Steel Products
Notes for SMU Steel Summit Attendees
Written by John Packard
August 22, 2018
SMU was at the Atlanta Airport Marriott Gateway hotel so we could get a lay of the land and see how disruptive their renovations are going to be to guests attending the 8th SMU Steel Summit Conference next week. The only negative noticed during our overnight stay was some minor construction noise, which was not noticeable until after 8 a.m.
All of the Gateway hotels are sold out. There is a new hotel being built next to the Renaissance, which will be available for our 2020 conference (maybe 2019…).
SMU rode the SkyTrain from the hotel to the airport. The trains were running every few minutes and the time to get to the terminal was no more than 3-4 minutes.
If you want to rent a car, the facility is the second (and last) stop on the train.
If you are driving in from out of town, the Georgia International Convention Center is located off of Camp Creek Parkway.
Weather was quite nice with much lower humidity than we are used to in Florida. Expect temperatures in the mid to upper 80s and mostly sunny.
Dress for the conference is business casual, and we highly recommend company logo golf shirts (or something similar). This will help with networking.
WiFi – thanks to Pacesetter, there will be free WiFi for all attendees.
Monday – registration/obtaining name tags begins at 10 a.m. in the south lobby (closest to the hotels) of the Georgia International Convention Center.
Monday – program begins at 1 p.m. ET at the GICC. Please note the change in time from 1:30 to 1 p.m. We are giving Lewis Leibowitz and Jean Kemp more time to answer questions related to trade, tariffs and duties.
Monday – 4:00-5:30 p.m. there will be a networking reception for all registered attendees (sponsored by Steel Dynamics).
Tuesday – doors open at 7 a.m. and program begins at 8 a.m. sharp. There will be coffee, juices and pastries available.
Tuesday – programs conclude at 4 p.m. and we move right into the networking reception until 5:30 p.m. (sponsored by Heidtman Steel).
Wednesday – doors open at 7 a.m. and program begins at 8 a.m. sharp. There will be coffee, juices and pastries available.
Wednesday – program ends at 3 p.m. ET.
One-on-one networking – there will be areas in the south lobby of the convention center (outside of the meeting and exhibition areas) for you to meet in small groups. We also recommend going to one of the three hotels: Marriott, Renassiance and SpringHill Suites where there may be more room for larger groups, lunch meetings, etc.
Dinner is on your own. We highly recommend making dinner reservations at one of the hotels in the downtown, Midtown or Buckhead areas of Atlanta.
After dinner – the place to meet has been the lobby bar at the Marriott Gateway hotel. The bar was supposed to have been under renovation, but they are behind schedule and the area will be open and perfect to mingle and do some late-night networking.
Download the Steel Market Update Events App, which can be found in your smart phone or tablet store. The App will be invaluable for you to get the most out of our conference. All of the attendees are listed in the App, the speakers and their presentations will be accessed through the App, the updated schedule is in the App, and live polling will be done through the App. Messages also will be transmitted through the App (SMU has put a number of messages in the App already). If you have issues with the App, please contact Brett@SteelMarketUpdate.com
Our team is looking forward to seeing you in Atlanta.
John Packard
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