Country tweets from #EMrex in Opryland

We first reported on the Emerson Global Users Exchange in 2009 in a report entitled #EMRex tweets rule where we spoke about our real and virtual attendance at the event held in Orlando (FL US). Last year we penned “So much information, so much going on, too little time!” which reported breathlessly on the San Antonio (TX US).

This year
This year they went “country” and Emerson Global Users Exchange (#EMrex) travelled to Opryland, Nashville (TN US) but for various reasons, including the fact that we were recovering from jetlag having travelled back from the ISA’s successful ISA Automation Week in Mobile (AL US) that weekend! This was an interesting juxta positioning as usually the #EMrex preceeds the ISA event. However be that as it may we were able to form some sort of impression of how things went – mostly from tweets and the very excellent newsletters provided by the team from Control. Links to these reports and others we have been able to find are to be found on the box at the bottom of this page.

Pic by Mike Boudreaux shows standing room only at keynote

The event started with an address from Steve Sonnenberg, the new (since last year) president of Emerson Process Management. Immediately tweets started flying. We learned there were approx 2850 delegates and that they all seemed to be crammed into the hall to hear the address. Indeed Mike Boudreaux’s pic was tweeted very early on showing standing room only. Despite the dismal and gloomy news we hear in the media these days he was optimistic about the future. Emerson had increased staff levels throughout the world although he did note that “in a sea of unemployment, we were unable to fill all our technical positions with qualified personnel.”  However his main point was that Emerson personal were present primarily to listen. They were anxious to foster an atmosphere of trust among their users. Automation World’s Jim Chrzan commented favourably, “It was refreshing, to say the least, to hear a top exec talk about more than numbers. Sonnenberg’s honesty about continuing to build a listening culture is excellent advice for all business managers, and was appreciated by all.”

Down to work!
They had over 351 workshops and short courses throughout the week on a wide range of engaging subjects giving an excellent opportunity to learn best practices, see what colleagues and peers were achieving with automation and generate new ideas. There were industry and technology forums, product & service roadmaps, training courses and the possibility to meet the experts in all sorts of technologies and processes throughout the week.

Click for demo video voiced over by Jim Cahill

Something new
Something new introduced at this years event was Emerson Exchange 365. This is a way to keep #EMrex alive for the rest of the year! Jim Cahill, Emerson’s social media pioneer, stressed, “…it’s about connecting with Emerson experts and developers, but it’s first and foremost about bringing our customers together with each other!”
Here is the presentation from Jim Cahill and Mike Tongwarin on “How the Emerson Exchange 365 Online Community Benefits You!”

Europe ahoy!
Many times we have asked if this event will come to Europe and received answers which expressed an interest though hardly a ringing endorsement of the idea. “We’re thinking of it!” was the usual mollifying response. Well this year we got a positive response. “Emerson Exchange IS coming to Europe!” And so it is, dates and venues have been announced: Duesseldorf (D), 29-31 May 2012. So maybe Europeans, many of whom envy the excitement the #EMrex tweets convey, will have their own opportunity to tweet “Live from #EMrex on the banks of the Rhein!”

And still the eclectic tweets came!
We’ve collected a small selection of the hundreds of tweets (and pics) that were flying through cyberspace during the event. We hope they give a flavour of atmosphere experienced there.

Tweet: Mike Boudreaux

“Emerson wireless, 6100 networks installed with 580 million hrs of operation. Expect more products to come,”
“…tip…if there are people standing in the back of the workshop, scoot in to put empty seats on the aisle for them.”
“Our products (Pepperl+Fuchs USA) at booth 317 integrate well with PlantWeb and the overall Emerson platform.”
“Nail a speech, launch a career – Mr Dave Beckmann at Emerson Exchange #EMRex just starting. 90 mins of greatness,”
“People gathered outside the doorway for @thomsinger’s #EMRex session 5 Ways to Navigate Your Career” (see Mike Boudreaux’s pic – right) “Come visit booth # 319 to learn more about MYNAH & MiMiC Simulation Software,”
“…musician’s jam session again tonight in Washington B. Cold beer, great tunes, Nice Bike!!!!”
“Course “Web Devmnt Tools” has forward thinking tools & technologies that will be game changing! Worth checking out!”

