Forced by Hurricane Irma to Postpone the 2017 SPE Thermoforming Conference®, the Division Will Not Reschedule; It Has Outlined Refund Options for Attendees and Exhibitors

Shortly after cancelling the 2017 Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Thermoforming Conference® in response to the threat posed by Hurricane Irma, the Thermoforming Division has announced that it will not reschedule the conference and has outlined refund options for registered attendees and exhibitors.

The 2017 Conference had been scheduled to begin on September 11 in Orlando, Florida, one day after the hurricane was expected to make landfall in Florida. In announcing the decision not to reschedule the event, the Thermoforming Division noted that next year’s SPE Thermoforming Conference will take place in Fort Worth, Texas, on September 24-26, 2018.

“Thermoforming Division officers quickly realized the impossibility of securing a new 2017 date and venue at the last minute,” said Division chair Bret Joslyn. “We decided to announce the permanent cancellation of this year’s conference as soon as possible so as not to prolong the uncertainty facing our registered attendees and exhibitors, who would be coming from locations across the Americas and overseas.”

Registrants are requested not to contact SPE or the Thermoforming Division about refund options. They will instead be contacted by SPE. Options for registered attendees are:

1)      Request a registration fee refund.  Those who joined or renewed their SPE membership as part of their conference registration will be enrolled for one year at no charge.  Refunds will be made to the original form of payment.

2)      Credit the 2017 registration fee to the 2018 SPE Thermoforming Conference. 

3)      Donate the registration fee to Hurricane Irma Relief.  The Division will contribute those funds to the American Red Cross.

Sponsors or exhibitors have similar options—request a refund, apply their fee to participation in next year’s conference, or donate the fee to hurricane relief.

More information is available at http://thermoformingdivision.com.