Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1433652
16 SMT007 MAGAZINE I DECEMBER 2021 Supplier X and can help them be successful, their business will get better, and, in turn, I've got a supplier that's going to value me and I'm going to have more access to the things I need." Matties: I was reviewing the technical pro- gram for APEX EXPO, specifically looking at who is presenting, the type of businesses, and the company names. ere's a very nice cross- section between industry suppliers, fabrica- tors, and manufacturers. And you have a lot of OEMs—Intel, Bose, and John Deere, to name a few—all making presentations. To your point, this is an excellent opportunity for the indus- try to collaborate. Here, they can find infor- mation to bring efficiencies into their factories and find out what the challenges are that they need to be preparing for, as if they don't have enough. Mitchell: You can learn from your neighbor. For- tunately, I have the opportunity to chat with, as you guys do, industry leaders all around the world. When we started hosting weekly calls for our executive forum at the beginning of the pandemic, with many people calling in, some had already lived through some of COVID in China. Industry leaders on the call were able to share those procedures here in North Ameri- ca very candidly, which was very helpful to ev- eryone. at's the same type of thing that can happen here at APEX EXPO when discussing chal- lenges such as the supply chain issues. ere are people who have found ways to figure this out, and by sharing their knowledge in pro- fessional development courses, attendees can walk away with such great knowledge from APEX EXPO that they can literally solve prob- lems the next day. Matties: Over the last couple of years, we have developed a new way of doing business, wheth- er we like it or not—the virtual, the Zoom meetings—and as we pointed out earlier in our conversation, this may be the first or one of the first shows that people are attending since the pandemic began. Do you think the attendees are coming with a different goal or priority to this event? Mitchell: Perhaps. I'm curious about this one myself, frankly. I think part of the priority will be to have that face-to-face conversation and to reconnect with different people. One of the hardest things to do virtually is to make new connections because you just don't have that trust that you've developed over the years. It's easy for me to call you up and say, "Hey Barry, let's chat via Zoom." at's a super easy thing to do. It's not necessarily an easy thing for me to reach out to somebody I've never met before and have them say, "Yeah, let's have a Zoom chat." But if I've met them before and can make that connection, then I can easier maintain that connection easier. While it may not always be true, I've found there are certain types of connections that just don't lend themselves to finding a new person you've never heard of in a virtual environment. But coming to a conference like this, where like-minded people—many that you've never met before—are showing up and sharing their