I’m lucky in my place to have the chance to attend a handful of conferences and commerce reveals yearly. I’ve been doing this for greater than 10 years now, so I’m positive I’ve been to at the very least 40 occasions. Most are very worthwhile and I can’t recall ever feeling like an occasion had been a whole waste of my time. I at all times hit the keynote periods and I attempt to attend as many studying periods as I can match into my schedule. I usually come away with new insights that I share in my writing, and generally I join with presenters to get contributions from them to publish in POWER. But, networking with different attendees and exhibitors could possibly be essentially the most helpful facet of those get-togethers. In the long run, I nearly at all times go away having loved the entire expertise.
An occasion that I’ve particularly beloved attending is the Related Plant Convention (CPC). POWER started internet hosting CPC in 2017 when our group seen how necessary digital expertise had grow to be in energy plant operations and needed to serve the business by offering a venue the place data and experiences could possibly be shared. In yr two, POWER’s sister publication, Chemical Engineering, started co-hosting CPC, which expanded the occasion to incorporate chemical course of business professionals. This yr, the eighth annual CPC occasion shall be held in Houston, Texas, on the Lake Resort Convention Middle at Margaritaville, Might 20–22.
CPC Evolves with the Trade
Whereas I’ve attended CPC many instances, POWER’s resident skilled for the present is Senior Affiliate Editor Sonal Patel. Patel has been a member of the CPC planning committee for a few years and is closely concerned in choosing content material and audio system for the convention. I requested her how CPC has modified through the years.
“A vital evolution has been that CPC has broadened dramatically away from the Industrial Web of Issues—important industrial digitization by the interconnection of digital units (resembling sensors, devices, and machines)—to a bigger dialog in regards to the position that the combination of digital applied sciences performs in enterprise and society,” she defined. “The dialog is now centered on the digital transformation. For the facility sector, which means CPC has emerged as one of many solely conferences the place energy professionals can talk about—guided by experience, peer data, and perspective—the challenges of adopting digital instruments amid the maze of legacy techniques, information administration complexities, and regulatory issues.”
Patel continued: “The convention, for instance, is aimed toward enabling higher asset efficiency by new instruments and processes, knowledgeable decision-making by simpler information administration, and the cultivation of the required funding and workforce capabilities by cultural shifts. Nevertheless it nonetheless retains a key deal with expertise implementation and course of issues, and considerably, it continues to handle enduring challenges, for instance, cybersecurity. So, at its core, CPC is at this time centered on serving to attendees grasp the most effective enterprise worth digitalization can provide because the sector grapples with its different challenges, like escalating electrical energy demand, value containment, and environmental accountability.”
In the meantime, Kim Arellano, content material director for CPC, instructed POWER, “Over the previous seven years, we’ve uncovered the irresistible attract of our occasion—a singular alternative to attach past boundaries. CPC transcends particular industries or applied sciences, centering on the transformative impression of digital adoption on each occupation. As we navigate the evolving panorama, embracing change and confronting challenges, numerous echoes affirm that dialogues amongst friends should not merely useful however profoundly significant. This yr, our focus expands past technical facets, that includes insightful panels that break down the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of digital options. We delve into the need of those applied sciences and supply methods to keep away from frequent pitfalls in speedy adoption.”
An Occasion Price Attending 12 months After 12 months
Digital expertise is at all times altering. By the point you perceive a digital resolution and how you can finest put it to use, it’s usually been changed by a good higher possibility. That’s one of many explanation why I feel CPC is such a particular occasion—by attending recurrently, you possibly can keep abreast of the most recent developments, and determine which options have endurance and when to pivot towards the most recent and biggest expertise.
Exhibitors discover the occasion to be very worthwhile too. “Siemens Power is returning as our Diamond sponsor and has seen the worth of taking part yr after yr,” stated Ellen Nyboer, CPC’s district gross sales supervisor for the Western U.S. “What we hear most from our returning sponsors is that the connections they make onsite at CPC are invaluable to their enterprise, as is evidenced by those that linked with end-users onsite after which reported on a pilot mission with that very same end-user firm the next yr.”
The Lake Resort Convention Middle at Margaritaville, the placement of this yr’s occasion, as beforehand talked about, is a top-tier venue, which provides some distinctive alternatives. “The advantages of the placement are considerable with the quantity and degree of networking activations that we will maintain,” Nyboer stated. “Our attendees and sponsors will expertise activations that kick off with a golf event and proceed with receptions within the Boathouse positioned onsite and in our digital enviornment. In terms of in-person occasions, it’s actually all in regards to the training, conversations, and connections you’ve got when you’re there, so it’s our purpose to curate the appropriate setting to activate the training and connections.”
Regarding the agenda, Patel stated, “We proceed to form this yr’s convention, however as at all times, it will likely be spearheaded by a committee that includes digitalization specialists from the facility and chemical course of industries. This yr’s agenda will converse to prevalent business priorities, resembling sustainability targets, workforce and abilities enhancement, asset administration, information administration, and the overall scope of accomplishment, together with enterprise worth and profitability.”
—Aaron Larson is POWER’s government editor.
