Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts

Written by John Packard


A note to those of you who are registered for our 6th Steel Summit Conference but have yet to make room reservations. The room block at the Marriott Gateway Hotel (our host hotel) is sold out. The hotel may have a few rooms left but they will most likely be at the full rack rate. We have a room block at the SpringHill Suites Gateway Hotel which is located across the street from the Marriott and the convention center. As of Friday there were 23 rooms left in our block at the SpringHill Suites at $134 per night.

There are now 28 days left (4 weeks) until the start of the conference which will be on Monday, August 29th. On that Monday registration will be held at the Atlanta Airport Marriott Gateway Hotel lobby beginning at 2:30 PM ET. At 3:30 PM, in the Marriott Hotel, we will have our “Pre-Summit” program with trade attorney Lewis Leibowitz. That program will last until 5 PM. From 5 PM until ? we are encouraging those in the two hotels (Marriott and SpringHill Suites) that are attending our conference to meet in the lobby lounge, have a drink courtesy of Tennessee Steel Haulers (coupon will be in your registration package) and spend some time networking with SMU people, our speakers, sponsors, exhibitors and attendees.

Also, now that we are inside the 30 day window I want to remind those who are registered, should your plans change you are allowed to substitute another person from your company in your place. We do not issue cash refunds this close to the conference date. We will issue a company credit which can be used at a future date.

Status of registrations: We now have 345 people registered for the conference. Last year we had 282 people. As I mentioned above there are still 4 weeks until the conference so you can still get good flights at reasonable fares, we don’t charge any extra to register as the date approaches and you are still invited and encouraged to attend.

We have some exceptional speakers. If you have never heard Lourenco Goncalves speak then you are in for a treat. He says what is on his mind and he is one of the most experienced industry speaker out there. Lourenco was the CEO of California Steel Industries, the CEO of Metals USA and now the CEO of Cliffs Natural Resources. We also have a one-on-one discussion with SDI CEO Mark Millet and a keynote address from AK Steel CEO Roger Newport. You can find more information about our speakers on our website: www.SteelMarketUpdate.com in the Events section or you are welcome to send us a note and we will send you an updated schedule.

I want to thank Timna Tanners of Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Joseph Innace of Platts for assisting us as moderators during the conference.

As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.

John Packard, Publisher

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What's the tea in the steel industry this week? Here's the latest SMU gossip column! Just kidding... kind of. Yes, some of the comments we receive in our weekly flat-rolled market steel buyers' survey are honestly too much to put into print. Some make us laugh. Some make us cringe. Some are cryptic. Most are serious. We appreciate them all. Below are some highlights from our survey results this week. Some of the comments that we can share with you are also included, in italics, in the buyers' own words, with minimal editing on our part.