Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Dining everybody and live.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: Probably noticed something a little bit different today. And that is that I am by my lonesome. So this could be really good or really bad. Also, I got my headphones on, just not 100% on the sound yet. So I'm going to be sure we capture this. But I am blessed today to be live from the Fort Worth stockyards. At the stockyard short course. And the stockyard short course. For those that don't know, there's a lot of regional short courses throughout the US. That basically bring training to folks. To make it a little bit easier to stay up to date with what used to be nice certifications. Now with AMP, I guess it's still nice. But the organization being amp and so these shows kind of popped up everywhere. And stockyard is one of those as well. So one thing is obvious at the stockyards, you got to wear your cowboy hat. That's just the rules. The other thing is, you leave your other co hosts in Louisiana to fend for themselves.
But seriously, I am blessed to be out here. I'm going to be joining a lot of folks. We made this connection at AI World last year in the corrosion space. And we're able to bring the show out there. And we made a connection with Richard Ray from Mesa. He invited us out, said, hey, come by, you're just down the road. Bring the show if you can. We knew we were double booked, but hey, we made it work. So for the first time, we're actually live from two different states. Bringing the show. Something we've never done. And hopefully, first of many things. New and exciting things we plan to do this year. So, missing my co host. But I've been following along at Louisiana eight one one damage prevention summit all week, watching them. And if you haven't, please go check out some of that content. They sat down with some figureheads in the industry. Sam Hall, Steve Giambroni, the great folks out at Louisiana eight one one. I saw Ed Langraff on there. Several others that are making an impact. So go check out that content, too. But today is about corrosion protection and this world. And as Steve Allen might say, the voodoo that they do. So.
So we're going to crack the case open. Try to figure out what this show is all about. What makes the stockyard so important. And I think it's so fitting to be in a corrosion protection centered event, a CP event. And you look around at the stockyards and this brick floor beneath us, and this old, faded concrete. I want to ask them what they think about this space and why they keep coming back here when it's obviously crumbling around us. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. But seriously excited to be here. Excited for the group here that asked me out. Hope to do it justice and look forward to bringing some folks on today. So stay tuned.
We do that probably two or three times a show because we're so casual and laid back with it, right. That people don't even know we're just hanging out. Right. It's literally coffee with Jim, which is.
[00:03:38] Speaker C: Kind of the best format for a podcast. It's like, relax.
[00:03:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:42] Speaker B: You don't even want to know, right? We're just a fly on the wall. Well, first off, Andrew, thank you, brother. Thank you for the invite out here.
I don't know how much you know about our show, but our goal is to really get out and share some of the stories. Not everybody gets to go to these things, right? So it's our job, and I don't mean just as a podcast, but as event goers to turn around and give that back to all the people we can help evangelize that message. So getting to come out here, even in my backyard, it isn't lost on me. So I appreciate it.
Do us a favor. For those that don't know, you introduce yourself to the audience back home.
[00:04:23] Speaker C: So I'm Andrew Bell. I work for explorer Pipeline. I've been the chair of the AMp North Texas section for about four to five. Know we all had that Covid deal where there wasn't a whole lot going on. They didn't want to try and have people come in to vote. So been the chair for quite a while.
I'm an asset integrity corrosion specialist for explorer and been in the industry about pretty much since nine. Graduated Kilgore in nine. Did my associates in corrosion technology. I've worked for the bass engineering mason products allied corrosion and finally got on the explorer pipeline.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: Awesome.
[00:05:06] Speaker C: And I've been with them for about eleven years now.
[00:05:08] Speaker B: Awesome.
Shout out to all those people. I know that's part of the reason I'm here is connecting with Richard at AI World. Last year, Richard Ray with Mesa said, hey, you got to come check out the stockyard. Short know it's right down the road. I know you're up there. And so here I am. And already I've only been here this morning, but I heard yesterday was a big success already. We can talk a little bit about that, but tell me first, this is only the second year, is that correct? So what made this be number one? The location but second, why bring it to the stockyard?
[00:05:49] Speaker C: So I would say the stockyards like we kind of talked about it when we first started entertaining the idea of short course here.
The nice thing about Dallas is that it's just so central.
You can still get your crowd out of Houston. You get guys coming over from Louisiana because two hour drive to Longview, Shreveport.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: Is another 45 minutes, maybe 40 minutes.
[00:06:11] Speaker C: Yeah, Oklahoma is close. And then of course we do a lot of stuff. Partnered up with Midland chapter over there. Those guys are great. They always show out for us.
A lot of these people and a lot of these people that are coming have been involved with us in the past with our clay shoot that we have yearly in October.
But it was a good central area.
You got Dallas and you got know when people come to Texas and they're coming to an event, they're know, hey, cowboy boots, cowboy hats. Yeah, love the hat.
[00:06:47] Speaker B: I mean, it's the best I could do on a pinch.
[00:06:49] Speaker C: Hey, man, that's the way to be.
[00:06:50] Speaker B: You don't want to rush a cowboy hat.
[00:06:51] Speaker C: You really don't.
