Southern Metal Finishing Conference Sept. 13 - 15

The International Surface Finishing Academy will be hosting the 2009 Southern Metal Finishing Conference from Sunday, September 13th through Tuesday, September 15th in historic Charleston, SC. The conference has been held annually since 2003, and has gained a following of dedicated metal finishers from all over the United States and abroad. Combining two days of educational workshops and technical sessions sponsored by the ISFA, with a day long trade show - and some very unique opportunities to socialize in an historic atmosphere – the Southern Metal Finishing Conference has become the ‘can’t miss’ event of the year for Finishers.

Celebrating its 6th year, the 2009 Southern Metal Finishing Conference lineup includes five (5) intensive 2-day training workshops on Powder Coating, Industrial Parts Cleaning, Anodizing, and the internationally recognized Kushner Electroplating Course. In addition to these well known workshops, the conference will also feature a second 2 day tract of specialized technical sessions covering industry hot topics such as the lead free directives of WEEE and RoHS mixed in with various other helpful presentations like "Sales and Marketing for the Job shop". Conference attendees will all have the opportunity to discuss specific issues, and learn about new technologies from leading industry vendors in the two day exposition of exhibits, through several organized luncheons, and during the popular Opening Night Reception.

This year we will be hosting some familiar events that have become conference traditions, and throwing some new ones into the mix, as well. As always, we will be kicking off the conference with our Annual Swamp Fox Scramble Golf Tournament at Patriot's Point Links on the beautiful Charleston Harbor. Sunday evening we'll host an Opening Night Reception in the Exhibit Hall for an excellent night of networking. There will be an open bar for the first hour, and cash bar thereafter. During the reception there will also be a live filming of the popular metal finishing talk show, Finishing Talk Live. This is sure to be a fun and eventful evening, so plan on attending!

Monday and Tuesday will be focused on training, filled with workshops, one-on-one interaction with some fantastic exhibitors, and other traditional trade show activities. The annual keynote luncheon will be held Monday afternoon with our keynote speaker TBA, and our most popular event, the Pub Crawl Scavenger Hunt, will take place that evening. If you stick it out till the end of the night, you'll have a chance to leave everyone else behind in the dust in the 2nd Annual "Rickshaw Race" back to the hotel.

Tuesday will feature an awards luncheon, open to ALL registered attendees. During the Luncheon, the annual presentation of the Gebhardt Award will be made to the person who has made the largest impact on the metal finishing community. Also during this time we'll present certificates of completion to our students, and awards to the winners of the Finishing Market Swamp Fox Scramble golf tournament, the Pub Crawl Scavenger Hunt, the PF Online Fishing Tournament. Lunch will be served to all and additional gifts and door prizes will also be awarded to all attendees by raffle, so don't miss this one.

The conference wraps up around 4:00pm Tuesday afternoon, as students are dismissed from their respective technical classes. Check out the conference itinerary for class and event schedules.