This year, the conference was moved from Houston to Mobile, AL. The
conference program leadership added Greg McMillan, a professional whom I
respect greatly. I figured he could move the program from one that was
overly academic to something that members might find useful.
Greg just posted to his Modeling and Control blog an essay
We are ISA. I
found his "agree with us or get out" message to dissident ISA members
somewhat off-putting, but he did detail changes in the program. I know
some of the people, and I suspect that attendees will be able to find
some good sessions. I certainly hope that ISA publishes more details
about the courses than it did last year. I also hope they treat
potential speakers with more respect than some of the stories I heard
from last year.
In conjunction with thoughts on the conference, here is a side comment.
Conference organizers have found a benefit that they can offer to their
sponsors--editors. They promise to line up a big group of editors and
offer a long session of press conferences so that the sponsors can get
time in front of us. So I, and my colleagues, are used as bait for
sponsorship. However, our cost to attend these events is upwards of
$1,000. We're all small businesses. So, the cost is a concern. If we do
come, we'd really like to have some substantial news to report to make
it worth our while. And it would be great to have time after the meeting
for an individual interview so that we can get our own spin and not
just parrot what every other editor is saying. (If Walt and I write the
same thing, you'd all begin to wonder--right?)
Back to the
ISA conference. I did not attend last year because we would
not be allowed to sit in conference sessions to get new ideas, meet the
speakers for future articles, talk to attendees. We were supposed to
spend the money to come down for the better part of one day to sit
through press conferences. For that privilege, we would be allowed to
eat the conference lunch.
Here's how Greg describes the upcoming agenda. "The AW 2011 program will
build on last year's improvement in technical content and make a step
increase in scope and expertise offered. An Advanced Control track
chaired by Russ Rhinehart, an Installation, Operations, and Maintenance
track chaired by Greg Lehmann, and a poster session Recent Developments
in Process Control chaired by Jerry Cockrell have been added to the
program. The Analysis track chaired by Jim Tatera and the Automation and
Control System Design track chaired by John Munro have been restored to
their previous prominence. We have added a general session where 6
prominent members of the Process Automation Hall of Fame will discuss
how process control is more important than ever for manufacturing
competitiveness and how users can get the most out of their control
systems. Terry Tolliver and I will offer tutorials on key technologies.
Charlie Cutler and Bela Liptak will present keynote addresses. Tribute
sessions will show the impact of these and other leaders in our
profession. Lastly, an Ask the Experts session is being planned to offer
guidance on important challenging problems."
If I were working in the field, I'd take a close look at the new
conference agenda and consider making the $2,000 investment (travel,
lodging, conference fees, etc.). Unless there are changes in the way
journalists are considered, though, I will not be there. It's too hard
to get to Mobile for an afternoon of press conferences. The companies
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