IET Annual Dinner 2012

Hosted at London’s Park Lane Grosvenor House Hotel, in the amazing Great Room on 16 February, the Annual Dinner featured speeches, from IET president, Dr Mike Short, and special guest and former Paralympian multi-gold medallist, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson of Eaglescliffe, focusing on the London 2012 Games and the vital role that engineering and technology play in making them happen.
Dr Mike Short gave special mention to the late Sir Isaac Shoenberg, a 1954 Faraday Medallist, whose television engineering expertise enabled the 1948 Games – the last time London hosted the Games – to be the first major broadcasted event since the Coronation of King George VI in 1937. The president then moved on to remind guests that 2012 also marked the 175th anniversary of telecommunications.
Tanni Grey-Thompson, a director of UK Athletics, and a member of the board of the London Marathon, spoke about how technology and engineering has helped her throughout her illustrious sporting career, and emphasised the importance of working in collaboration, echoing a core IET value.
Tanni Grey-Thompson’s speech proved to be so inspirational and witty that she received a standing ovation from the packed Great Room, a first for an IET Annual Dinner.
Chief executive and secretary, Nigel Fine, commented on the evening: “This year’s Annual Dinner attracted a marvellous turn out of the highest calibre from the engineering, science and technology worlds. The atmosphere in the grand Great Room was upbeat and full of enthusiasm despite challenging times. The focus on how engineering and technology make sporting events possible – the central aspect in both the president’s speech and that of Tanni Grey-Thompson’s – was particularly gratifying.”