In recent weeks, you have likely heard a lot of chatter about various conventions, conferences, trade shows, and expos. (A rose by any other name....) If you’re sitting there thinking, “Yeah, and you’re one of the chatterboxes,” I’ll respond, “Guilty as charged.” We have frequently discussed trade shows in our daily e-newsletter and our weekly live web TV show of late. There’s more to come, too; the efficacy of trade shows in today’s world of instant electronic communication is an important issue, and one that we will continue to address in the coming weeks.

However, this article is not about a trade show: It’s about CMSC 2012. Before you accuse me of pulling the ol’ bait and switch, let me point out that those of us who regularly attend this annual event do not consider the Coordinate Metrology Systems Conference to be a trade show. Oh, I suppose you could call it that, but once you have attended one, you will surely agree that CMSC is something very different—something very much greater—than a mere trade show.

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