Page 32: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2013)

32 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ? JUNE 2013 TRAINING AND EDUCATION In the middle of the summer more than 200 maritime professionals from marine simulation training centers from around the world will migrate to the U.S. east coast for four days of hands-on dem-onstration, topical conferences and a full slate of social events courtesy of Transas? third user?s conference, Tran- sas SIM UC 2013 ? ?Future Trends and New Challenges in Maritime Simula-tion? ? to be held July 15-19, 2013 in Maryland. While the user conference is split between two locations, MITAGS and Calhoon MEBA, the majority of the program takes place on the sprawling complex and campus of Calhoon MEBA Engineering School (CMES) in Easton, Md.According to Neil Bennett, Vice Presi- dent, Transas USA, the user conference format is an efÞ cient and economical means to deliver full-style demonstra-tion to a broad group of like-minded in-dividual.?Transas has grown signi Þ cantly and we have a very large customer base now,? Bennett said. ?We have always tried to get personal face-time with our customers, time to talk with them about the issues that are important to them. As you grow larger, it becomes increasingly difÞ cult, so this is a great opportunity to get to know them better, and also, them get to know our people better. Perhaps most important: it is a chance for us to listen and learn, to get their feedback good and bad, to learn and integrate this into the products of the future.?While Transas is a global leader in maritime simulation, it has not simply rested on the laurels of the Transas name and has crafted a well-rounded program that includes a diversity of high level presenters, plenty of hands-on demon-stration time, but just as importantly a well-rounded social program that allows users from different centers, from differ- ent countries, to meet, mingle and learn from each other perhaps new ways to make its training center proÞ table. (Full program details are available on: http://www.transas.com/simuc/ )?For the customers, it?s an opportu- nity to connect with counterparts from other schools, not just from around the U.S. but from around the world, learning trends and training requirements to help generate more business,? Bennett said. Transas? global draw means that ap- proximately 40% of attendees will come from the U.S., while the balance will be evenly split from customers in Europe and Asia.Dubbed ?Future Trends and New Challenges in Maritime Simulation,? Bennett said that the focus of the event is of course on new and emerging tech- nologies, but this year?s program will take that a step further. ?We are trying to look a bit further ahead than the short term challenges,? Bennett said, ?and we will be looking at, for example, internet based solution, maritime distance learn-ing, new technologies and their impact. We hope that the UC will open some positive discussions related to is ?E-Nav-igation? or ?E-Maritime? and its future ef- fects on training.?This is the third Transas User?s Confer- ence, with the Þ rst at MEBA in 2005 and the second in Sweden in 2007. While the intent is a similar meeting every second year, a global and maritime economy meltdown has conspired to put the pro-gram on hold since 2007. But accord-ing to Bennett, positive movement in the market suggested that this year was a good time to restart the program, and strong participation numbers has proven the company correct. ?You can de Þ nitely see that conÞ dence is growing,? Bennett said. ?The shipping industry is still in a difÞ cult place, but we see a positive in- crease in training initiatives.?Simulation Trends of Tomorrow Transas SIM UC 2013 User?s Conference, July 15-19, 2013, Maryland What Transas SIM UC 2013 When July 15-19, 2013 Theme ?Future Trends and New Challenges in Maritime Simulation? Where Calhoon MEBA Engineering School (CMES) & MITAGS Info http://www.transas.com/simuc/ MR #6 (26-33).indd 32MR #6 (26-33).indd 325/30/2013 12:53:14 PM5/30/2013 12:53:14 PM