NMEA ANNOUNCES SCHEDULE FOR CONFERENCE AND EXPO

Full schedule offers technical, business, and manufacturer sessions, plus installer courses

The National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) and the Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) will hold a combined 2018 Conference and Expo, the largest industry trade event focusing strictly on marine electronics, Sept. 25–28. The venue is the PGA Resort in Palm Beach Gardens just north of Fort Lauderdale.

By combining the events, attendees will have an opportunity to participate in a product expo along with technical and educational sessions offered by both organizations. Key decision makers from major marine electronics companies and government will be in attendance.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, 9/25 and 9/26, the education and training sessions will end before the exposition hall opens, allowing all attendees, including exhibitors, to attend both the classroom sessions in the morning and the marine electronics expo in the afternoon/evening. The sessions are offered on separate technical and business tracks, each repeated twice during the event. Pre-registration is not required. 

Installer and Business Sessions
NMEA OneNet® Ethernet Standard––Version 1.0 of the NMEA OneNet Ethernet Standard will be released in 2018. An overview discussion will include the physical layer, device discovery, process, security module, and gateways.

Marine Satellite TV Solutions––Learn how to deploy today’s cutting edge technologies to deliver your customer a world-class satellite TV experience.
Modernizing AIS––Discussion will focus on new ways that AIS is being used to enhance safety, navigation, and to protect the environment.

Business Sense LIVE––Take home ideas for improving your business. This moderated session is led by the author of the Business Sense column in the Marine Electronics Journal. Audience participation is encouraged.

Modernizing AIS––Discussion will focus on new ways that AIS is being used to enhance safety, navigation, and to protect the environment.

Transducer Installations––Learn from the experts about transducer installation and placement which is critical to the performance of your customer’s fish finder, side scan, and speed log.

Sell Safety with Your Marine Electronics––A very important, yet frequently overlooked sale is including safety products in the electronics package. This session will discuss how to integrate devices such as EPIRBS, SARTS, and MOB devices in the package.

QuickBooks®––Learn from the experts how using QuickBooks allows you to better manage costs, track jobs, run payroll, and run reports to streamline your operation.

Hands-on Connectors––Learn best practices on how to install two popular connectors used on nearly all installations, NMEA 2000® connectors onto NMEA 2000 data cables and PL259  connectors onto coax cables.

ABYC Standards Update––ABYC staff will present updates to their large range of standards used in the marine industry, especially those directly related to marine electronics as vessels become more and more integrated.

Marketing with Social Media––Learn how to target, engage, nurture, and convert boating consumers by using the best social media marketing practices.

Manufacturing Training
The NMEA’s leading manufacturer members will offer either 1 hour and 15 minute training sessions on Thursday 9/27 of the event, or half-day sessions on Friday 9/28. Here is the lineup of companies as of June 12 2018.

Manufacturer Sessions on Thursday, September 27 (1 hour, 15 minutes)
Digital Yacht – 8:00AM
GOST- 8:00AM
Vesper – 8:00AM
Nobeltec – 9:30AM
Siren Marine – 9:30AM
Wave Wi-Fi – 9:30AM
Intellian – 11:00AM
Maretron – 11:00AM
Shakespeare – 11:00AM
Cojali – 1:30PM
Glomex – 1:30PM
Lumishore – 1:30PM
SI-TEX – 1:30PM 
Actisense – 3:00PM
KVH – 3:00PM

Manufacturer Training Sessions on Friday, September 28 (4 hours)
CZone/Power Products – 8:00AM
FLIR/Raymarine – 8:00AM
Furuno – 8:00AM
Airmar – 1:00PM
Garmin – 1:00PM
Simrad/Lowrance/B&G – 1:00PM

NMEA Installer Training
Full-day training courses will be available at the event for marine electronics installers, including NMEA basic/advanced Marine Electronics Installer (MEI) and basic/advanced NMEA 2000 Network Installer. Additionally, NMEA and the American Boat & Yacht Council (ABYC) will offer a four-day NMEA/ABYC combined electrical and electronics training course. Additional fees apply for these sessions. To register, visit www.expo.nmea.org.

To see the complete, detailed schedule, or to register for the conference & expo, visit www.expo.nmea.org or call (410) 975-9425.

By Ocean Navigator