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Archives
 July 1999 Issue
Editor's Letter
By Rex Porter
Expo Flourishes in Florida
I have never missed a Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers Cable-Tec Expo, and I always think the most recent one was the best. So, with Bill Rikers departure and John Clarks first opportunity to preside, I was a little apprehensive before Expo 1999. I shouldnt have worried. Sure, there were minor glitches; there always have been. But Clark and his staff gave us an Expo that now rivals any other major telecommunications engineering convention.
From the opening ceremonies that recreated the first SCTE gathering of 1969 to the Expo golf tourney, this show proved to be an excellent platform for companies to show their products and services. And the technical sessions were planned around subjects that are of interest to todays engineering community.
More and more, companies from the computer and telephony side of the business are coming to this show. The importance of your hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) networks is beginning to be recognized. If we look back only 10 years ago, we never would have imagined some of these companies would be so interested in what cable engineering now offers. We can look forward to heavier attendance from such industries, and the Expo should grow.
But what about membership? Is there a parallel in membership growth to Expo growth? There certainly should be. Every one of these new companies should be a sustaining member. I know John Clark and his staff, along with the board of directors, are concerned with expanding our efforts outside the United States. They need our help here at home, though.
How many members do you have at your system? It is not the job of system headquarters to supervise interest and individual efforts in SCTE. Every board member is a volunteer. Every committee and subcommittee member is a volunteer. Do you volunteer? Is there an effort to get 100-percent membership from engineers, technicians and installers in your system? Do you attend local chapter meetings regularly? When salespeople call, do you ask if their company is a sustaining member?
Our Expo is a wonderful national event that portrays our engineering success to the world. But the foundation of the Expo and Emerging Technologies seminars is our grass roots "volunteerism."
We will only continue to be as great nationally as we work to be locally.
Editor-in-Chief
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