Realize President Todd Reese attended the AMUG conference last week in St. Louis. We asked him to keep a journal/diary of his experience. If you didn’t attend, or you did and want  a recap, here is what Todd wrote about his time attending AMUG2016. Enjoy.

 

AMUG 2016 Diary of Todd Reese

 

Day One – Saturday

Golf outing. Brutal…I mean BRUTAL wind conditions, along with low temperatures! At least it was sunny!  My team won with a score of par and I won a closest to the pin prize. It was 6’ 9’’ away.

Dinner with industry friends

Such a good time and great company and wine. Honored to spend an evening with peers of their caliber.

Day Two – Sunday

Sunday Expo.

Talking so much didn’t eat enough! Sat down with prospect for potential business opportunity.

3D Systems booth – After a few years of being absent, they’re back with a large presence.

2 days of expo – That’s good, because you can’t hit it all in one day.

Spent time in Somos, Argyle, Post Process, and Midwest booths

UofL booth – Nice Bourbon, Tim!

Day Three – Monday

It seems to be about 40% first timers.

History lesson:  AMUG was formed in 1988 as Stereolithography User’s Group.  SLS User’s Group was formed in 1989.  They were combined in 2004.  Now, in 2016, many more technologies represented and it’s basically a forum for 18 mini User’s Groups.

This year has 1000+ attendees up from 765 in 2015.

I gave a 15-minute presentation highlighting “Klarg”, our winning entry from last years Advanced Finishing Technical Competition.  It seemed well received, and I received many compliments, comments and questions throughout the day.

Jason Lopes – Legacy Effects presentation. Always riveting, entertaining and educational. The guy is just cool.

Very good lunch but the table was kind of quiet.

Sat in on Carbon’s materials talk. Very interesting technology. I’m interested.

Day cut short due to Tech Competition set up.

Met with a supplier and their potential client to present/discuss my experiences, successes and failures with supplier.

GREAT entries into tech comp this year. Stiff competition.

BB8 entry was very well received. Number of visitors to tech competition up noticeably compared to last year.  My voice is shot.

Many people took pictures and selfies with BB8.

The judges will have a tough decision. Broke down my display and headed to room to relax and put my feet up for awhile.

Caught the end of awesome NCAA basketball title game, now down to the bar to network a little until midnight.

Day Four – Tuesday

General session:  Large Sponsor Panel assembled on stage to answer questions from audience.

Sat in on a talk about new/emerging technologies from Prodways.

Good networking lunch.

3D printing/Wall Street talk

Another awesome presentation by Jason Lopes of Legacy Effects in regards to Carbon’s CLIP technology.

Boarded buses to mystery dinner.

Caught up with Dave Flynn of Materialise on the ride over.

Arrived Six Flags. AMUG board really raised the bar this year for the awards dinner.

Food and drinks were great.

Realize wins 2nd place in the finishing contest. Congrats to all the winners. It was tough competition this year, really great entries.  I’m proud Realize received recognition.

Ten DINO Awards given out this year, and much to my surprise I was one of the recipients of this distinguished and highly prestigious award. What an honor it is to join the ranks of people I hold in very high regard!  This is a career highlight.

Upon completion of the awards ceremony, we were released into the park where many rides/games/concessions/bars were open, in addition to casino tables set up in different areas.

The group migrated to park theater at 10PM for a raffle. Thousands of dollars in giveaways tonight. Apple TV’s, Bluetooth speakers, Drones, headphones, hard drives, Fitbits, all sorts of techie stuff and gift cards.

Arrived back at hotel about 12:30AM.  Such a long day, but a great one. Handshakes and congrats more than I can count.

Day Five – Wednesday

I arrived down for breakfast a little late. Slept in after late night. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one.  I was able to get my DINO Award signed by Chuck Hull, inventor of Stereolithography and Scott Crump, inventor of Fused Deposition Modeling.

There was a group picture taken with those two icons and all DINOs in attendance.

AMUG Business meeting is not to be missed.

1221 Total registered, 1064 Total attendees

I can’t believe that there is actually a zombie apocalypse clause in our contract!!  That is absolutely hilarious!!

AMUG 2017 – Save the date!  April 2-6, 2017.  Orlando appears to be frontrunner location, but official announcement to be made at a later date.

Best lunch of the week so far in regards to networking. Very energetic and talkative table.  Met some really great people that could potentially become clients.

Carbon CLIP technology presentation – I am really interested in this technology and the materials they have to offer. Potential meeting/visit from Carbon in the weeks ahead.

Sat in on 3D Systems SLABOT talk. Technology much like Carbon, however approach seems to be more custom based.

New 3D software in the works – 3D Sprint. Looks to be a Magics / E-stage competitor.  I wonder how it will work with legacy systems and will it allow the same freedoms we have with our current preparation software.

3D Systems private event in the early evening and spoke with many people.  It seems that there is a renewed energy at that company.

Played Left-Right-Center until late with a large group of people, always a fun time.

Day Six – Thursday

Feedback Session.  It’s always interesting to see the suggestions that are brought to the table.

I spent my four-hour drive home reflecting on a great conference.  AMUG2016 in St. Louis will always be memorable and special to me.