"Great turn out for the On-line Batch Analytics talk from DSM Martek" (Bruce Greenwald )

“Great turn out for the On-line Batch Analytics talk from DSM Martek”
“HP editors forecast spending in HPI to exceed $222 billion in 2012. What’s the ROI? Attend ‘Best Practices in Asset Management!'”
“What was your favourite presentation, short course or workshop you experienced this week and …”

Healing? Heading?"

“Conferences are key to continued education. Academics can learn a lot from industry conferences and vice versa!”
@Rosemount_TG is healing in the Irish Pub after another successful day at #EMREX” (we feel sure that heading is what is meant…er maybe not! – see pic!) “Power cut at #EMRex. Michel Lefrancois from Lubrizol continues to present in total darkness”
“Lots of great Flow workshops at #EMRex today! Check out these sessions: 6A-2789, 6A-2638, 6A-2382, and 6A-2525.”
“Tim Highly was stuck in the elevator during power outage. Wow he has a great attitude and is laughing :-)”
“ISA Bookstore is up and running! Stop on by at #EMRex. Great Automation resources.” (I would put that in wouldn’t I!)
“Emerson Process announces Smart #Energy Initiative at #EMrex!”
“Tweet about Jim’s session about his blog for the new online community features! Social media overload…”
“My presentation “5 Ways to Navigate Your Career” is at 1:15 (right after lunch… so no sleeping in the audience!)”
“Day 3 of #EMRex, and show going on despite power issues. Nearly 2,900 attendees & big energy news is being made…”
“It’s hard to tweet in the dark….”
“Where are best slides from #EMRex? I thinking off the humor slides. They need to be uploaded at the exchange page!”
“I worked hard on the Rosemount Flow booth so be sure to check it out! :-)”
“The two smartest guys in Process Control I have ever met – Terry Blevins and Willy Wojsznis..”
“Thanks for best trade show ever at #EMRex and good luck to all us that have a 08:00 session in the morning.”
“Having great social media and brand recognition conversations with some Control Dynamics guys”
“Continue to meet new people at every break and plan for follow up (even though I am gone, I am still here).”
“I’ve picked lots of new twitter followers here at #EMRex and have started following others. Don’t stop tweeting when the conference ends!”
“We have received our first presentation abstract for Dusseldorf!”
“Neil Peterson is shouting at people to change the DeltaV default password – it’s all about security.”
“4th day of Emerson Exchange is coming to an end… Now time for some networking at the country music hall of fame…”
“Have a safe travel home from #EMRex and thanks for a good week”

I think it is safe to say that a good and instructive time was had by all and the social side of things was not ingnored. Lots of networking happened and will continue to happen and this cannot but have good repercussions in the wider automation community. And so to next spring in Duesseldorf and in the Autumn in Anaheim.

Automation engineers outside the Music Hall of Fame (Pic Reidar Eikeland )

Emerson Global Users Exchange was held in Nashville (TN US) with over 2800 delegates.The most immediate way to follow was to follow the #EMrex tweets This year they introduced Emerson Exchange 365, “The Peer-to-Peer Online Emerson Global Users Exchange Community” They also provided a mobile app to “enhance Your Emerson Exchange Experience!” This is a list of the Third Party Vendors at the event Daily News Letter from #EMrex Day One [-] Day Two [-] Day Three [-] Day Four Emerson Exchange (Jim Cahill Emerson Process Experts – always lots of interesting posts all worth looking at!) Exchange Kicks-off with Steve Sonnenberg Keynote (Automation World 24/10/2011) Emerson Touts Customer Focus, ‘Smart Energy’ at Users Exchange (FlowControl 24/10/20101) Smart Energy Initiative (Emerson Exchange News from Gary Mintchell 25/10/2011) Emerson Announces ‘Smart Energy Initiative’ at Exchange 2011 (Jim Montague Sustainable Plant 25/10/2011) Three Tips For Follow Up After A Business Conference (Thos Singer 26/10/2011) Fieldbus Foundation at Emerson Global Users Exchange (2/11/2011) The 2011 Emerson Exchange A Success! (Neal Ingram, Micromotion Blog, 7/11/2011) Emerson Exchange Brings 2,800+ to Nashville (Peter Cleaveland, Valve Magazine 9/11/2011)