The buying process doesn't start when they walk onto the show floor.
It starts with a question they need answered — and increasingly, that question goes to AI first. New first-party research on where engineers and integrators look next, and what it means for staying visible between shows.
Partner status gets you on the floor. It doesn't get you found.
Automation Fair's expo floor is limited to the Rockwell Automation PartnerNetwork — membership is the entry requirement. So the credential that earns you a place there is the same one every company standing near you has. What separates one partner from another is whether an engineer already knows your company by the time they start researching.
And that research is changing. Every year, GlobalSpec surveys thousands of engineers and technical buyers for the State of Marketing to Engineers report. The 2026 edition, now in its ninth year, shows a clear shift in how — and how often — they look for answers.
Online technical publications have overtaken supplier and vendor sites as engineers' top research destination — for the first time.
of technical buyers use generative AI at some point when evaluating a purchase
how much they trust what that AI tells them
Source: GlobalSpec's 2026 State of Marketing to Engineers report, published with TREW Marketing and Elektor. See the full report
The show is one moment. The research happens all year.
365 days is a long time to disappear.
Engineers meet suppliers, discover products and start conversations.
They return to researching specifications, applications, alternatives and suppliers.
They continue evaluating solutions and narrowing their options.
The goal isn't to replace what happens at Automation Fair. It's to keep your company in the conversation after the show is over.
Talk to us in Boston.
GlobalSpec will be at Automation Fair. If staying visible between shows is on your list for next year, book time with one of our marketing solutions experts — we'll walk through what year-round visibility would look like for your company, and what the engineers researching your category are actually doing.
Request a meeting
Tell us a little about your company and we'll follow up to find a time that works during the show.
Keep the conversation going after Automation Fair.
See how GlobalSpec Content Marketing can help your company stay visible during the research happening between shows.
Validate the leads you collect at Automation Fair.
GlobalSpec's US-based VIP Team surveys the contacts you collected at the show and tells you which ones are real, in-market buyers.