Day at a Chicago Expo

Academia at UIC was a novel experience for me. It failed my head why homework was given so much of preference. Ultimately I did realize the gravity of the allotted job and was dawned with a happy realization that students around took it seriously! However I did feel the urgency to expand my sphere of intelligence. I had already joined the Formula Student team and I remember the Automation Expo I had attended back in Mumbai. Out of all the expos, this one was my favorite. The product base was so vast, we could virtually make the whole car at the expo. No one was sponsoring is another heart-rending story all-together!

So I read about a similar expo happening at McCormick Place. That was downtown, I was dying to do downtown for eons! I registered for the event via FSAE. However I was smart enough to put my company as University of Illinois at Chicago. I thought it would help for networking if someone had to look me up!

So after a regular day at class, I was off to McCormick Place. I was already conscious of what I was wearing. A T-Shirt, jeans and a pair of converse didnt seem very conducive for the event. However I took a 2nd opinion to make myself feel at peace and the Team Captain said you need to look like a student! Well I wasnt looking like a beggar, so its cool!

McCormick Place was bigger than what I expected. It looked so posh with the over the road building transfer section, I was instantly drooling! It was an indoor expo. My sister being in Exhibition Display and Design, I had 1% of her gray matter and experience implanted in me too and I wondered, how the hell did they get the machines in! Then the light shone bright, who cares, just go watch! I knew this was going to be another virtually make the car in an instant, what I didnt know was it was bigger than what I imagined it to be!

So I saved myself a $55 entrance fee since I was registered online and they gave me my ID Card. It had a lot of stuff written on it, along with my University. Now in the Indian system, I understood designation as Mr. or Miss or Mrs. or something. It also came before my name when I was filling the form. And then I realized I was supposed to write Mechanical Engineering! Hmph, STRIKE 1! Anyway, it was now time to step into the expo! I was trying very hard to forget my mistake! There was a huge bag rack with bags on it. I picked one thinking I'll collect brochures from everywhere!

So let's face it, it was bigger than the Indian expo for sure. I could already see that. I started walking in the first aisle. The stalls were not as grand as the one in the Indian expo. They seemed more focus on the product and its applications rather than the layout of the stall. Obviously the big wigs had bigger space, but I guess my sister will be bankrupt if she opens a company subsidiary here. So everyone greeted very nicely asking how I was, how my day was and stuff. They didnt differentiate me as a student and tried to get rid of me. Someone almost thought I represented the University of Illinois at Chicago! Hmph! In Converse?

I soon realized the MR. on my card was pretty misleading for people. So I cancelled it and wrote Mechanical Engineering Student. Now I felt much better about everything! So people were also looking for students. The expo was divided so beautifully that all the manufacturers were together, all surgical equipment guys were together, the precision movement companies were paired together. In India you would have had the bearing guys scattered all over the place! There were other superb innovations that blew my mind away. Rapid prototyped metal, wow! How the hell did they do that? Or 3-D Scanning, the opposite of Rapid Prototyping! I was amazed out of my head!

Another thing was when I was at the 3M exhibit. We were talking and he wanted my contact details. In this position I would usually pull out my Orion Racing India visiting cards! But I was no longer a part of ORI. So when I thought of writing it down, this guy came with a barcode scanner, scanned the barcode on my badge and voila! He now knew where I stayed. I was hoping he'd pass it on to his colleague and she would make good use of it! Even an e-mail would be convincing! :P

Ultimately the expo ended at at 4. People started leaving. I left too with memories of my first expo which had already left me spellbound! I hope to be back soon! :)