It's warm and sunny here in Deland, but we're getting our sweaters, hoodies, gloves, and long under wear ready to go. In a few weeks we'll be packing our bags and heading to "the biggest little city in the world" as the PIA Symposium returns to Reno, NV. This years event will be held February 8-13th and will be packed with educational seminars, industry meetings, a DZO conference, the USPA Board meetings, and an Exhibit hall loaded with the the who's who of parachute businesses.
The Symposium means different things to different people and businesses. Many attendees will see it as an opportunity to learn about rigging and equipment at the various seminars that are conducted by industry professionals. Others see it as venue showcase their company or to launch new products and services in front of a large audience. Some attend simply to see old friends, and make a few new ones.
For us here at PD, we're there for all of the above reasons. What's the PD booth going to look like this year? Will there be new products from PD at this years event?(here's a clue) There's only one way to find out...Get your butt to Reno! We'll save you a seat at the blackjack table.
last night we had a truely unique experience. The PIA symposium took over the ICE Bar at the Olympic port in Barcelona. Thats right, the bar, the glasses, the tables and chairs were all made of ice. It's funny but after 2 hours of standing on a 28 degree floor, you cant feel your feet anymore?
The USPA crew...
Dario and Connie from Switzerland, Melody from Sunpath, and Morten from PD have got some pretty cold bums here...
Maddy from the UK is right at home in these temperatures...
Boy this sure isn't Florida...
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So day one of the exebition has just finished up and we've had a great day here in Barcelona. Our M&Ms didn't show up yet, we ordered some nice ones in orange and grey a few weeks ago for the event.... maybe they'll arive tomorrow...
Our friends at USPA seen below have a wonderful picture of our family PDFT member Shannon in their booth. Here he is before his head was cut out so he could be used as a figuring to have guests' pictures taken with his body landing on a boat.
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...some of the PD supplies for PIA Barcelona arrived a little too late (much to the joy of the staff left at home). This morning the UPS man knocked on our doors and handed over a very very nicely smelling package. Of course it's just terribly sad that our friends in Barcelona won't get to enjoy these fine chocolates, but you will be happy to know that we have done some extensive quality control studies on said M&M's and after the sampling session we can only conclude that there go little morsels of heaven - yum!!!
To the PD Booth specialists - please let us know if there is anything else you would like us to evaluate (especially if it's fine beverages or more chocolates).
The PD Squad attending the PIA Symposium in Barcelona just wrote home... I guess they don't want us to miss them too much, so they sent pictures of the booth. We think it looks great - and we also think the Sangria must have come out early and blurred the vision of the photographer :)
It's Monday morning, 10:00am here in Barcelona Spain and we're on our way to the AB Skipper hotel where the PIA Sympsoium is going on this week. Our flight from Atlanta was full of US skydiving manufacturers and related individuals. Rodger, Cathy, and Peter from Alti-2, Tom Noonan from Strong Enterprises, Larry Hill and Betsy Barnhouse from Skydive Arizona, Melody from Sunpath Products, and Robert Feldman a well know attorney to Skydiving industry. I got to see my good buddy Dedric who picked myself, John Leblanc, and Morten Pedersen up from the airport this morning. The floor opens on Wednesday. Check back to find out whats happening at the PD Booth!
