Some of those topics might sound a little bit out of place at a wind power conference, and that’s because AWEA wants to expand the scope of their educational offerings to include more topics, many of which are becoming increasingly relevant in modern industry.
“We’re going after some topics that are not traditionally covered in this type of format,” Brown said. “And part of the continued strong growth of the industry — as well as this show — is continuing to innovate, and so this is an area we wanted to represent within the general sessions.”
May 10, the last day of the show, will also feature an endcap on the previous two days of general sessions with a less formal town hall meeting where attendees will be able to interact with AWEA speakers, ask questions and tackle topics that are “innovative and on the forefront of the industry.”
Education stations make their return in 2018. Like in past years, each station will have a mix of various presentations ranging from individual lectures to full panels ongoing throughout the show. This year, there will be five different stations, each focusing on a different topic: Power, Operations, Project Development, Tech and the Thought Leader Theatre.
The Wind Power 101 pre-conference seminar is also back, but it’s also being joined by two new pre-conference seminars. One is the Wind Power 201 seminar, which as the name might suggest, gets more in-depth into topics like project development for attendees that are more experienced in the field. Also planned is a seminar discussing the Icebreaker Wind project, the first project of its kind in the Great Lakes area.
Alongside AWEA’s educational standbys, there will be a few new experiments this year. Traditionally printed educational posters are being modernized into an e-Poster Gallery with digital posters and opportunities for poster authors to present on their work. In addition, “collaborative learning tables” will be set up in a specific lunch area on Tuesday and Wednesday. The idea is that AWEA will be soliciting topics from visitors, and based on the responses, assigning questions to different tables, and you sit yourself down at the table that has whatever topic interests you most. Other people interested in that topic sit down, as well, and you all have a topic to get to know each other over as well as something to learn about all in one. Think one part icebreaker, one part networking with like-minded individuals, one part mini impromptu panel between yourselves.
“Traditionally in a trade show, it’s the organizers that say ‘here are the topics you need to learn about,’ and attendees don’t always have a lot of input on that,” Brown said. “So this way, they’ll be able to submit topics ahead of time to us and we can have those available.”
On the trade show floor, Wind Power expects 400 exhibitors, including 100 new companies, on the floor. Wind Power has previously enjoyed a steady stream of fresh visitors each year, but as with their educational offerings, the number of new exhibitors might be in part due to the fact that the show is expanding its scope and reaching out to new segments of the industry.
“We’re definitely reaching out to companies that are in those segments of the industry that we’re adding in to other areas to make sure they understand that we’re going to be discussing that component of the industry and of course would love to have them for exhibitors,” Brown said.
There is going to be a new change on the exhibitor floor, as well. AWEA is introducing the Green Exhibitor Program, which is the latest part of Wind Power’s ongoing efforts to create a green, sustainable trade show. The program lays out some best practices for reducing a booth’s footprint, and in return, gives those that sign up and follow its tenets some free advertising.
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