We had several guys show up that didn't have one. Some people run over here to the shops that are right here along the strip. This stockyard location is right in the middle.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: We were just talking about that with someone before we started recording.
This area is under revitalization and so at first, I know a lot of people might not have been on board with it, but this place has really gone under some change. The historic part is still there, but there's a new area. There's so much to do. I know you all had an event there last night, I think, that was sponsored and that area has totally changed. Really cool. And then you can go check out the more historic park too. Still get all the good parts?
[00:07:37] Speaker C: Yeah, of course. We had the AI class yesterday. They came in. If anybody's ever been to the users group that they do.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: So we recorded an AI world last year. So that event. So our audience is probably used to that. They're right here behind us.
Great folks over there. So they had a full day user?
[00:07:58] Speaker C: Yes, they had lawn come in. He went over the pcs system. There's a lot of technicians that use their products. Yeah, their products.
But as a technician, a lot of times if you're not a supervisor or you're just not the data guy, then you're not really getting in depth to using that program because I would say your typical technician or company probably only uses about 10% of what pcs has to offer.
[00:08:29] Speaker B: Yeah. So every chance you get.
[00:08:31] Speaker C: You want to expand that.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:32] Speaker C: If you can get with these guys, they're super sharp and they can get you into that program, really show you what it can actually do for your pipeline. And if you get that information and you're able to apply it, it just makes your company better and makes your data acquisition and processing so much easier.
[00:08:51] Speaker B: Very cool. So we're here now, I guess, on what you would call the main day of the big day. Right? The full day. So what can people that aren't familiar with nace and amp, historically now and all the things that go with rosin protection, what do they get out of a short course just at a high level? What can they expect? I know there's ones everywhere.
And for those that don't know, for me, what does someone come to a short course for?
[00:09:26] Speaker C: And this goes into the planning process, really for us is we're looking at like, hey, what do technicians need? Obviously, the PDH's professional development hours is a big part of it, which is why we have the speaker part. We have that classroom over there. Obviously, this is the vendor area.
[00:09:44] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:09:45] Speaker C: But you have that classroom over there, and you line up speakers and, like, a lot of what we had to do, we had to dig around, find, talk to people. Hey, man, what's something that you want to hear about? What's something that maybe. What's your weakness? Yeah, if we can get speakers in that are talking. And that was one of the things that we decided at our second one was we wanted to be a little bit different from the rest of the crowd because there are a lot of short courses going on, and they're all great.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: You're still going to get your PDH. Absolutely. That's what the core of it is. But this makes a little bit more of a variety.
[00:10:22] Speaker C: Yeah.
And with ours, we decided to go with all end user speakers. A lot of times you'll have vendors come in. We had some guys that said, hey, we don't want to come to a show where we're seeing the exact same stuff, which, I mean, some of these vendors have awesome presentations, and even if you heard them twice, you're going to pick something up in the second time you hear it. But we wanted to do something a little different. And you're essentially talking not only that, but some of these other companies, they're hearing from their peers, they're hearing from other guys that do the same thing that they do. They're not necessarily just somebody who's either trying to sell a product or is just trying to bring you the information on that certain subject. But these guys are your peers. They know exactly what you've been going through in the field.
Any type of information that they give you that they can take and they can actually go and apply to their job. Which is really nice.
[00:11:18] Speaker B: For know. Part of I think our mission with coffee, coffee, coffee with Jim and James industry is to inspire more folks to make it out, if they can, to events like this. And I know, I mean, everybody wants a successful event, but what would you say to the folks back home maybe that are on the fence or aren't sure if this is the one for them? What's one thing you would tell them that might aspiring to come out, man?
[00:11:46] Speaker C: I would say a lot of it has to do with people.
The people that are around here. I don't think that everybody that I've talked to is friendly. It's easy to talk to everyone around.
Yeah, you got to watch out for him. Tim's not here, but no, everybody out here is really friendly. I feel like we bring a lot to the table as far as the location is concerned. I know a lot of times you see some of these shows, it's a product of cost. Like a lot of times. If you're going to be in a hotel, embassy suites, like we were talking about earlier.
It's fiscally it makes sense.
[00:12:22] Speaker B: No free sponsors, but I know embassy suites well.
[00:12:26] Speaker C: Right.
[00:12:27] Speaker B: There's not a lot of character to it. It's check a box and you get all the things. It's all inclusive.
[00:12:34] Speaker C: The blank walls, the carpet and everything.
[00:12:36] Speaker B: But here.
[00:12:37] Speaker C: And I think this is one of our big selling points too, is people know what the stockyards are, or they've heard of it before the time of year that we're here. The rodeo is going on right now.
They're over here. It's down the road a little ways. But it's right beside the rodeos going on.
The stockyard is pretty freaking cool. I don't know if you've been out here yet, but twice a day they do the Longhorn run during the show. If you know what the timing is, you can walk right down the road here. And they got longhorns running up. They're doing a cattle run up down the road. So that's really. Know the brick cobblestone floors all out throughout.
