Razed to the ground by a disastrous fire in the late 19th Century, Chicago rose like a Phoenix to become not just the meeting place of America's growing industrial heart and the rolling plains to the west, but a substantial industrial entity in its own right.

Notorious in the wild days of the Roaring '20s of Prohibition, speak-easies, Al Capone and Bugs Moran, Chicago has matured into one of the United States' major cities, recognised internationally as a centre of commerce and manufacturing, art and music.

Located on the shores of Lake Michigan in the heart of the Midwest, Chicago is home to the blues, several sports teams, an internationally acclaimed symphony orchestra and spectacular live theatre.

The delegates and exhibition visitors to PM2TEC 2004 will be among 13 million or so business travellers to the city every year. And naturally enough, with the day's business over, visitors want to see the sights and experience the shopping, dining and cultural melange that makes this place special.

The show itself will be staged at the Sheraton Chicago. Located at the heart of Cityfront Center, the Hotel is situated on the Chicago River just east of Michigan Avenue - the Magnificent Mile - near Wacker Drive. The hotel is a few blocks from the North Pier Complex with restaurants and shopping, and just a short walk from Navy Pier, which features firework displays on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The pier is, in fact, Illinois' most popular attraction featuring a blend of family-oriented attractions from the thrilling Wave Swinger in Pier Park to the 150-foot Ferris wheel.

The Sheraton Chicago, which last hosted this conference in 1997, is regarded by many as one of the finest business hotels in the US. All 1200 rooms have views of either the city or the lake and the Sheraton boasts a new dining addition in the shape of a Shula's Steakhouse. These establishments are famous for the quality and quantity of their main product line - good steak. Indeed, so seriously do they take customer service that, if you can finish a 3lb sirloin - yes, that's right, a small family joint - your name is inscribed on a wall plaque in the restaurant.

Even the hungriest of us might find that a dubious honour, but visitors to Chicago certainly never have to worry about finding a place to eat. The city features thousands of restaurants that offer culinary favourites to suit every taste. Soul food, Italian, Chinese, French, Japanese, Asian or Spanish, Chicago offers a United Nations of eateries. Ethnic neighbourhoods such as Chinatown, Greektown, West Rogers Park and Pilsen are among those offering tempting tastes from around the world.

Fast food aficionados would do well to remember that Chicago was the birthplace of the deep-pan pizza, described tongue-in-cheek in one guide book as "one of Chicago's most important contributions to 20th Century culture."

Although the conference proper does not start until the morning of Monday 14 June, and the exhibition does not open its doors until after lunch, the work begins the evening before with networking at the welcoming reception.

The opening general session kicks off with a joint welcome from the Metal Powder Industries Federation's President David Schaeffer and Executive Director/CEO James Trombino. The period will also include public recognition of the work done by the technical programme committee co-chairmen, Ford Motor's Russell Chernenkoff and Hoeganaes Corporation's Brian James in pulling together the complex mix of technical sessions, special interest programmes and a symposium on hard materials. Not least of their achievements was marshalling and guiding the international, indeed intercontinental, committee which numbered rather more than 100 members!

With the glad-handing done, a panel of senior figures from customer companies will share their thoughts on the current state of their business vis-à-vis the PM industry and offer their views on what the future may hold from both a technical and commercial perspective. Panel members will include managers from Delphi Corporation and John Deere.

The rest of the morning sees the start of a diverse bunch of conference sessions on sinter hardening, design for MIM, testing and evaluation and die filling. The first part of the hard materials symposium goes ahead in parallel with this and the first two parts of the special interest programmes dealing with modelling and component performance prediction, and applications and trends in the tribology of PM components. This pattern of parallel sessions is a feature of the conference and a delegate would be attempting the impossible to be present at all of them. It pays, therefore, to choose carefully.

Lunch on the first day will be an more or less an extension of the Welcome session, where participants will learn the identity of the recipient of the prestigious Powder Metallurgy Pioneer Award, awarded every four years to an individual who has been instrumental in the pioneering development and advancement of the industry and technology.

Other presentations will include Fellowships of the American Powder Metal Institute to Diran Apelian and Donald Whychell Sr, and the announcement of winners in the PM Metallography Competition, the award for the Outstanding Technical Paper 2003, and the CMPT/Axel Madsen Scholarship Award.

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