We know that Estevan's business community and Chamber of Commerce executive and administration will be conducting their own debriefing and dissecting of last week's Energy Expo so there is no major need for a lot of sideline critiques.
What we can offer, however, are some observational points, which we are certain, will also be points of consideration for those who were engaged in the planning, marketing and deployment of the Expo events.
The first observation was, of course, attendance.
It was low and perhaps that was understandable for good reason.
Those who were in on the planning and marketing strategy sessions will know who they were targeting for their audience and participants. Whomever it was, some of them failed to show up.
Was the target audience the general public?
Was the target audience the blue, gray and white collars of Saskatchewan industries?
Were they looking for international visitors?
This was not a typical business showcase, so identifying the target delegates could be, at the best of times, difficult to ascertain.
Who out there was interested in learning more about coal and clean-coal electrical generation? We know there are plenty of people all around the world who are keenly interested, but they weren't in Estevan last week, or at least we didn't spot them or get to speak with them.
Coal mining and its advances in recent years, especially under new international ownership, should have sparked some interest.
Wind, solar, biomass and other environmental power advocates were in short supply.
The avant garde geothermal project taking shape in our backyard is grabbing attention from the investment community, but were the money changers and chasers in Estevan?
Some of the above were here, for certain, and that's why we are issuing our observation in a positive vein since we think it would be a mistake to dub the Energy Expo a failure.
It wasn't.
It was short in numbers, perhaps not in interest.
The next one will be built on knowledge gained from this first foray into touting the entire energy picture. This was not intended to be just another oilpatch show and shine event. This, we understand, was designed to bring the captains of various industries together to display some synergy and do a lot of networking, and for the most part, this is done in quiet corners with casual visitations and demonstrations. We expect, on that level, the Energy Expo in Estevan performed quite well.
You don't need thousands of visitors milling around with balloons and plastic bags filled with toys to make your event a success.
If the event brought two, three or four concrete introductions and potential partners together, then it was a success.
If the educational factors were advanced, then it was a success.
If the information that was emitted from the keynote presentations and work sessions proved to be essential and therefore valuable for visiting delegates, then Energy Expo has been a success.
Now having said our piece, we will let the planners, financial statements and ground floor evaluators mark the actual report card for this inaugural event.
