Learning the Virtual Way

Travel budgets—or more accurately the lack thereof—are hurting attendance at industry events everywhere. I just returned from the annual meeting of the Institute for Supply Management (http://www.ism.ws/) in Charlotte, where the attendance was down about 40% from last year. That’s too bad, too, because as always ISM put on a solid educational program, this year featuring many sessions on how supply chain managers can help their companies work through the tough economy.

Things will turn around. According to the economic gurus at ISM, for example, signs of that turnaround already appear on the horizon. But until they do, and until travel budgets are reinstated so that people can again get back out into the world, there’s a learning alternative to keep in mind. It’s called the “virtual: conference and a number of organizations have turned to them, including Supply Chain Management Review.

Virtual conferences simulate the real physical thing. There are keynote speeches, individual workshop sessions, booths, and a chat room replicating the coffee breaks at real events that are so valuable for information exchange. The really nice thing about virtual conferences is that you can attend them from the comfort of your office or anywhere else you want to fire up your computer.

SCMR and our sister publication, Logistics Management magazine, recently put on a virtual conference on “Warehousing/DC Best Practices.”  We had a great keynote speaker in John Hill, one of the pioneers of the modern supply chain movements, as well as workshops on benchmarking warehouse performance, maximizing your WMS system, lift truck management programs, and more.  We also had “booths” that attendees could visit to obtain the latest information from leading vendors and solutions provider. All in all, a pretty good take and completely free of charge.

We have now put the entire Warehousing/DC Best Practices program on demand on our websites. You can tune in any time you wish and select the particular sessions that most interest you.  To view, simply click on http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=140014&s=1&k=A54A734BC70CEE02DA5A1683DCEACDD6.

Oh, one last advantage of the virtual events. Your visit does not require airport check-in, screening lines, and a cramped middle seat.