In light of both current governmental direction and general public health advisories, delivering a large-scale face-to-face event is not possible at this time. Because of the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, POWERGEN International, DISTRIBUTECH International, and Clarion Energy’s Leadership Summit have been postponed to January 26-28, 2022 in Dallas, TX.
“It is with sincere regret that I share this difficult decision, but we have been putting the safety and wellbeing of our customers, attendees, staff and suppliers above all other priorities and those values remain most important to us. During our extensive outreach and conversations with the energy community, the generation and transmission & distribution professionals we spoke with overwhelmingly expressed their desire to come together under one roof when it is safe to do so. As a result, we stand by our decision to co-locate DISTRIBUTECH, POWERGEN, and our previously announced new Leadership Summit. We are, however, moving this supercharged collaboration into early 2022 to ensure the success and health of all involved parties,” said Desiree Hanson, Executive Vice President, Clarion Events.
While POWERGEN International, the world’s largest power generation event, and DISTRIBUTECH International, the leading annual transmission & distribution event, will remain separate, holding them alongside each other will allow attendees to conveniently access both exhibition halls and educational offerings. The co-location will also provide further opportunities to connect these two audiences for networking and create a place where these two important industry sectors can collaborate as they shape the future of energy and experience the energy movement. In addition, the Leadership Summit, Clarion Energy’s new executive level conference, will address the challenges facing the power generation and transmission & distribution sectors through high-level debates with domestic and international peers.
“We remain committed to what our customers need now, as well as in the future, and how we can deliver experiences to best meet those needs. While we all agree a face-to-face event is not a good option at this time, our customers have said they still must continue to learn, network and source new solutions to support their ongoing operations. To fill this need, we have launched POWERGEN+ and DISTRIBUTECH+. These two communities, which are available to their members 24-7 host a series of virtual events accessible both live and on demand for those looking for perspective and discussion on current and future issues affecting the generation and T&D markets,” said Hanson.
These +Series communities include virtual experiences, timely content and educational sessions, peer-to-peer networking, and vendor product and service demonstrations.
“Listening to our customers from concept through execution is of paramount importance to us. Since the launch of DISTRIBUTECH+ and POWERGEN+ in September, our teams have continuously evolved our offerings to this digital platform to meet the shifting needs of the energy market, providing more support and focusing on not only the current benefits of digital but also engagement within the platforms we use,” said Liz Irving, Executive Vice President – Head of Marketing, Technology & Customer Experience at Clarion Events. “As a result, POWERGEN+ now has over 2,800 members with 82% of them engaged in the platform and DISTRIBUTECH+ has over 1,700 members with 77% engagement. As we continue to drive this awareness and engagement, both communities will continue to grow as we move into 2021.”
Upcoming POWERGEN+ events will run Dec. 14-15, 2020, focusing on O&M, cybersecurity and the digital plant, Feb. 17-18, 2021, focusing on workforce and asset management, and April 28-29, 2021, focusing on optimizing plant performance. Additional information on the POWERGEN+ Series can be found at: www.powergenplus.com. Upcoming DISTRIBUTECH+ events will run Dec. 16-18, 2020, focusing on cybersecurity, digital grids, and start-ups, Jan. 20-21, 2021, focusing on grid modernization and energy storage, and March 24-25, 2021, focusing on digitalization and data analytics.
Additionally, with Clarion’s recent acquisition of Quartz Events, Clarion Energy will be launching Quartz collaborative summits in the energy sector. “Our technology gives sponsors the ability to sort our registered delegate lists by executives who have expressed specific interest in researching certain areas of technology or service. They cherry-pick the top candidates they would like to meet with and we manage a schedule to deliver up to 40+ virtual one-on-one meetings with the highest ranked prospects,” said Oliver Thomas, SVP, Content and Business Development at Quartz Events. “Each meeting runs for 30 minutes and occurs over the course of a week. We also develop a world class educational program with peer-led content where all sessions and interviews are pre-recorded and on demand.” DISTRIBUTECH Connect will take place the week of May 3, 2021 followed by POWERGEN Connect the week of June 7, 2021.
The Clarion Energy team will continue to be in touch with all exhibitors, sponsors, speakers, and attendees to answer any questions. There will be further communication to these groups over the coming days and weeks to facilitate a smooth transition and prepare for the postponement into 2022.
