How to Make the Case to Attend Automation Fair 2026

The hardest part of attending Automation Fair usually isn't the schedule — it's the approval. Somewhere between “this would be valuable” and “book the hotel,” most engineers have to answer the same questions from whoever signs off on travel: what does it cost, what do we get back, and who covers your work while you're gone?

Those are fair questions, and they have good answers this year. At HESCO, we talk with a lot of engineers and managers on both sides of that conversation, and Automation Fair 2026 — November 16–19 in Boston — is the easiest version of the business case we've seen in years. This article walks through how to build the justification, and includes ready-made letter templates you can adapt and send.

Here's the short version: the case rests on four numbers. Registration from $495 if you book by September 15. Travel costs near zero for teams within driving distance of Boston. 500+ hours of advanced training with Professional Development Hour credits with the upgraded pass. And four days of vendor evaluation compressed into one trip — 150+ exhibits and 500+ domain experts in one building. Connecticut manufacturers have a fifth number: half the Advanced Training pass cost reimbursed through the state's Incumbent Worker Training program, if your company qualifies. Download the justification letter templates below, fill in your specifics, and send.

Start With What It Costs — Honestly

Managers approve requests faster when the full cost is on the table up front. For Automation Fair 2026, that math looks unusually good:

Register by September 15 and the General Access Pass is $495 — $300 below advance pricing, $400 below on-site. The Advanced Training tier is $300 below advance pricing too, and $700 below on-site.

Connecticut manufacturers: recover half. The state's Incumbent Worker Training (IWT) program, administered by the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT) through the state's Manufacturing Innovation Fund, reimburses eligible Connecticut-based manufacturers for 50% of qualifying training costs — up to $50,000 per calendar year and $100,000 over the life of the program per employer. Applied to the Advanced Training pass at the early rate — and assuming the pass qualifies as an eligible training cost, which is worth confirming with CCAT first — a $1,595 line item nets out around $798 per attendee. At the advance rate it is roughly $948, and on-site roughly $1,148.

One thing to get right before that number goes in a letter: it is a reimbursement, not a discount. Your company pays Rockwell up front and recovers half afterward, so the amount your manager is approving is still the full amount, with the reimbursement as the offset. Framing it that way avoids an awkward correction later. CCAT's process is also documentation-driven — attendance records matter — and eligibility and application timing are CCAT's call, so start there before you register. Our pass guide walks through what to keep and when to apply.

Then there's travel, and this is the year the line item shrinks. For much of the HESCO customer base, Boston is a drive, not a flight — no airfare, no airport day on each end, and flexibility on hotel nights. Discounted room blocks at official event hotels near the convention center are available through registration. A realistic all-in cost for a driving-distance attendee is a fraction of what a cross-country event year costs — which also means the same budget can send more than one person.

Then Show What Comes Back

The return side of the justification is concrete, not aspirational. Tailor these to your role:

• Skills, with documentation. The Advanced Training pass includes unlimited advanced-level Hands-on Labs and technical training — 500+ hours on the catalog — and advanced-level sessions are eligible for Professional Development Hour credits, valid in the US and Canada. That's formal training on the platforms your plant already runs, at a fraction of dedicated course pricing — a single four-day Rockwell instructor-led course lists at roughly $3,200 per student, about twice the early price of the whole Advanced Training pass.
• Compressed evaluation cycles. If your team has projects queued — an HMI migration, a virtual commissioning evaluation, a controls platform decision — the Expo puts 150+ interactive exhibits and the domain experts behind them in one building. Conversations that would take months of scheduled vendor calls happen in an afternoon.
• Answers from people who've done it. The 250+ session catalog includes customer-led sessions where peers present how they solved problems you currently have — plus Off-site Tours of working industrial facilities in the Boston area.
• A plan, not a report. The strongest justification commits to a deliverable: a written summary of findings relevant to named projects, a recommendation on a pending decision, or a training debrief for the rest of the team.

Use the Templates

Rockwell Automation publishes justification letter templates built for exactly this conversation — one for the General Access Pass and one for the General Access + Advanced Training Pass. Each covers the cost breakdown, the expected return, and the ask, in a format you can adapt in ten minutes. Download them here, fill in your project specifics, and send. [ATTACH/LINK: AF26 Letter to Boss — General Access PDF and Advanced Training PDF]

Three edits worth making before you hit send: name the specific projects the trip supports, include the early-registration deadline, and — if you're a Connecticut manufacturer — show the IWT reimbursement against the cost line. “The price goes up $300 on September 16” turns a someday-decision into a this-week decision, and “we expect to recover half the training cost” turns a cost into an investment.

Answer the Coverage Question Before It's Asked

The unspoken objection to any four-day event is who's watching the plant. Beat it to the punch: propose which days you'll attend if not all four, note that keynotes run Monday through Wednesday and the Expo runs three days — so even a two-day trip captures real value — and name who's covering escalations. Managers say yes to plans, not absences.

Send It, Then Tell Us You're Going

Registration is open at rok.auto/automationfair — early pricing ends September 15. And once the approval lands, tell your HESCO rep. We're attending with customers this year, and we'll help you build a session plan that makes the justification letter come true. Talk to the team at hesconet.com/contact-us.