Sometimes, it's just fun

Posted by Sten Westgard, MS

Those of you who know me personally are aware that I am not always 100% positive about my travel experiences, or about the conferences I attend.

But once a year, we get a few moments where we meet our friends from all over the world in one place in just a few short days. It's part carnival, part reunion, and really enjoyable.

Thanks to the hundreds who dropped by to visit our hard-to-find-but-worth-the-trip booth. See you next year in Anaheim!

Our booth is consistently the smallest, ugliest, and least-invested-in, but we put it up every year. 25 years now that the Westgard QC company has been showing at AACC. And this young fellow on the left of the picture - it was his 50th year in attendance of the show. I myself missed a few of the last 25, notably one in 2002 while anxiously awaiting the birth of my son. But I'm racking up a good run now.

Here's a picture of the "Wisconsin Old Guard" - Ron Haas, James Westgard, and David Koch, all longtime laboratory veterans of various Wisconsin institutions. They keep at it, and they do quite well.

From Jim: Here's one of my favorite people, Stacy Walz, Program Head of the Medical Technology program at the University of Arkansas-Jonesboro. Stacy was one of my best students at the UW-Madison program, and it's wonderful to see that she is spreading that knowledge to the next generation of MTs.

Here's a group that came all the way from Turkey to see us (okay, to attend the conference, but they were excited that we were there too). And the small world that it is, I will probably see them in only a few months, since I'm going to Bodrun for a conference in Turkey.

Finally, a great remembrance. Dr. Andreas Rothstein, who has been running the most advanced laboratory in Colombia for decades, once attended our Westgard workshops back nearly two decades ago. This year he has kindly agreed to wright the foreword to the Spanish translation of our Six Sigma QC Design textbook, which will be launched in Colombia this September. It's a nice family portrait - we consider Andreas to be one of our kindred spirits.

Thanks to all who visited, commiserated, laughed, and shared with us during the Chicago meeting. We hope to see you again soon, in person or online.