The path to Rotorua is rapidly becoming an annual mecca for engineers and that's okay with the organisers of the National Main tenance Engineering Conference.
The event, now in its 10th year, will be held at the Novotel Lakeside Rotorua next Wednesday and Thursday with a free public trade expo at the venue on Tuesday.
The conference has travelled around New Zealand but is now a permanent feature of the Rotorua landscape and there is a reason for that _ growth.
According to event director Craig Carlyle the event has become so large it requires a location that can cope with an influx of attendees and is cost-effective for engineers to get to.
The pre-conference free public trade exhibition side is another reason behind the permanent move to Rotorua.
"Our vision is for the exhibition side of this conference to grow to National Fieldays levels. Already we are seeing international interest from companies such as Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi as they recognise the cost effectiveness of attending this event and to provide that kind of value we have to stay put in one location,'' said Mr Carlyle.
Whatever the organisers are doing, it must be right, the 2012 exhibition hall has the "house full'' sign out and they want to find a larger Rotorua venue for 2013..
The conference is run by the Maintenance Engineering Society of NZ, a technical interest group of IPENZ. The conference is the natural pinnacle of the society's efforts to resource and assist engineers and a "must do'' for anyone involved in manufacturing, reliability and supply. Based around a two-day conference featuring experts and peers on technical and line management topics surrounding maintenance, the conference has grown to include preconference training and field trips, social events and a major exhibition.
As a non-profit organisation the society has been able to return the value to attendees and exhibitors in the form of reduced entry costs, as low as $440, plus GST a person for conference attendance. It is this ethos that has perhaps factored in the growth of the event as discretionary spending tightens although Mr Carlyle argues otherwise.
"The National Maintenance Engineering Conference is a success because it understands engineers, the pressures and financial constraints on them, and their desire to lift their game. But most of all, these are the real guys from the coalface, the real decision makers. The buck stops on their desk and they appreciate the opportunity to learn from each other and take the value back to their workplace''.
The conference will be held at the Novotel Lakeside Rotorua on November 7 and 8 with preconference training, field trips and a free public trade expo on November 6. For more information see http://www.mesnz.org.nz/nmec/