Peter Moskal is hitting the road.  Stay tuned to this ongoing series as Peter shares insights into travels to conventions, conferences, and trade shows across the United States. As Vice President, it’s part of Peter’s responsibility to meet new people, expand his professional network, and learn about the latest industry developments. By attending events like the ASHRAE Expo in Atlanta, he can see new products and technologies, understand emerging trends, and develop valuable connections. These experiences allow Peter to enhance his professional development and bring new insights back to his team at EES. 

After accepting the role of VP, I was informed it was time to hit the streets, go see things I’ve never seen before, meet new people, form new connections and, most importantly, get out of my comfort zone. The EES team and I made a list of conventions, conferences, and trade shows that I would be attending all year long. It came out to about one trip each month.

Follow along on my journey as I meet new people, see what the industry is doing and see what is new.

ASHRAE Expo

My first stop was the ASHRAE Expo in Atlanta. The first thing that stands out about this expo is that it was HUGE: nearly 500,000 square feet with almost 1800 exhibitors and about 45,000 people attending over three days! This was by far the biggest expo I had ever been to.

Naturally, the first thing I did was go find something I know: ABB. It took about 45 minutes to find them, but when I did, I was very impressed with their display showing off some new products like the FBTi-7T7-1U1R, the FBVi-2U4-4T, and the FusionAir Smart Sensor. I had the pleasure of speaking with Brandon Voyles, Sales Support Engineer Building Solutions Central Region, about these new products and how ABB is ramping up here in the state to really push the open protocol agenda. It was great to see how our values at EES and ABB align: the end user owns the equipment and we are here to support them in any and every way we can.

Needless to say, after the first day of walking well over 10 miles, I went back to my place to get a little R&R before the night awards dinner at the College Football Hall of Fame.

Prior to the event, I was asked a series of questions by the event organizers – like who my favorite college football team was – I went with my home state Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Leading into cocktail hour, attendees were able to walk the College Football Hall of Fame exhibit with interactive stations that tell you about your team. This was all done with RFID chips that were on our ID badges. I learned more about the Scarlet Knights than I ever wanted to know, like how it was the birthplace of college football, and hosted (and won) the first game in 1869.

At the awards diner, I had the pleasure of sitting with a few ABB reps like Alejandra Mora and Frank Sullivan from BrainBox AI. Speer Mechanical received an award for 2022 Brand Influencer and D&L Electric Controls received the ABB Growth Award for 2022, just to name a few. Overall, it was very exciting to see their achievements. I’m looking forward to seeing Engineered Energy Solutions up there one day.

The last day was more walking and seeing more vendors. I got to meet with one of our newest investments with Smart Buildings Academy. Tony Muscara and I got to meet face to face and we discussed the progress of our employees. Nicole Wien spent some time showing me how to navigate the real-time portal of the progress of our employees. This has turned out to be a very valuable tool for us at EES and it is always great to see the people within our company grow.

I had a great time at the AHRAE Conference, and I look forward to next year’s event.

Next trip, Vegas!