Hanover Fair 2011 Part 1: First Impressions

Busy.  Hanover Fair seemed busier than earlier years and probably much busier than last year (which I missed due to the volcano… as did many others).  The aisles were more crowded, the booths busier, the forum presentations better attended, the booth parties busier, and the conversations more frequent than in the past.

Here is an overview of Hall 9, one of several that housed the industrial automation portion of Hanover Fair:

Overview Hall9 Hanover 2011
[click for larger view]

The North American press was much in evidence and I had a chance to chat with Dave Greenfield of Design News, Gary Mintchell and Jim Chrzan of Automation World, and Bill Lydon and Rick Zabel of Automation.com.  After I explained the PROFIenergy wall in the PI booth to Gary and Jim, Jim asked me to say it again for the video camera.  I did.  The video is on Automation World’s website here.  I carried my ancient camcorder in order to shoot some video for the blog.  Unfortunately, I spent more time in front of the camera than behind.  (I look better behind the camera, I discovered.)  I was in front of the camera for two videos for PI.  They should come out much more professional than my blog videos.

Much more to report from Hanover; next up the PI booth.