More than 1,300 attendees filled the exhibit hall and conference sessions with energy and enthusiasm at the recent RAPID 2009 and 3D IMAGING conferences conducted by Dearborn, MI-based Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME.org), according to Todd Grimm, chair of SME's Rapid Technologies and Additive Manufacturing Technical Community. The conferences were held in Schaumburg, IL.

“Even in the midst of a depressed economy you could feel the buzz in the air fueled by passion and innovation,” says Grimm. “You could sense that attendees were there to make changes to the way they do business, which can help them come out of this recession strong.”

Described by one attendee as one of the best keynote speakers in recent time, Mike North, former host of Discovery Channel's “Prototype This” set the tone for the event with his vibrant and dynamic “Get ‘Er Done” presentation.

Sharing their wisdom, vision and inspiration were four of the founders of rapid prototyping and 3D imaging technologies -- Marc Soucy, InnovMetric Software; Ping Fu, PhD, GEOMagic; Chuck Hull, 3D Systems Corporation; and Carl Deckard, PhD, retired.

New conference tracks featured rapid implant manufacturing (coordinated with Materialise), metal casting (with the support of the American Foundry Society) and architecture, which brought in attendees with different views and fresh ideas beyond the typical design and manufacturing engineering discussions.