[00:13:15] Speaker B: Even though it might be some corrosion tech's nightmare. Looking around here, I'm sure there's some folks going. I don't know if that concrete's coated. No, it's a great spot. A lot of history here. Andrew, I appreciate you. Appreciate the invite out.
Hey, keep doing the good work, man.
[00:13:33] Speaker C: Hey.
[00:13:37] Speaker B: We'Ll be back, guys. I appreciate you all stopping by.
[00:13:41] Speaker D: Yes, sir.
[00:13:42] Speaker B: We are live at the stockyard. Short course by invite. Richard, thank you. Appreciate you coming, sir. Thank you inviting me out. Just down the road. This has been my favorite travel experience of the year.
[00:13:56] Speaker D: It's not a bad location.
[00:13:57] Speaker B: Yeah, I haven't been anywhere, but I.
[00:13:59] Speaker E: Was going to say it's early in.
[00:14:00] Speaker B: The 45 minutes from home, and I'll be in my own bed tonight.
[00:14:03] Speaker D: Long drive for you.
[00:14:04] Speaker B: I am not complaining. Pat, you stopped by. I've met this guy before, but I appreciate you stopping by. Absolutely. Do us a favor, both of you guys. Introduce yourself to the people back home.
[00:14:15] Speaker E: Pat McDerris with Mesa products president.
Been in the industry now going on 38 years.
[00:14:23] Speaker B: You started when you were four.
[00:14:27] Speaker E: You're very generous.
[00:14:29] Speaker D: He would have made that one, right.
Richard Ray, Mesa products, been in the industry for 21 years now. Been with Mesa for 700.
[00:14:38] Speaker E: Trust me, it feels like a lot longer.
[00:14:42] Speaker D: I'm sorry, it hadn't been that long.
[00:14:44] Speaker B: It feels like a lot longer. That's what we were talking about earlier when the mic was off.
We're here at this very important event. You invited me out. I will tell you, it has lived up to the billing. I would say to this point, everybody that comes by is so passionate about, so passionate about this venue particularly. We're only two of them in. Right. You have to be excited about how it's turned out so far.
[00:15:11] Speaker D: Yeah, we talked to Andrew. We wanted to create something for the technicians in this local Texas area. Pull some guys from Oklahoma and try to have something we can get vendors, distributors together and have a good educational course and have a good time.
[00:15:25] Speaker B: I've heard people. People, yes, we're a big family. It's a tight knit group.
[00:15:31] Speaker D: It's very tight.
[00:15:32] Speaker B: Big and small industry. Pat, you've been in here a long time. Why is CP so important to you?
[00:15:40] Speaker E: Well, it's my, you know, starting my journey down this when I was right out of high school, needed the job and stumbled across Mesa and didn't really have a plan, but done a little bit of everything over the years. And here I am now, 38 years later, and got a lot of friends, got a lot of family and relationships. And so it is part of who I am, and it's pretty special for me. Again, I get to work with a lot of neat people, building a lot.
[00:16:20] Speaker D: Of relationships.
[00:16:27] Speaker E: But no, we all have different journeys in life. And I didn't necessarily pick this one, but it picked me. And looking back in retrospect, I don't think I would have changed much of anything. I've been very fortunate. I've been lucky. And they say luck is really where you put opportunity and preparation comes together. And so it's just part of my life.
[00:16:57] Speaker B: I've talked to a lot of people today. One of the things I've been asking now, and I'd love to hear your words as well, is we've got to motivate that next generation to step into this industry.
We support natural gas all throughout the US, and it's an issue that we're all dealing with.
The old guard is leaving and retiring, and we need more people. You started here a long time ago, you said fresh out of high school. What would you say to folks to inspire them to get in here?
[00:17:39] Speaker E: You're absolutely right. There's this turnover starting to happen, and I'm on the farther end of that now.
For someone getting into this industry, what's really neat and for this younger generation, it's an opportunity that you can get in without having to necessarily go to a college and get a four year degree and have all this experience. You can start at the ground level and there's so much opportunity with the right motivation, the right inspiration, the right mentors.
There's no cap on you. You don't have that four year degree. You don't have to go back and get undergrad or something to grow in this. You get some experience, you work in the field, you might be able to get a CP, one CP, two certification, and go different divisions. Whether it's an end user or contractor.
[00:18:41] Speaker B: There's a ton of innovation. We see it in this hall. There's tech in this hall, companies that are servicing this sector of the industry.
[00:18:52] Speaker D: On the job training.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely.
[00:18:54] Speaker D: Sky's the limit here. If you're a hard worker, you have a lot of opportunity.
[00:18:58] Speaker B: Well, being a part of the younger generation, I'm just kidding. I'm kidding.
What would you say to folks out there that maybe don't even know about CP?
[00:19:08] Speaker D: So I believe you and I talked about some of this at AI World, and I think we canned it as who's going to fill their shoes with Clay Brailsford? And we had a little talk with Jim Bath. But there are a lot of people retiring, and how do we promote people to get into this industry? We have these trade shows running by as many people as possible, have companies like ours and everybody to go to these trade schools and invite people to come into our industry and give internships. Exactly.
