"Automation Olympics"
I love the Olympics. I love the pageantry. I love the world coming together for a positive event. I love watching heroes born and others taken down a notch. I sit mesmerized watching athletes defy gravity, speed barriers, physical limitations, and the human psyche. Summer, winter—it doesn’t matter. I save up my television viewing rights for 102 weeks just so I can monopolize the T.V. every two years during the Olympics (much to my family’s chagrin). It doesn’t matter the event…from the most commercially intriguing to the most obscure…I love the Olympics.
This year it’s been a little tough. Although events are shown “live” US East Coast time, they are delayed on West Coast time so that we can also watch them “live”—not real-time, but “live.” This means many of the medal round events are between 11 p.m. and midnight my time…long past my bed time; however, the dark circles under my eyes and occasionally dosing off during meetings at work is worth not missing events of the XXIX Olympiad!
Which brings to mind ISA’s own “Automation Olympics,” the Honors and Awards Gala—held in conjunction with EXPO every fall. If you open up the event program to the back, where you can peruse a listing of all award recipients since 1948, you come across a rather impressive list of names. Honorary members include Bailey, Behar, Rimbach, Sperry, Beckman, Draper, Packard, Hewlett, Bristol, Sprague, Hart, Fisher, Moore, Fluke, Parker, Bajek, Knight, Williams, and Gates (just to name a few). When you take a look at all 1400 award recipients from over the years, it is a very impressive list indeed. Yet, I wonder if we do enough? Do we honor enough of our colleagues? Do we promote the industry enough by recognizing the technical expertise and technology gains made by our fellow Automation professionals? Not by a long shot.
I recently received a communication from a member who expressed some concern that not enough awards are given out—that multiple recipients should be chosen in many cases. I agree. The problem is we don’t receive enough nominations. I must confess I have had little to do with our H&A program beyond making a few nominations the few times I’ve been able (serving board members are prohibited from submitting nominations). But I have been a huge supporter of the event and the program.
By definition, awards programs are long, can verge on boring, and are usually costly for attendees. But I wouldn’t miss our annual event for anything. I believe in my 20 plus years in ISA I have only missed two or three! The list of recipients is always impressive and it is nice to have an opportunity to rub shoulders with some very impressive personalities in the industry. This year is no exception. Just look at some of this year’s recipients:
http://www.isa.org/filestore/2008%20Honorees.doc
Some awards have gone unclaimed due to a lack of nomination submissions. PLEASE! If you are aware of a contributor to our industry worthy of recognition, make sure the H&A Committee receives a nomination on that person’s behalf. We have a great story to tell…we just need to tell it more often.
And now….back to the Olympics!
This year it’s been a little tough. Although events are shown “live” US East Coast time, they are delayed on West Coast time so that we can also watch them “live”—not real-time, but “live.” This means many of the medal round events are between 11 p.m. and midnight my time…long past my bed time; however, the dark circles under my eyes and occasionally dosing off during meetings at work is worth not missing events of the XXIX Olympiad!
Which brings to mind ISA’s own “Automation Olympics,” the Honors and Awards Gala—held in conjunction with EXPO every fall. If you open up the event program to the back, where you can peruse a listing of all award recipients since 1948, you come across a rather impressive list of names. Honorary members include Bailey, Behar, Rimbach, Sperry, Beckman, Draper, Packard, Hewlett, Bristol, Sprague, Hart, Fisher, Moore, Fluke, Parker, Bajek, Knight, Williams, and Gates (just to name a few). When you take a look at all 1400 award recipients from over the years, it is a very impressive list indeed. Yet, I wonder if we do enough? Do we honor enough of our colleagues? Do we promote the industry enough by recognizing the technical expertise and technology gains made by our fellow Automation professionals? Not by a long shot.
I recently received a communication from a member who expressed some concern that not enough awards are given out—that multiple recipients should be chosen in many cases. I agree. The problem is we don’t receive enough nominations. I must confess I have had little to do with our H&A program beyond making a few nominations the few times I’ve been able (serving board members are prohibited from submitting nominations). But I have been a huge supporter of the event and the program.
By definition, awards programs are long, can verge on boring, and are usually costly for attendees. But I wouldn’t miss our annual event for anything. I believe in my 20 plus years in ISA I have only missed two or three! The list of recipients is always impressive and it is nice to have an opportunity to rub shoulders with some very impressive personalities in the industry. This year is no exception. Just look at some of this year’s recipients:
http://www.isa.org/filestore/2008%20Honorees.doc
Some awards have gone unclaimed due to a lack of nomination submissions. PLEASE! If you are aware of a contributor to our industry worthy of recognition, make sure the H&A Committee receives a nomination on that person’s behalf. We have a great story to tell…we just need to tell it more often.
And now….back to the Olympics!
posted by ISA at
6:00 AM
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