What an amazing event! It was a great 4 days, and I was so overwhelmed with the conference upon my return it took me over a week just to get everything organized to chat about it! ha!
Let's start with the opening night and ceremony. You could really feel the anticipation as the expo hall was being prepared for the next 3 days of activity with over 16,000 attendees.
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| Workers getting ready for the opening of SPI Orlando 2012! |
I attended the opening conference with Julia Hamm and Rhone Resche, two of the solar industry's most well known and outspoken solar advocates, and they gave a great overview of the solar industry and where it stands today. With so many opportunities in our field, thousands of new jobs have been created all over the U.S. and many thousands more continue to jump in as we grow at an accelerated pace. Even with a looming economic recession, the industry has thrived and expanded as new state and federal tax incentives bring the overall cost of solar down and into competing territory with rising gas and electricity prices.
In the evenings, a slew of networking events and receptions are held by various companies to get a chance to meet the people and workers in the industry and to make connections around the industry. I had the luck to be invited to a few myself thanks to my pal Julia Sullivan, and was able to meet and chat with hundreds of people in a more casual atmosphere.
The first full day of the conference starts off early with several smaller conferences separated by financing, marketing, and policy. Many are conducted with a panel of guest speakers such as the open forum on creative and cutting edge financing that I attended, below.
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| George Ashton of Sol Systems speaking at the Creative and Cutting Edge Financing Session |
And then there's the Expo Hall. This is where the magic happens! Hundreds of booths from manufacturers to installers, financiers, racking systems, inverters, solar hot water, tax advice, lawyers, state programs and more. Definitely this is the reason why thousands of people come to this event every year
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| Several of the booths in the expo hall of the SPI conference. Many established and well known names such as Sharp solar had some of the larger displays as well as new companies and creative ideas for integration into the smart grid |
Then came the Hard Rock Live event with Blue Man Group on Tuesday evening. Hard Rock Orlando is at Universal Studios, so you can imagine the kind of crowd and events you are going to see there. At some point I got to meet both the beatles and KISS, on stilts, lol.
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| Panoramic view of Universal Studios Florida and Hard Rock Live! |
The Blue Man Group performed as well, and it was my first time seeing them in concert. What a great show! Perfect mix of comedy, music, theater, and magic show, all wrapped up into one fun interactive evening! Also, it should be known I totally lost my camera for a couple hours that night, but thanks to some very nice SPI conference attendees and the wait staff at Hard Rock, it was waiting safely for me at the lost and found. Phew!
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| Blue Man Group at Hard Rock Live, Universal Studios, SPI Orlando |
And finally, the main event of the conference, Bill Clinton, spoke live to a packed audience (they had to shuttle several late attendees into overflow rooms!) at the Key Note session on Wednesday afternoon. To be safe and get a seat, I hopped in an already long line an hour early, but I made it in ok! I thought Former President Clinton did an excellent job, and not only praised us for our growth and hard work, but encouraged the industry to push further to become an every day household discussion. It was up to us to keep the industry afloat beyond the expiration of any tax incentives. I left feeling like I had a responsibility to help drive the solar industry. To assist those in need in poverty and poor nations, and to fight to make solar power as mainstream and common as oil, natural gas, and coal. I truly hope that I and others in our field can make a difference and bring clean, renewable energy to people in need around the globe.
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| Former President Bill Clinton Speaking at the Keynote Address at SPI, Orlando 2012 |
And lastly, I want to thank everyone I met at SPI, I had a wonderful time and it was a great, fun, educational experience and I hope to see all of you again (and meet many, many more) next year at SPI Chicago 2013! Take Care!
