Guest Speaker: John Ratzenberger, membership pricing to readers of the MassMEP Newsltter
Yes, everybody knows his name. But not everyone knows that actor John Ratzenberger, who starred in the iconic television comedy "Cheers" and 11 Pixar films, is also a passionate advocate for the future of American manufacturing and the need to teach young people to work with their hands.
The Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership is pleased to offer clients preferred pricing to hear John Ratzenberger deliver the keynote address at the 2010 Annual Meeting of Associated Industries of Massachusetts on May 14 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the Westin hotel in Waltham. Simply register for the event and use the promotional code MEP to obtain member pricing for the entire AIM Annual Meeting.
Mr. Ratzenberger will speak on the topic “Give Children Tools, Watch Them Build America.” He is expected to discusses the foundation he started to help young people learn the rewards of fixing things themselves, building something useful and inventing products that create economic opportunity.
"One of the biggest challenges for American manufacturers, apart from foreign competition, is how to stay in business when so few young Americans are capable of, or interested in, working with their hands. If Americans are to remain a strong force in the industrial and technological world, then we must reintroduce our young people to the joys of tinkering," says Mr. Ratzenberger, a journeyman carpenter who featured scores of manufacturing enterprises for his "John Ratzenberger’s Made in America" series on USA network in 2004-2005.