There are many conferences and events this late summer/fall time frame. I used to try to make every event partly to gather information about the state of the market and partly in support of sales at the magazine I was at. These days, I cannot afford every trip at an average cost approaching $1,000 each. Those I don’t make, I’ll have phone interviews, I’m sure, to catch up on what’s happening.

Next week, it’s VMWorld (with Dell Technologies) in Las Vegas. (August 26-30). I have already been on two conference calls hearing about some really cool IoT announcements. I don’t have good contacts with VMWare (except the CTO, who doesn’t issue invitations), so I won’t be going. Watch for the news.

The next trip is IMTS / Hannover Messe US Digital Manufacturing at Chicago’s McCormick Place Sept. 10-15. This is a huge show that Hannover Messe has been trying to add a significant automation presence. That part is growing slowly. It will be interesting to see this year. I will be there for a couple of days. Tweet me if you would like to meet at @garymintchell.

The Inductive Automation Ignition Community Conference in Folsom (Sacramento), CA has become an annual event for me. There is always high energy, lots of interesting partners, and a peek into some new SCADA and IoT thinking. It’s Sept. 17-19 but it’s sold out.

Of course, I will be attending Emerson Global Users Exchange, San Antonio, October 1-5. Have not missed one since I started going in 2003. Always a good event and a chance to catch up with all my old editorial colleagues.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is holding an Internet of Things Special Event in Houston overlapping Exchange. Looks like I will go to Exchange, go over to Houston to spend a day catching up on the IT side of things, then finishing the week back at Exchange. Two places at the same time? Not a problem—well, I make it work.

I had a Wonderware conference in my calendar, but Monday I found out that it wasn’t a media event. Instead I could get an invitation to the AVEVA World Summit,  in Palm Springs October 9-11. I’d love to go. Guy Kawasaki is speaking. I’d love to hear him. At first I thought it was mostly AVEVA design engineering software, but looking at the agenda today, I see some Wonderware/Avantis content.

Would I like to make it three weeks in a row? Looks like I’ll visit Pack Expo October 14-17 in Chicago at McCormick Place. Planning on a couple of business meetings and a chance to check out the latest in machine control and automation.

Process Systems User Group and Automation Fair by Rockwell Automation will be November 12-15 in Philadelphia. I haven’t missed one since 1997. Hate to start a trend. Although it overlaps with an Internet of Things conference where I’m on the back up list as a speaker. I’ll probably be spending the week in Philadelphia.

Oh, and overlapping those two is the Schneider Electric Innovation Summit, Atlanta, November 13-14. This one is mostly power, energy, home automation—things I don’t cover deeply.

Finally there is the SPS/IPC/Drives conference in Nuremberg November 27-29. Looks like I will be attending after also attending a Siemens cybersecurity conference in Munich.

This trip overlaps another conference, one that I attended last year, the HPE Discover event in Madrid. I can’t do both. So, I’ll have to get reports from one.

As always a busy fall. That and I have seven more weeks of assigning referees to soccer matches in west central Ohio. That has become almost a full time job in itself.