[00:19:41] Speaker B: Really, these are the things I'm blessed to get to talk to a lot of people at these shows, and people will catch me in the home. I love what you're doing. Keep doing it. We need more people like you. And I was like, well, come on the podcast later. Oh, that's not me.
[00:19:59] Speaker E: Sound familiar?
[00:20:01] Speaker B: But you know what I mean. Like, if we're going to talk to that generation, they're listening to the podcasts.
[00:20:06] Speaker E: Absolutely.
[00:20:07] Speaker B: And so it's just another way for us to continue this message.
We are here at the short course. We're here at the stockyard.
There are some folks out there maybe haven't ever made it out here. What would you say to them specifically about this show that might motivate them to come out next year?
[00:20:27] Speaker D: Well, the location doesn't get any better than the Fort Worth stocking. Great food, great people, great drinks.
But if you watch this podcast, at some point in time, how many people on here talked about friends, family, lifelong in the industry? All these relationships, they all mean, we are a very large industry, but a very tight knit family. We all know everyone.
[00:20:55] Speaker B: Guys, I appreciate what you all do for the industry.
[00:20:57] Speaker D: Yes, sir. Thank you.
[00:20:58] Speaker B: Coming on. Thank you, sir.
[00:21:00] Speaker E: Thank you for what you do.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: Thank you. We'll be back.
[00:21:03] Speaker D: See you guys.
[00:21:07] Speaker B: We met at AI world this past year.
Jim and I, fortunately, can't be here today, but also fortunately for me, we keynote. Yeah, yeah. That's a whole nother show.
Talk about something different in the cup for that one. We were at AI World, and Jim and I actually got the keynote, I believe, on one of the last days and kick it off, and we had.
[00:21:34] Speaker A: A ton of fun.
[00:21:35] Speaker B: And one of the things we were just talking about it when we weren't on air is how cool that event was. We're a vendor. We understand, trying to get users together. But I was really impressed by it. It looked very deliberate in how it was laid out and done. It was small and big at the same time.
You could really tell that the users were getting a lot out of it and that y'all put a lot of progress here.
Do us a favor, just real quick, and I want you to expand on that. Introduce yourself to the folks back home that maybe don't know who you are.
[00:22:13] Speaker F: I am Lon Duke. I'm a field data collection specialist at American Innovations. Been there for about. Coming up next week on 19 years.
[00:22:22] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:22:22] Speaker D: That's.
[00:22:23] Speaker B: Wow. So tell me a little bit about AI world and how that works for you.
[00:22:28] Speaker F: AI World is customers.
[00:22:31] Speaker G: It's really great.
[00:22:33] Speaker F: It gets all of our customers, users together in one spot, and we're able to disseminate information, classes, upcoming products.
[00:22:48] Speaker B: And.
[00:22:48] Speaker F: We also are able to share a lot of information, not just us to them, but them to us, like R.
[00:22:56] Speaker B: And D. Oh, yeah.
[00:22:57] Speaker F: We get a lot of data collected from customers saying, you know what? I'd like to see this. Let's sit down, talk about it. There's a lot of breakouts in there that sit down, talk with the customer one on one about any issues they're seeing or changes they want.
So the information that's gone back.
[00:23:24] Speaker B: Well, I know you all. For those that don't know, we're at the stockyard short course, and you all had a big day yesterday where you brought users in again to really expand that knowledge, which is a big part of short courses and especially this one. You've been to a few short courses in your life. I just feel like you have.
That's a compliment. Why do you think this one's so important?
[00:23:50] Speaker F: And again, second year they've had this one.
This is the first time I didn't get to attend it last year.
The location is great.
[00:24:03] Speaker B: It is a cool place.
There's a lot of corrosion to inspect out here.
I'm kidding. A lot of history. A lot of history.
[00:24:14] Speaker F: I haven't been to the events that you see so many cowboy hats and it's awesome to see. It's just awesome to see them.
[00:24:22] Speaker B: It is cool.
[00:24:23] Speaker F: We wear them all the time, and now everybody's wearing them.
I did tell Richard, you know what you need next year?
You need a shoe shine stand.
[00:24:34] Speaker B: Oh, man. I had to shine my own boots. Yeah. I thought for sure we could get away with that. Maybe that's a booth idea.
[00:24:42] Speaker F: Yeah, exactly.
Coming to these, you get to sit in on these seminars, and again, people are just pouring out information. There's other information in the audience.
You get to talk to everybody in the industry, people you haven't seen in a while and the anecdotes that go back and forth on your cv.
[00:25:06] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:25:07] Speaker F: I have this issue. This is how it mitigated. Oh, you know what? I have that issue.
[00:25:11] Speaker B: I've heard about that. I got that person's info.
[00:25:14] Speaker F: Make that note.
So that's what that information.
There's so much knowledge being passed around in these. This has been a really good one.
[00:25:24] Speaker B: It's really cool.
[00:25:25] Speaker F: With all the text here. I've enjoyed this. I'm looking forward to coming back next year for sure.
