Why do I attend conferences?

When you are working in the same office week in week out, with the same view, the same coffee machine and the same desk arrangement - does it not add an air of excitement when you come in after the weekend and remember the desks were all moved around! You now have a different view from the window, a new walk to the coffee machine and slightly different perspective on the job as a whole.

This change in outlook is increased exponentially by leaving the office for a day or two and immersing yourself in what your peers and mentors have to say.  I very much enjoy the benefits that conferences bring to my working life and I will be chairing at this years 14th Annual North American 3PL Summit & Chief Supply Chain Officer Forum in Chicago from 20-22nd June. 

The opportunity to Network  How else will I meet people from the same and associated industries, experts, customers and suppliers – where I can make face to face connections, with the great potential to share and leverage  knowledge.  I will now have some-one I can call to talk this over…

 

The opportunity to Learn  To learn about the pressures on our industry, understanding the new issues (macro and micro) that are impacting us and hearing about the next big thing!  I will not find this out at my desk – webinars may tantalise me but they do not fill my need for knowledge in the same way…

The opportunity to Share This is the great takeaway from these events - I return with interesting presentations to share with my colleagues, I have new insight to make decisions at my own job and even new content to keep my web designers happy!

So attending a conference is much more than moving the desks around, it is like throwing the windows open and inviting the world in to share my coffee…

Hugh Williams,  Chairperson

 

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