DSS096: What to Expect at the Upcoming International Powder Show with Yale Deskins

In this episode of the DustSafetyScience Podcast, Yale Deskins, conference producer with Informa Markets, talks about what to expect at the upcoming International Powder Show. Yale is responsible for developing the agenda, which means that he reaches out to the community, recruits subject matter experts, designs the schedule, and puts everything together into a compelling conference package.

Today, Yale discusses the goals of the Powder Show, shares details about the upcoming Powder Show Digital Flow, and answers the following questions:

What is the goal of this year’s Powder Show?
What is the Powder Show Digital Flow?
What are the big trends in bulk solids handling industries?

What is the goal of this year’s Powder Show?

The Powder Show is a one-stop shop for equipment, expertise and technical training for anyone in the powder and bulk solids handling industry. It is the only event of this type in the Western hemisphere that focuses specifically on this sector. Attendees include:

Process engineers
Facility managers
Executives
Academics

The show was originally supposed to be held in April 2020, but had to be postponed until April 2021 due to COVID-19.

What is the Powder Show Digital Flow?

The Powder Show Digital Flow will take place on October 1, 2020. This one-day event, which is free of charge, will feature the following agenda:

Keynote session titled Essential Business of the Powder And Bulk Solids Sector In the Pandemic. It reviews how the industry has been impacted by the pandemic and what the future appears to hold. The speakers will also talk about best practices and what lessons have been learned in the immediate past.
A virtual tour of the latest research related to biomass handling and processing.
A DHA virtual walkthrough, which will be moderated by Dr. Chris Cloney. Attendees will walk through a 3D model of a fictional cake mix facility and analyze the dust hazards. The model, which was created by Diane Cave from Element 6 Solutions, will help show participants how to recognize hazards and work successfully with DHA consultants. A panel of other experts will then provide assessment and analysis of the hazards involved.
A panel on computational modelling and simulation for powder and bulk solids. It will be about modelling the individual particles as they behave inside a given vessel or process.
An Innovation Hour consisting of two sponsored sessions.
Tech talks where sponsors share tips and information about bulk powder handling processes.

What are the big trends in bulk solids handling industries?

Yale said that the dust hazard analysis requirement is a major trend that drove a lot of the content creation for the live show.

“It’s not so much about the importance of meeting the deadline, it’s really about understanding what the DHA is, how it exists in the safety ecosystem of decisions that you have to make and how you think about it so it doesn’t feel like another bolted-on expense,” he explained.

Biomass is another hot topic due to the popularity of plant-based foods and meat replacements as well as the increased number of reformulations.

“It’s not like you can go down the cereal aisle and see just one kind of Cheerios,” Yale said. “Now there’s honey nut Cheerios, there’s gluten-free Cheerios, there’s pine nut-free Cheerios. There are all these different formulations that need to take place, which by the way, are not easy changes to make when it comes to your process.”

Conclusion

The Powder Show Digital Flow on October 1, 2020 will be followed by a larger-scale digital event in January 2021. In early April, there will be a type of live digital preview for the International Powder Show, which will be held from April 27-29 in Rosemont, Illinois.

Yale said that the amount of support the industry has shown is phenomenal.

“I’m really glad that this is a group of people who are used to solving really, really difficult problems because I don’t think I would have the same support necessarily in another industry. This is a tight community, and I’m glad to be part of it.”

If you would like to discuss further, leave your thoughts in the comments section below. You can also reach Yale Deskins directly:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaledeskins/

If you have questions about the contents of this or any other podcast episode, you can go to our ‘Questions from the Community’ page and submit a text message or video recording. We will then bring someone on to answer these questions in a future episode.