[00:25:31] Speaker A: Very cool.
[00:25:32] Speaker B: Well, this is my first time here.
I've been to the stockyards a million times. But you can tell it's a really tight knit group already, right? Even two years into it. Neat to see it expand and get even bigger. Hey, I want to ask you one thing. Somebody mentioned earlier about this industry needs some young people. We need some new talent coming in, things like that.
What would you say to folks that maybe don't know about this industry? Or what would you say it might entice them to come get involved.
[00:26:06] Speaker F: CP is something that not a lot of young people know about.
It's just corner things that nobody thinks about.
[00:26:18] Speaker B: But yet it impacts everything.
[00:26:20] Speaker F: But it impacts so much. I mean, if you looked at a map of all the pipelines in the.
[00:26:28] Speaker B: United States, I've seen that map. I've seen the one in Texas. It would boggle the line.
[00:26:35] Speaker F: What's really nice is the industry. It's so unique, but it's so fascinating because it's electrochemical, it's mechanical, it's collecting data, it's getting out in the field. So if you're a young guy and there are two types of people in this industry, there's inside dogs and outside dogs. And if you want to be an outside dog, come be a CP tech, because you're going to get a lot of outside.
[00:27:07] Speaker B: But we got a deal for you.
[00:27:08] Speaker F: Which is the best part, is getting out there and getting your hands on this stuff and collecting the data and figuring out how I can make it better or fix issues.
It's a fascinating industry. Really is.
[00:27:24] Speaker B: Well, there's plenty of seats available. We'd love for you to be standing right here telling your story, just like lon. Appreciate you, brother. Thanks for stopping by.
[00:27:33] Speaker F: You take care.
[00:27:34] Speaker B: All right. All right. Hey, we'll be back. See you.
So we were sitting here. I'm so used to having co hosts. Yeah, this is the first time I've.
[00:27:45] Speaker F: Been out on my own.
[00:27:46] Speaker B: So I was just sitting here, and Richard Rigg walked up with this giant man. Both of these guys are six foot plus. And I'm just looking up at him and he goes, this guy's a legend, so I want to know about the legend. For those that don't know, you do us a favor and introduce yourself.
[00:28:04] Speaker H: I don't know about a legend, but I am six foot eight, so I am tall.
[00:28:07] Speaker B: Legendary.
[00:28:08] Speaker H: John Reddick. I'm the vice president of engineering for far West Corrosion Control. I've been doing corrosion control for about 15 years now.
Amp Nate certified CP specialist. Somehow I fell into this.
[00:28:20] Speaker B: I think everybody does.
[00:28:21] Speaker H: So my degree is in electrical engineering and had a buddy that was working in corrosion said, hey, you want to.
[00:28:26] Speaker B: Travel a little bit, see the world.
[00:28:27] Speaker H: Make some money, and 15 years later.
[00:28:29] Speaker B: I'm still doing it.
[00:28:31] Speaker H: It really is.
[00:28:32] Speaker B: It's such a great industry. And you were saying how it's kind of a niche industry.
We are in one, too, in our world, in OQ, so I know that very well. But our industry is so big and so small at the same time. You come to a show like we're at today at the stockyards, the famous Fort Worth Stockyards.
[00:28:52] Speaker H: My first time here, too.
[00:28:53] Speaker B: I love. So for those that don't know, this is stockyard short course. So you said it's your first time here, you're exhibiting here, right?
[00:29:00] Speaker H: We are.
[00:29:00] Speaker B: So what made you pull the trigger to be an exhibitor here?
[00:29:03] Speaker H: Well, we exhibited last year, too. We've supported it since it started.
[00:29:06] Speaker B: This is the first year for me.
[00:29:07] Speaker H: Coming definitely just to support the community. It's a really good group here. Texas and Oklahoma, Louisiana in general, a very good community of corrosion professionals. And it's fun to come up here. It's fun to see end users. It's fun to see colleagues, competitors. Everybody out here has the same motive.
[00:29:24] Speaker B: Right.
[00:29:25] Speaker H: We're trying to do a good job. We're trying to protect infrastructure, and it really shines through at events like this.
[00:29:30] Speaker B: So part of what we do is a show that's kind of paint in these different areas in the industry, right? Yeah. So those that might not know far west and what they do specifically, can you tell me a little bit?
[00:29:41] Speaker I: Oh, absolutely.
[00:29:42] Speaker H: So far west is one of the largest material manufacturers for cathodic protection, corrosion control products. We also do installation across the US, so we install the system. I run our engineering group, so we design CP systems, ac mitigation systems. We really help troubleshoot a lot of dot compliance. We kind of come in when there's a real odd situation going on. We try and really help understand what's going on and give some answers to our clients that they.
[00:30:10] Speaker B: So I know we just got started today. We had a full day yesterday as well.
But if there was something you could say, just with your experience so far here, what would you say to somebody back home that hasn't made it out, maybe to this one or one of the other short courses? What would you say is the big, I mean, so far, the biggest reason for you?
