Rituals
by Lou Zacharilla
New York City, April 1, 2019--In much of the world spring is a season with a nice big payload of rituals, customs and a whiff of hope. Easter, Passover and Ramadan, on the religious side, occur before summer’s sun blares at us. Among my favorite rituals is “Hanami,” the ancient Japanese tradition of viewing cherry blossoms (sakura). I go to Brooklyn’s Botanical Gardens for this (not Japan.) But the sakura (cherry blossoms) are really nice in a part of New York not necessarily linked to delicacy.
Most important for me is the start of the baseball season. Baseball means that that cold winds are behind me, and it will not be long before the warm air returns to put some tail behind the long home run.
And of course there is the ritual of NAB in Las Vegas, where you probably are reading this. Vegas is not known for its sakura but rather for its ritual of bringing together from a key industry people served daily by space and satellite.
Like the multitude of shows in different verticals NAB proves that satellites do have a role -everywhere. Even at home plate and the pitcher’s mound during baseball stadium. NASA tweeted an amazing series of images over baseball stadiums in April which made the hearts in baseball fans from Japan to Pennsylvania jump with envy at not being at all of these Opening Day games. https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1111290477926645761
But thanks to satellites we were able to watch the highlights on our devices, the MLB Channel and our broadcast news outlets no matter where we were.
There will be some additional, unexpected rituals this Spring. These include the Satellite Show in Washington, DC, which this year takes place in May. SSPI will be inducting new members into its Hall of Fame during the show. Our own “Babe Ruths” will be given their honor at the Hall of Fame Celebration, which takes place in the Newseum https://www.sspi.org/cpages/hall-of-fame-celebration on 7 May.
It will be preceded by another established rite of the season, the Chairman’s Reception. The C-suite event is the power networking moment of Spring for the industry. If your CEO or Managing Director or startup’s Founder has not received their invitation yet, let us know.
Rituals define every aspect of our lives. In our industry they bring out the best as we trudge from booth to booth, event to event, and see friends, feel the buzz and learn.
Rituals also bring out the best in us, especially in coarser times.
“Lock him up!”
One of the satellites transmitting from Washington, DC during the Nationals baseball game picked up the sounds of fans chanting, “Lock him up! Lock him up!” We cringed until we realized that the fans were not chanting this familar unfortunate, un-American cadence in response to a political item. Rather, it was their embrace for Anthony Rendon, a star player on the team who is in a contract negotiation with the team’s management. Fans think their third baseman is worth the money he is asking for and want to “lock” Mr. Rendon into an agreement.
The amount would total US$ 23.4 million in annual salary. Spring is hope. Good luck with your deals at NAB.
See you there and hopefully at the SSPI Hall of Fame Ceremony in May!
For more information about SSPI go to: www.sspi.org and www.bettersatelliteworld.com. To listen to Lou’s recent podcast with venture capitalist and RRE Venture’s Will Porteous got to: https://www.sspi.org/cpages/podcast. Follow SSPI on Twitter at: @SSPI & @LouICF
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Lou Zacharilla is the Director of Innovation and Development of the Space and Satellite Professionals International (SSPI). He can be reached at: LZacharilla@sspi.org
