Inside ICI


A Top Rated Business & Leadership Development Conference


by Joseph E. Fritz, Executive Director


focus our webinar series on business topics to provide our Members with information pertinent to our changing business environment. At the start of this year, with the pandemic back to full strength, I was afraid that we’d have to walk the same path, but thankfully I was wrong. Though we had to cancel the live event in New Orleans,


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the 2021 BLDC was conducted on the ICI’s Networking and Event Campus, and unlike the virtual platform that we used for last year’s Technical Conference and Expo, the feedback from delegates was highly favorable.


Event Attendance Going into this event, we knew the draw would not be at usual levels, as many of us are suffering from “Zoom Burnout” and networking in the virtual world just doesn’t come naturally. This year, we had a total of 33 delegates, 14 of which were foundry members. There were also 12 speakers, and when you add in the ICI team, we had 50 attendees in total. This is roughly half of what we usually see at our spring event. It is interesting to note that the ratio between suppliers and


foundries, which is typically around 2 to 1, was closer to 1 to 1 this year. I believe that this is indicative that our suspicions regarding virtual networking hold validity, but when talking with delegates during and after the event, almost everyone commented how easy it was to hold private conversations on the new platform. One delegate even commented that interactions with others came so easily that he forgot that this was a virtual event.


The Program On reviewing the quality of the speakers and the content of their messages, rankings averaged at a higher level than ever achieved at prior events. Here are some of the comments that were shared by this year’s attendees: This year’s keynote presenter, Paul Krismer, who spoke on


The Serious Business of Positive Emotions, had “great energy and was an entertaining speaker”. Tom Mueller, Mueller Additive Manufacturing Solutions,


and Jeff Antonic, Stratecasts, presented Global Import/Export Markets – Threats and Opportunities, to which one delegate characterized the talk as being “interesting and eye opening as to some of the real threats faced by the industry”. Jerome Wade of Epic Global shared with us How to Create an Inspiring and Irresistible Culture, whose talk was cited as being an “Excellent message that has relevance no


4 ❘ May 2021 ®


ith the cancellation of last year’s Business & Leadership Development Conference (BLDC), the ICI was put in a position where we had to


matter what organization one is a part of. Good clean visuals, well-structured and presented. Thanks for including topics and messages like this in the conference!” We heard from a number of speakers addressing ways to


navigate the pandemic and post-pandemic recovery. These talks ranged from Travis Miskowitz of WISS Associates who spoke on government stimulus programs, to Gene Marks, Marks Group, who addressed post COVID opportunities. From them we learned more than how to survive these challenging times but how to position our companies for prosperity. Peter Adams, Aldrich Technology LLC, spoke on post-


pandemic cybersecurity, and Jenny Hahn, FD Associates, addressed the impact of US Export controls on your business, were among our top rated speakers and were cited as being “Excellent, very good, and informative” and “Some really good info for us and presented quickly and with good energy”. Naturally, there are always areas for improvement. For


example, my presentation on the North American market outlook, though well received by most, could have gone into more detail on General Industry subsectors. Suggestions to enhance future programs are not only welcome, they are encouraged. To those of you who took the time to complete our daily surveys, I offer my thanks.


The Venue I had hoped to be sharing our experiences over the wonderful flavors of New Orleans gumbo and beignets at Café du Monde, but unfortunately, that was not to be. Instead, I have the opportunity to share a little bit about the ICI’s new virtual platform and how we used it for this event. We started the program with the Annual General


Meeting in an auditorium accessible only by North American Members. There, ICI President John Marcin reviewed the ICI’s performance in 2020. In spite of the challenges imposed by the pandemic, he was very complimentary of the ICI’s response. This was followed by my annual presentation on the State of the Industry, with data coming from the “How’s Business?” survey. The General Session was held in the Campus’ main


auditorium. We received numerous comments from attendees who felt the platform had the look and feel of actually sitting in an auditorium. Some cited the ease of navigating the environment and many of our delegates suggested that we use the Campus for future webinars. All the presentations were recorded and set up in a gallery


so that BLDC attendees can access them on-demand. If you attended the event, and missed one of our speakers, you still have the opportunity to view them. The BLDC Gallery can


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