PIA Symposium Speaker Invitation

[councilman24 37]

The 2005 International Parachute Symposium, January 14-19, 2005 in Jacksonville FL, sponsored by the Parachute Industry Association is in final planning as I post this message. The success of this symposium relies not only on PIA members but on people across the parachute industries and sports around the world to come and share their knowledge, expertise, and enthusiasm for their activities. This is your personal invitation to come and be a presenter at the 2005 Symposium. . As Speaker Coordinator I can tell you that there are very few people, if any, who wish to speak who aren’t included in the program. Just because the speaker before you may be Bill Booth, John LeBlanc, or Dave DeWolf, doesn’t mean that what you have to say isn’t important. I’m a part time rigger and local S&TA but have given presentations on DZ first aid, rigging Security Pilot rigs, and being a part time rigger. Appropriate topics are anything from parachute design for the Mars Lander, to DZ operations, to BASE safety, to packing demonstrations, to rigging tips, to fabric finishing, to military testing and operations using parachutes, to whatever you can think of.

Speakers receive complimentary full registration to the Symposium. The only real limitations are presentations are not allowed to be sales pitches for your product and should be of interest to the broad parachute and related industries and sports. Obviously, some presentations are product specific, (i.e. How to Pack a Racer) but promotion of your product and comparison to others products must be avoided. The exhibition hall provides the place to show your salesmanship.

If you have a topic that would like to share with the rest of the world please go to http://www.pia.com/symposium2005/registration.htm and register as a speaker. This provides us with the basic information to see if you fit into the Symposium program. The outline for the next steps is included on the website. Please, if you ever wanted to share you knowledge, now is the time.

Also, now is the time to plan on attending the 2005 International Parachute Symposium. This is truely the place to be to learn the answers to your questions about manufacturing, rigging, operations, and many other aspects of the industry. As well as see the new toys from the sport manufacturers. As before we'll be running a Rigger Continuing Education program.

Thanks for your support. Any questions please contact me or PIA. And I expect to see a lot of dropzone.comers there.

2005 Symposium Speaker Coordinator and PIA Rigging Committee Chairman

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE