Dear Industry colleagues,

I believe we can all agree that the 2009 Composites Australia – Composites CRC conference and trade show was a great success! The results of the post conference survey uniformly praise the content and themes of the presentations, the calibre of exhibitors and the organisation of the event. Defying the Global Economic Crisis, the event held its own attracting over 400 attendees.

This event exemplified the goal of bringing composite practitioners across the full supply chain face-to-face to share knowledge and experiences, and to learn more about new materials and technologies, as well as about new production methods for using existing materials and technologies. As a fabricator myself, I too came away with new insights from many fruitful discussions and scientific interaction. I was honoured to attend and to meet such wonderful people.

I thank all sponsors for their generosity and support for the conference. Of course it would not have been possible to have such a great result without our main event partners, the Composite CRC, the Queensland Department of Tourism, Regional Development and Industry and the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering, SAMPE®.

Fun, laughter and geniality themed the conference dinner as colleagues and old friends caught up; watched the firedancers while enjoying a drink, and had a dance or two to the Caribbean Calypso band’s music.

The FGI conference satchels were once again in high demand and are quickly becoming a collector’s item. CA’s events committee did an excellent job, and in particular, Frank Rosselli of Exel Composites was again a perfect team-mate, organising a sterling schedule of demonstrations that ran at intervals on both days.

The Hyatt Regency Sanctuary Cove, the conference venue, provided a splendid escape from the few showers that were the consequence of Cyclone Hamish. But business and knowledge remained the priorities over the two days. 

Finally, I’m proud of what we accomplished at the conference and the associated trade show and would like to thank the Composites Australia management team for their incredible work and the Herculean task of pulling together what was a very successful event.

Sharon Swan
President, Composites Australia

Click here to view the happy snaps of the Event