[00:30:32] Speaker H: So for these type of events, and this is a really good short course for the end users and the guys out in the field doing the technical side. You want to engage with your network. This is a great place to come meet vendors, meet other people in the industry, and really talk about what you're.
[00:30:46] Speaker B: Doing day to day.
[00:30:46] Speaker H: That's so important for us to do from a contractor standpoint, from when you're trying to sell things right. You come here, and this is a really good event because it attracts a lot of those end users. There's a lot of people you want to be in front of. This is a good place to do it at. And it's in a very comfortable setting.
Everybody. It's like hanging out with a bunch of friends.
[00:31:05] Speaker F: Really is.
[00:31:06] Speaker B: Are you from this area? I'm up from Houston.
[00:31:08] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:31:09] Speaker B: You've been to the stockyard.
So much history here, and they put a lot of money into it. They've got kind of a lot of new stuff. If you haven't been out here in a while. It is a unique place. Well, listen, John, I appreciate you coming by and talking to us. Hey, we'll be back.
You ready? This is like the second or third know. I wasn't too sure if AI world went well for us, me and Jim.
[00:31:35] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:31:36] Speaker B: But I've met so many people today that were there and that I knew from there. And in walks in a cowboy hat. I brought mine, by the way. Yeah, I see. Do us a favor for those. You were brave. You came up, you wouldn't do it at AI world. But do us a favor for those that don't know you, let them know who you are and who you're with. All right.
[00:31:55] Speaker G: I'm James Carter. I'm with bass engineering.
I've been a corrosion technician for 25 years. Started my career at Ferra Corporation back in January of 1988.
[00:32:08] Speaker B: He was four years old.
Yeah. See this?
[00:32:12] Speaker G: A little bit of gray, but.
[00:32:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:32:15] Speaker G: So many years as a corrosion technician. And I moved back to Oklahoma with my wife and was fortunate enough to fall into the right time. And Mesa and bass engineering were looking.
[00:32:29] Speaker B: For a business development.
[00:32:32] Speaker G: It's kind of a God smiling.
[00:32:34] Speaker B: Are you out of Oklahoma? Yeah. Still? Yeah. Culvert, Oklahoma. I'm up there a lot.
I sit on the board for the Oklahoma Gas association.
[00:32:43] Speaker H: Oh, awesome.
[00:32:44] Speaker B: So I run 35 pretty hard throughout the year. Well, we're here today at the stockyard. Short course. And you said something to me a little bit earlier about how this industry needs an injection of youth. All right. You want to talk a little bit about that?
[00:33:01] Speaker G: Yeah. So what we're seeing is just trying to find good people to come into this industry and kind of take the reins. We have a lot of people retiring. Baby boomers are retiring. They're getting out of the game. So we need an influx of good, dedicated people to kind of take up. Because this is growing. It's getting bigger.
[00:33:27] Speaker B: It's not slowing down.
[00:33:28] Speaker G: No, it's not slowing down. We have the mega rule. I mean, there's always more and more regulation coming, as we've seen. So it's incumbent on us to get the word out to these young people, I think, and let them know it's a great industry. This is a great way to work.
[00:33:46] Speaker B: And live your life.
[00:33:47] Speaker G: And you meet really great people.
[00:33:49] Speaker B: Friends and family. That's like a big family when we're here. Yeah.
[00:33:53] Speaker G: I ran into two guys that started at Pharaoh with me 35 years ago. Last night at the mixer, I ran into Jimmy Shoecanes and David Bradford and shout out, we all started at the same place around the same time. And here we are, 35 years later, totally different jobs than we started at. But we've made great careers. All of us have had great careers in corrosion.
[00:34:17] Speaker B: Love it. Well, we're trying to inspire some of those folks that maybe have not been out to the stockyard course or some of the other short courses. Now, these are so important. What's one thing you would say to them that might inspire them to come out?
[00:34:32] Speaker G: It becomes like family. This is like a large industry, but it's really small in a way that just like running into David and Jimmy, I'm getting to know more.
[00:34:46] Speaker B: And running into me.
[00:34:47] Speaker G: Running into, you know, AI world. That was another great one. But this Fort Worth area is an awesome place to come to. Mean, if you appreciate a good steak.
[00:34:58] Speaker B: It'S a place to come to.
[00:34:59] Speaker G: No doubt.
But this stockyards is a fantastic place. Good history here. And this show in particular has a lot of people on both sides, contract and end users. So we got people with a lot of knowledge here.
[00:35:16] Speaker B: Yeah, I love it. I've heard. End user. End user. End user. So cool. Well, hey, appreciate you stopping by, being brave, staying with us. We'll be back.
[00:35:26] Speaker A: Kale, I wore your email out this past week, and I apologize for it. I didn't know what to do. No one was helping. I'm kidding.
But we have a lot of questions when we bring the show out. I like to be prepared.
I'm one of those weird people, so I appreciate it. And I appreciate the invite coming out.
I know there's a lot of events out there. I love events that are 45 minutes away from me. That was my selling point number one.
