The Steel Survival Strategies XXIV conference in New York sponsored by AMM and World Steel Dynamics Inc. (WSD) once again confounded observers and would have to be declared a success—particularly in light of the constrained economic environment. Eight-hundred-plus attendees heard three keynote speakers whose presentations were the meat of the program. All were well crafted, well delivered and eminently listenable, not always a foregone conclusion with keynote speakers.

AMM senior vice president David Brooks opened the conference with a welcoming address that included an excellent slide review of the history of the descent into the current recession. He was followed by the stand-up comedy team of Peter F. Marcus and Karlis M. Kirsis, managing partners of WSD, who, as is their custom, climaxed with a joke that 45 percent of the audience thought tasteless. There is a 55-percent chance that it will not be repeated.

Lakshmi N. Mittal, president...