Based on what's been an incredibly successful fall user group season, it appears that the "Great Recession" is really over.
The final numbers aren't in yet for Automation Fair and its associated meetings, PSUG, the Process Solutions User Group, and SAF, the Safety Automation Forum, but there were about 350 attendees at SAF, about a 30% increase over last year, and over 650 attendees at PSUG, a growth of 200 attendees over 2009, and more than attended in 2008. Total attendance for Automation Fair is expected to be well over 11,000 attendees.
Invensys OpsManage 2010 also showed significant increases in attendance, as did Emerson Exchange.
Now Honeywell is chiming in with the attendance from their recently concluded Honeywell User Group-EMEA. HUG-EMEA covers Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and there were 30 countries represented there, with an attendance of over 800 people.
With the SPS show at the end of this month expecting record attendance, it's pretty clear that travel restrictions have lifted and the tide is going to float many boats.
This bodes well for the next year or so for the automation-intensive industries.
