Every November, Rockwell Automation turns one convention center into the busiest four days in industrial automation. Keynotes, hands-on labs, a packed expo floor, and thousands of engineers comparing notes on what's actually working in their plants. This year, Automation Fair 2026 lands November 16–19 in Boston, at the Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center — and if you've been on the fence about attending in years past, this is the year the math gets easier.
At HESCO, we help customers across a range of industries evaluate and deploy Rockwell Automation solutions, and Automation Fair is where a lot of those conversations start. We'll be there, walking the floor with customers. This article covers what the event is, what the four days look like, what it costs, and how to start planning now — registration opens in early August.
Here's the short version: Automation Fair 2026 runs November 16–19 in Boston. Expect 14,000+ attendees, 150+ interactive exhibits, 250+ educational sessions, 500+ hours of advanced training, and 500+ expert presenters, all under this year's “Future in Focus” theme. Registration opens in early August, and early-bird pricing ends September 15. If you're within driving distance of Boston — and much of our customer base is — the travel case for attending has never been simpler.
Automation Fair is Rockwell Automation's flagship annual event, dedicated to industrial automation and digital transformation. It draws more than 14,000 problem solvers, makers, and leaders each year — from C-suite executives to operations managers to the controls engineers who keep production running.
The scale is the point. The Expo floor spans 500,000 square feet with 150+ interactive exhibits from Rockwell Automation and its PartnerNetwork™ members: live demos, real equipment, real software, and direct access to the domain experts behind the products. Layered on top of that are keynotes, half-day Summits, Off-site Tours of working industrial facilities in the Boston area, and a training catalog deep enough to fill all four days on its own.
The structure rewards planning ahead:
We'd tell you to go regardless of the venue. But Boston deserves a mention: for much of the HESCO customer base, Automation Fair 2026 is a drive, not a flight. That changes the internal approval conversation — no airfare, more flexibility on hotel nights, and the option to send more of the team than a cross-country trip would justify. Discounted room blocks at official event hotels near the convention center open with registration in early August. If you've been telling yourself you'd go “when it's closer,” it's closer.
There are two pass options, and the right one depends on how deep you want to go:
|
Pass |
Early (by Sept 15) |
Advance (Sept 16 – Nov 13) |
On-site |
|
General Access |
$495 |
$795 |
$895 |
|
General Access + Advanced Training[CD1] |
$1,595 |
$1,895 |
$2,295 |
The early registration deadline is the date to circle: registering by September 15 saves $300 per pass against advance pricing — and $400 to $700 against the on-site rate.
One more line item worth knowing about if you're a Connecticut manufacturer: the state's Incumbent Worker Training (IWT) program — administered by the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT) and funded through the state's Manufacturing Innovation Fund — reimburses eligible manufacturers for half the cost of qualifying employee training. Applied to the Advanced Training tier, that changes the math considerably. It's a reimbursement rather than a discount, though, and eligibility, documentation, and application timing all matter — so start with CCAT before you register, not after.
We'll publish a deeper pass-selection guide when registration opens — including how to think about the Advanced Training upgrade based on your role, how the IWT reimbursement works in practice, and what you're trying to get out of the week.
Automation Fair is built for the full chain of decision-makers, and the value shifts by role. Executives get peer-level insight for sharpening priorities and aligning investments. Managers get practical guidance and real-world solutions they can apply to team performance immediately. Technical professionals — the controls engineers, integrators, and maintenance leads we talk with every day — get direct access to experts, hands-on labs, and real applications that strengthen execution readiness.
If your 2027 projects involve anything we've been writing about this year — HMI modernization with FactoryTalk Optix, virtual commissioning with Emulate3D, controller and I/O architecture decisions — the event is the most efficient place to pressure-test your direction against the people who build the products.
Three things to do before August:
Registration opens in early August, and early-bird pricing ends September 15. Questions about whether the event fits your team and your project calendar? Talk to the HESCO team at hesconet.com/contact-us — we'll help you make the week count.