(FORTUNE Magazine) – Amid the Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone controversy, attendees of the International Tire Exhibition and Conference in Akron seemed to have one thing on their minds: Would Peter Jennings show up? Said one participant breathlessly: "I hear Peter Jennings might do his news broadcast live from here tonight." (An ABC News crew did attend the conference, but Jennings never appeared.)

The association's biennial gathering in mid-September drew 2,500 scientists and engineers as usual; this time it also attracted the nation's rapt attention. The conference could have provided a lively dialogue to counterbalance the long-winded Senate hearings in Washington, D.C.--topics like Making Tires Safer, or How Firestone Can Regain Public Trust. Instead the industry stuck stubbornly to the plan, offering jargon-filled sessions on New Adhesion Systems for Bonding Zinc Coated Steel Cords to Rubber, The Effect of Snaked Belt Anomalies on Tire Durability, and Mixing Silica Compounds.

When conference organizers did take advantage of the spotlight, they came off as ill-prepared. Robert Simmons, the publisher of Rubber & Plastics News, which organized the event, assembled a press conference to announce the formation of a commission that would amass and track tire-safety information. Simmons spoke a bit too soon: It turns out that he hadn't secured funding, he didn't know which regulators would be involved, and he hadn't yet approached any tire manufacturers.

He wouldn't find them at this conference; very few executives from the top tiremakers--Michelin, Continental, and Firestone--showed up. A spokesman for Goodyear Tire & Rubber said an executive had appeared for a TV interview early in the day and then left.

The tire engineers and scientists who who did attend the conference in Akron speculated about the Firestone disaster and the company's future (without disclosing their names, of course). "I don't think the brand can survive this," said an engineer who works at a competitor. Forget the brand; this is a fiasco that affects the entire industry.

--Julie Creswell