USA - Focus on Fall Symposium: Event Draws ‘Dealmakers,’ Newcomers Alike

Yes, it’s coming right up on the calendar—it takes place November 18-20 in Orlando, Fla.—but it has also arrived in the sense of having become a true fixture on the industry’s business and deal-making datebook.

Ed Zaelke should know. The event was his brainchild. And this year, the Fall Symposium comes at a pivotal time for the industry.

“We have just come through 12 very challenging months for the wind energy industry and the economy as a whole,” said Zaelke, managing partner of Chadbourne & Parke, LLP’s Los Angeles office and a former AWEA board president. Recently, however, Zaelke noted, the industry has begun to turn the corner, largely as a result of incentives in the federal stimulus package passed earlier this year. “As a result, the Fall Symposium is happening at a very opportune time,” he said.

In that regard, just one highlight of the symposium will be a plenary session featuring Matt Rogers, the Obama Administration’s recovery act lead for energy, and industry CEOs, who will assess recent market and policy developments and identify opportunities and challenges for the industry over the next couple years. The group will tackle such issues as the near-term prospects for wind energy development in the U.S. and whether the Obama administration’s economic recovery act is enough to carry the industry through the economic downturn. In other words, are the green shoots now evident in the market a sign of a full turnaround?

The Fall Symposium was created with two goals or focuses in mind, said Zaelke: education and networking. Since it does not include the exhibition portion that is part of the annual WINDPOWER Conference & Exhibition, the event is attended by “a more concentrated group of industry people”—or “the dealmakers,” as Zaelke said.

That concentrated group is evident in the numbers. WINDPOWER 2009 was attended by 23,000 people. Last year’s Fall Symposium attendance total: 882.

But it’s not all dealmakers who attend. John Eber, JP Morgan Capital’s managing director of energy investments who co-chaired the highly successful AWEA Wind Energy Finance & Investment Workshop this month, said that one aspect of the Fall Symposium that he likes is that he can mix with industry members whom he might not see otherwise. “What I’ve always liked about the Fall Symposium is that it’s been a really nice diversified group of attendees,” he said. “It’s the closest thing to WINDPOWER, yet it’s more of a manageable size. It’s really a nice event.”

That manageable size, Eber and others say, gives attendees the ability to meet other industry members at the various networking events and sessions. Fall Symposium regulars often comment how it’s a given that they’ll run into the people they hope to see.

Part of the participant diversity, noted Eber, is attributable to the fact that it draws the AWEA board of directors and various committees and working groups, which meet at the event, while others show up for the strong lineup of sessions in addition to the networking.

“All those elements really bring in a nice mix of people,” he said.

For more information on the AWEA Wind Energy Fall Symposium, go to www.aweafallsymposium.org/.