ISA Automation and Leadership Conference Brings Top Tech Experts to Colorado Springs

Summary

In early October, ISA held its annual Automation and Leadership Conference (ALC) in beautiful Colorado Springs, Colorado. Over the span of five days, ALC proudly brought together a global audience of 225 automation managers, engineers and technicians for professional development and interaction.

“ALC is the automation event of the year,” said ISA President Marty Bince. “It combines leading technical presentations with society meetings, standards meetings, training and career skills development opportunities alongside multiple fun networking events. There is really nothing else like ALC."

Vital technical sessions and an array of technical subject matter experts from the US, Canada, the Middle East, Brazil, Spain and India were onsite, according to Morgan Foor, ISA director of communications and events. Brazil, India and the Middle East were very well represented by attendees as well, she said. Many of the ALC sessions were presented virtually as well as in person, widening access to the highquality content. Local attendees and those who chose to travel to Colorado Springs were able to participate in face-to-face live sessions and talk with speakers, exhibitors and each other.

Each conference day began with a keynote address to standing-room-only crowds. Mark Weatherford, CSO and SVP of Regulated Industries at AlertEnterprise and chief strategy officer at the National Cybersecurity Center, spoke on “National Cybersecurity Issues and Workforce Development.” A key portion of his talk was on artificial intelligence (AI) and “why AI will save the world: Every engineer, every child, every artist, every business person, every doctor, every caregiver, every CEO, every government official, every athletic coach, every teacher will have an AI tutor this is infinitely patient, infinitely compassionate, infinitely knowledgeable and infinitely helpful, and the magnification effects of better decisions is unfathomable in 2023,” he said.

Ru Schaefferkoetter, president and CEO at Trido Solutions, spoke on “Unleashingthe Potential of Carbon Credits: Strategy Monetization of Sustainability Initiatives, and How Automation Plays a Pivotal Role in Safeguarding the Integrity of the Carbon Credit Market.”

Details on sessions and speakers are available on the event website.

Exhibit booths and technology demos

Attendees also had the option to visit more than a dozen sponsor exhibitor booths staffed by technology experts who shared their insights. Some exhibitor experts also hosted technology-demo or panel-discussion sessions at the event. The Open Process Automation Pavilion, for example, brought representatives from 12 of its member companies onto a session stage to discuss the progress Exxon Mobil and The Open Group are making toward open architecture solutions. Those sponsors included CPLANE.ai, SCI, Intel, SMAR, Phoenix Contact, Stahl, Rockwell Automation, VMware and Wood.

Other booth sponsors included: Cyolo, G&D, ProcessVue, Verve and ARMEXA. Fortinet and SDI were silver-level sponsors, and Control Station sponsored the breaks. ISA supporting organizations and media partners included ISA Global Cybersecurity Alliance, ISASecure, Automation.com and InTech.

Honeywell Process Solutions sponsored the Awards Gala, which was an exciting and uplifting evening of “Rodeo and Recognition.” This annual celebration of excellence in the automation profession. The 2023 event was Held at the Flying W Ranch, this year’s gala included inspiring remarks from honorees alongside Western-themed entertainment.

A complete list of 2023 honorees was published in last month’s InTech issue, and more information on the awards program can be found here.

Growing as a society

The annual ALC always includes details on the status and activities of ISA. During lunch on day one of the conference, ISA volunteer leadership and the Executive Director Claire Fallon gave the State of the Society address. These remarks included accomplishments, financial performance and highlights of the 2024 strategic plan. Retiring Automation.com Chief Editor Bill Lydon was honored, and ISA President-Elect Prabhu Soundarrajan accepted the gavel from Marty to signal the start of his 2024 term, beginning in January.

ALC 2023 included opportunities for Executive Board, Assembly and Committee volunteers to meetup, as well as for selfidentified young professionals and students to gather. A Section and Division Volunteer Workshop session was particularly popular: Over 90 current and future volunteers engaged in activities designed to co-create the most vibrant sections and divisions.

“The 2023 ALC was bigger and better than the 2022 one, with ISA’s training, technical and career skills tracks, and volunteer workshops all happening along with an awesome rodeothemed gala and a golf outing. There really was something to inspire us all to help create a better world through automation,” said Steve Mustard, ISA treasurer and former president.

A sketch artist present during many of the sessions captured his interpretation of the important elements of the event in real-time. His sketches, photos and videos from the event are available in the ISA Flickr album.

2024 Automation & Leadership Conference: Charleston, SC, USA

Save the dates September 30 through October 3 for ALC 2024, being held in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. Once again, ISA will deliver “terrific technical content right alongside unforgettable and fun experiences,” said ISA President Marty Bince. The historic city is filled with culture, charm and delicious food, and speakers for the technical sessions are already signing up. A highlight is sure to be the 2024 ISA Honors and Awards Gala, which will be held on the flight deck of the World War II-era aircraft carrier the USS Yorktown.

_{This feature originally appeared in the October 2023 issue of InTech digital magazine.}