The days are still long and temperatures are still high, but that dreaded day for so many has finally arrived: back to school. Thinking of all the kids heading to school, whether it’s the first day of kindergarten or the first of their senior year in high school, is nostalgic. As much as I’d prefer to spend summers by the pool instead of going back to a classroom, I loved back-to-school shopping—freshly sharpened pencils, stacks of colorful folders and binders, multi-subject, spiral-bound notebooks. I would have everything ready weeks before school started. I was ready to learn. That has never changed.

With school days now behind us, it’s easy to forget the importance of learning. Just because you’re not in a classroom doesn’t mean you stop learning. There are opportunities all around.

In a few weeks many of us in the glass industry will be entering a fairly busy time of year, as there will be multiple trade shows and industry conferences to attend. I hope to see many of you at some of these in the coming months.

One of my favorite events is the bi-annual glasstec, which will take place October 21-24 in Dusseldorf, Germany. If you’ve never attended, it’s huge–really HUGE. While heavily focused on glass fabricating and processing equipment and machinery, it also includes a special exhibition called glass technology live that explores emerging products– usually including highlights from the various fields of application and always with a focus on architecture. It’s exciting to see what some companies are working on now and even more so when these products enter the mainstream market.

The bi-annual glasstec includes a focus on new innovations in architectural glass, as well as machinery and equipment.

glasstec will also include a symposium that will cover cutting-edge topics concerning the future of the glass industry. The symposium program will cover a different theme each day. There will also be a special program, the “Professional Center Glass + Façade.” This will cover everything related to energy-efficient building shells, including exhibitor presentations, innovative mock-ups, as well as information from institutes and associations.

There is definitely a lot to learn from attending such an event. If you’ve never attended I do believe it’s worth a visit. You can learn more about it on the event website.

If you’re looking for education a little closer to home, you’ll be excited to know that plans are in the works for Architects’ Forum 2015, which will take place April 23 in Hauppauge (Long Island), N.Y. We had an incredible staging in 2013 with more than 100 architects registering for this free event. Stay tuned to this website for more information about the Forum as it’s made available.

While we’re on the subject of learning, I came across this and thought it was interesting and wanted to share. It’s amazing how different things are today.

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