But we're here today. This is being the main day here at the stockyard short course. And I really wanted to talk to you before we get started. Do me a favor. Introduce yourself, who you're with for the folks back home.
[00:36:13] Speaker I: My name is Colleen Miller, and I am with CeM Solutions.
[00:36:16] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:36:17] Speaker I: And we started in 2020 as an event management company, and now we are both event management and marketing.
[00:36:27] Speaker A: Let me see if I understand what you're saying. This isn't your only event.
[00:36:31] Speaker I: It's not.
[00:36:32] Speaker A: And is this your only short course? So there's several short courses, yes.
[00:36:38] Speaker I: My only one in Texas. So that's pretty special.
[00:36:42] Speaker A: We'll have to change that.
So what are some of the other short horses?
[00:36:47] Speaker I: So underground short horse in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which this will be at 63rd year. So a long tradition there.
[00:36:55] Speaker A: Who's your friend? Love it.
[00:36:58] Speaker I: And a brand new shore course that we're just launching is called the Tiny Wood Shore Course.
[00:37:02] Speaker A: And now in Tennessee.
[00:37:05] Speaker I: No, April in Bozier, Louisiana. And so we're going to start off with the half day, and we're targeting those technicians that are in Louisiana, obviously, Arkansas, Mississippi and East Texas. So as of now, they don't have a short course to go to. So we're hoping to provide that.
[00:37:20] Speaker A: That's great, because that will overlap a bit with this one. So you get kind of coverage where you be more predominantly in.
That's, that's some of what I've already seen here is a lot of folks sliding. Oklahoma, Houston, Louisiana edge. Right. Very cool. So you told me that you could tell me a little bit of the history of this event, and I know.
[00:37:47] Speaker I: This one's second year.
[00:37:49] Speaker A: Second year. So tell it. We love origin stories on this show, so do us a favor, kind of bring us in on how this one started.
[00:37:57] Speaker I: So the North Texas section had the idea to do something different. Right. They always do their clay shoot as their way of making revenue for scholarships. They wanted to do something different, and so they had the idea to create a technical program, basically. They weren't going to necessarily call it a short course at the time. And Richard Ray from Mesa Products called me and said, I think we're going to put on a conference, if you will. Would you come up and talk to us about it? I said, sure.
[00:38:29] Speaker A: That's how he got me, too.
[00:38:31] Speaker I: He meant that way. Yes. So I flew up here and attended one of their section meetings and spoke about what it would take to put on a conference. All the logistics behind it, and we just kind of started it from there. I planted the seeds and Andrew called me and he said, I think we want to take a chance and do this. And I said, well, let's approach it like it's a small business. Right? You don't want to use any of your amp dollars because it's completely step.
So we want to get a website open. We want to open some sponsorships and get some revenue flowing in. And then when we do that, we'll secure a location and we kind of build it like that, slow and steady. And so this is our second year. We've had over 90 technicians this year, which is a big, significant race from last year. And we also have about the same amount of exhibitors and sponsors, so we're holding steady with that, which I'm proud of. The main difference between last year and this year, and I think the main difference from this short course above all the other short courses, is that Andrew and the team worked very hard to make sure that this year's program was compiled of just our operator speakers.
[00:39:40] Speaker B: Right.
[00:39:40] Speaker I: And I've had several people come up to me and say the only reason they have received approval to come is because the program was owner operators, and that was coming from owner operators telling me that.
[00:39:50] Speaker A: So I can validate that in a short time I've been here. Number one, I've talked to several people on the show and off the show that have said that end user is what attracted them.
That is special because I go to a lot of these shows. I'm a vendor myself. I understand there's a place for that, too. We have a great exhibit hall going on right behind us, and I would argue this place has been buzzing the entire day, even with sessions going on.
[00:40:21] Speaker B: So it kind of provides both.
[00:40:23] Speaker A: But that is a bold move on stage to ensure that you've got the right people up there.
[00:40:29] Speaker I: Right.
[00:40:29] Speaker A: Very cool.
[00:40:30] Speaker I: We also wanted to make sure that the vendors get their time, too. So if you notice, between each presentation is about 15, 20 minutes for everybody to come back into the hall. And so we kind of made sure that the exhibitors weren't forgotten about because we all know that exhibitors and sponsors paid for the show, and so we wanted to do our due diligence with that as well, to make sure there's an even amount of classroom and exhibit time.
[00:40:52] Speaker A: Very cool. So one kind of commitment we've made as a show, and we're hoping our industry takes on themselves, is we call it the echoes that we make from shows like this. Right.
Not everyone gets to come out. That's the truth. Whether it's budget, whether it's time. There's reasons.
Those of us that are able to do that, it's our obligation to turn around and deliver that back and make those echoes within our industry. What are some of those echoes here that go on all through here?
[00:41:29] Speaker I: Yeah. So I think, again, because the show is in its second year, it's very much right now like a family, which is nice. So if you notice, last night at the opening party, everyone came. Right. And not only did they come, they came and they stayed for about three or 4 hours. Right.
