2011 National Town Meeting on Demand Response and Smart Grid

The National Town Meeting is known as the best demand response and smart grid event in the US because it offers the unique opportunity to hear from and speak to the people whose actions today set the course for tomorrow. It is also notable for giving you, as an attendee, a chance to have your voice heard, through roundtable sessions and electronic voting. Unlike other smart grid events, the National Town Meeting is a non-profit event that pulls in top stakeholders from utilities, technology companies, RTOs, Congress, federal and state agencies, environmental groups, consumer groups, and research and consulting firms. They will all be there to assess the state of the industry and, with your help, to set the agenda for the years to come.

Topics to be covered include:

• Efficiency vs. DR vs. Smart Grid---Coming Together at Last?
• Communications---The Difference between Doing It and Planning for It
• Interoperability Standards---Who's on First, What's on Second....
• Turbulence on the Road to the Smart Grid---How Serious Is It and What Do We Do Now?
• Data Access and Privacy---Is Electricity Special? What Rights Should Consumers Have?
• Regional Program Round-Up:  What Is Going on Around the Country?
• Policy Round-Up: What Is Making Policymakers Snooze and What Is Keeping Them up at Night?
• Where Are They Now? ---How Are Some People and Projects Featured in the Past Doing Today?
• AutoDR---Is It the End-Game that Some Say It Is?
• Electric Vehicles---DR on Wheels?
• Communications for a Deployment---Shining a Light on the Non-Squeaky Wheels
• Research Round-Up: What Do We Know Now that We Didn't Know Last Year?

New for 2011, the National Town Meeting will feature an additional day dedicated to the effort of implementing FERC and DOE's National Action Plan on Demand Response.  The NAP Day Pre-Conference Workshop, on July 12, will be hosted by the National Action Plan Coalition.

In case you missed it, the non-profit organization that puts on the National Town Meeting, the Demand Response Coordinating Committee (DRCC), recently changed its name to the Association for Demand Response and Smart Grid (ADS). More significantly, it became an individual membership organization for those who consider themselves to be DR and Smart Grid professionals. Become a member of ADS, and you can save on your National Town Meeting registration fee while also enjoying the benefits of ADS membership for the entire year!