The Marine Chemist Association held a Board of Directors (BOD) meeting on October 23 in Chicago at the Hilton Chicago O’Hare Airport Hotel. This was preceded by the first in-person sectional seminar in three years. Information on the seminar, board meeting and general Marine Chemist activities follow.
At our first in-person sectional seminar in three years there were 3 Chemists, two board members and two trainers in attendance along with NFPA representative Larry Russell.
Typically, attendance at sectional seminars averages 20 chemists. The Board attributed the low turnout to the large number of chemists who attended the virtual meetings in the past and who do not require an in-person seminar to fulfil their educational requirements. This trend is expected to continue for a few more years until the five-year recertification cycle associated with the virtual seminars ends. At the sectional seminar members in attendance commented on the importance of face-to-face interactions that occur vs the virtual seminars. The seminar had numerous questions and interactions that virtual seminars do not generate.
One strong indication of the importance of in-person interactions was a presentation on Occurrences given by Larry Russell. Larry gave the presentation online with 34 individuals at the spring 2022 seminar. The presentation generated minimal comments and questions. The exact same presentation was given at the annual seminar due to a last-minute cancelation by a presenter. The presentation generated so many comments and questions that it ran over its allotted time slot and had to be cut short.