And then we all floated to different places after that. And what's great about that to me is you can go to these really large conferences, but do you get the opportunity to network like that? Right? So even if you're in this exhibit hall all day long, you probably more than likely are going to run into an owner operator. Either from last night's exchange or in the many occurrences that they're running in here to get food and beverages and things like that. I also think that what makes short courses in general incredibly special is that they're created by technicians for technicians. So the technician is never ever forgotten. I worked eleven years at Mace.
To me, my corrosion family is what launched CE. And so being able to do these short courses where we keep the technician at the forefront of every single decision we make is just, to me, something that no one else is doing right now. And I just hold it very special to me. And the committee does as well.
[00:42:53] Speaker A: We have tissues over there, but you can feel the passion.
[00:42:59] Speaker B: That's amazing. Well, it's a unique venue.
[00:43:01] Speaker A: The stockyards is cool. I've heard lots of great feedback on that. You said great event last night. There's so much history around. I joked with someone, I go, it's funny. We're having a corrosion event here. As we look around, as we stand on our cobblestone floor. No, it's a really neat space.
So much history here. So much fun up and down the streets. A good mixture of work and fun is awesome. Right?
So if you could say one thing, even though we said 20 so far, you could pick one thing to really charge the audience with why you should be at the stockyard short course. What would you say?
[00:43:44] Speaker I: So Andrew in the committee and I, we start meeting in July to plan this year, right? And we go above, we discuss.
[00:43:53] Speaker A: And Andrew's the chair, obviously explored. She was on earlier.
[00:43:59] Speaker I: We meet once a week and we talk about everything from how are we going to make this year different from last year? How are we going to bring in technicians that weren't able to come last year? We really go above and beyond to try to make sure that this event, number one, has the technician at the heart of it, but number two, that the overall experience is taken into account. And so I think when you have a group of gentlemen that have full time jobs, families, kids, the whole nine yards, but they're still taking time out of their busy lives to meet and host a conference like this, a lot of them, especially if they're on the owner operator side that are on our committee, they make personal phone calls to get their contractors through the door to sponsor.
It's very important to all of us and we don't take it lightly. This is our second year and our goal is within five to six years that this show has 1000 technicians. That's our goal.
[00:44:58] Speaker A: Well, I could see it happening.
I for 01:00 a.m. So happy to be a part of the family, I guess, now and what you all built here, I hope everybody.
[00:45:10] Speaker B: Will come out and check it out.
[00:45:11] Speaker A: Thank you so much for joining us. Hey, you'll be back.
[00:45:18] Speaker B: So I'm really loud in these headphones, but I do have them back on, which obviously means that we're wrapping up here. And so what a great event to have been able to slide down and take part in. I've never been to a short course. I've heard about them. We have a lot of friends in the industry. We've done promotions for them all across Purdue. Short course. I think there's a few others that we've evangelized for. But how neat to be here. See firsthand just how valuable these places are to keeping people educated, knowledge sharing, as Jimmy says. All the time I thought I was going to come here today and not know anyone, which is weird, especially if you know us. We're out and about a lot. And funny enough, I knew a lot of people. This is a big small industry, or a small big industry, however you want to say it. And today was a great example of it. I saw people that I've seen two or three times over the past year, several of them. So I think that's a testament of what we're building here and what we have built. We challenged a lot of people today about how are we going to help cheer up the gap in the workforce that's coming. CP is no different.
It needs a lot of eyes on it too, the next generation to join us. We talked about that so many figureheads already, not just in this event, but in the space in general, joined us today and kind of lobbed their suggestions at us, and I love that.
I think it says something about coming on a podcast like this and trying to reach that industry. We can stay in our box and we can talk in that box and do everything we can within that box, but we're not going to reach outside that box. So coming on shows like this, coming on other shows, getting out there and trying to spread that message is vital. And the people here saw that opportunity, and I like that.
If you haven't been a part of the sockyard short course, I would recommend this one myself.
It is a growing event. DFW is a hub. It's very reachable within reasons. So if you're in Louisiana, Oklahoma, we saw people from Texas is a big state, right? So you can get here faster from Oklahoma than you can from Houston, Austin and some of the other areas.
Lots of end user conversations. I heard how this event is focused on the end user, where a lot of other events maybe are focused on giving vendors time. So a lot of great feedback there. The people, the people, we hear that in our industry every single day, and this segment is no different. So they are proud. Wear my cowboy hat and jest, but a lot of comments on it, but we saw a lot of cowboy hats today. We took a great picture. It looks like this event has really turned out, which is a testament to the people as well. Kale, Richard, everyone that got me involved, I can't thank you enough. I miss my co host. I won't lie, it's better together. But at the same time, this allowed us to stretch our legs and be at two places at once, which we weren't able to do last year very often. And we started off the year at two locations in one week. So I look forward to the season. I'm not going to spoil anything, but we have a lot of good things on the agenda. We plan to get out in the field more. We hope to be sitting on a tailgate or a tailboard next to you as well. Reach out to us. We're always thinking, we're always being creative. Let us know how we can help.
We'll see you next time.
