists who were unable to get into our room block but attended the seminar.
