AME’s Director of Conferences and Events Desiree Dolecki was recently quoted in Industry Magazine in an article titled “The Future is Hybrid-ish” as sharing “there is no one size fits all approach.” The fully integrated hybrid model is not the predominant model—it simply is an ever-revolving model of best practices and standard work changing rapidly. We see and hear this.
Several letters ago, I talked about practicing what you preach. I’m excited to share this week how we are doing just that. At AME, we approach everything, including our conferences, in the same manner, especially in the last few years. We continuously look for ways to improve their value to you.
After last year’s conference, we analyzed your feedback. You told us several things very succinctly—and we listened. You clearly stated you would like to see shorter sessions, want to attend in person, look for more networking opportunities with hundreds of your friends, and have more opportunities to meet new people and learn from each other. You also showed us that real-time virtual access is not as important to you but that the opportunity to have on-demand content later is extremely valuable.
After 36 years of in-person-only conferences, we moved to completely virtual in 2020 and 2021 so that you would not miss out on the conference. You were able to attend completely from home. Then in 2022, we held our very first hybrid conference. We were able to maintain the same quality conference you love, just a little different. You can only imagine how much our standard work has changed and will continue to change. I imagine yours has as well.
This year, the conference will be fully in-person again, but with access to select on-demand content after the event. The conference will continue to incorporate what you have loved from the past several decades as well as new, innovative ideas that make the conference what has come to be known as one the most immersive, engaging and informative global lean events.
Quite appropriately, the AME Cleveland 2023 International Conference theme is ReImagining Excellence. And as continuous improvement leaders, our roles are to constantly reimagine how things could be improved—to make things simpler, better, faster and easier. We look for ways to continuously implement incremental adjustments intended to improve every process by enhancing the activities that generate the most value for our customers while removing as many waste activities as possible. Sometimes those improvements are big, but often they are small. What’s most important is they’re frequent.
As we know, continuous improvement today is not a luxury but rather an absolute requirement. Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we announce new conference programming, including engaging new (and some familiar) keynote speakers, interactive practitioner sessions, innovative workshops, exciting tours, a plethora of new networking opportunities and plenty of fun!
I remember my first AME conference over 10 years ago and how it felt different from other conferences I had attended. It was and continues to be the same engaging and welcoming event and the true sharing, learning, and growing that happens at AME.
In fact, the Forbes Technology Council members shared in "16 Can’t-Miss Industry Events Tech Leaders Look Forward To" that the AME Conference is one of their favorite industry events. They share that the AME conference “is unique in bringing together executives and practitioners to focus on industry 4.0, supply chain fundamentals and leadership. This is a great opportunity to see excellence in action with world-class tours of manufacturing facilities and to engage with fellow continuous improvement practitioners from across the globe.”
Before I log off for the week, I would like to congratulate AME Great Lakes Regional Board Member Deondra Wardelle for her nomination for the Indianapolis Center for Leadership Development Minority Achievers Award. This is a recognition by the community to celebrate the accomplishments of minority professionals, community leaders and CLD scholars.
As always, please stay safe and keep looking out for one another.
