I’m continuing to add new webinars to the calendar at a blazing fast pace. Over a dozen new events hit this week, quickly filling in what had previously looked like a rather bleak April. I’ve also noticed a shift away from the 2pm ET time slot and towards something that overlaps with a WHF ‘lunchbreak’.

If you are planning your schedule further ahead, I recommend checking out the weekly webinar series from Tealbook. Every Wednesday at 12n ET, they are holding a 30-minute webinar on the supplier data crisis now through May 13^th. Each webinar will feature a thought leader like Chris Sawchuck, Walter Charles, or Tim Herrod.

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The March ISM-New York Report on Business was released on April 2nd at 9:45am Eastern and is available for download here 2020_ISM-NewYork_March_ROB_v01.pdf. Please see the end of this commentary for additional information about the ISM-New York Report on Business.

This week and last week were incredibly busy, quickly filling up with COVID-19 webinars and in-person events going personal. Now that we’ve gotten through the initial blast, it looks like things may be slowing down for the month of April. I’ll continue updating the calendar weekly, adding events as I learn about them.

If you are planning your schedule further ahead, I recommend, How to Quarantine Your 3rd Party Relationships (IACCM, Determine) on April 7^th at 11am ET.

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When life hands you lemons… right? On the one hand, we’re all trapped in our homes with spouses, kids, and pets, trying to make sense of this new reality. On the other hand, I’ve never had so many pleasant, optimistic calls with colleagues in my whole life. This is and amazing and resilient community! Oh, and there are 12 webinars this week – 6 of which I added to the calendar yesterday.

If you are planning your schedule further ahead, I’m going to go big picture this week… I recommend going back to the office and sending your kids back to the school. Go to a store, meet a friend for lunch, HUG… shake hands… date TBA.

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I am still tracking updates to live events throughout the procurement industry and listing them here. It is safe to assume that most March events are not taking place, but we are also starting to see cancellations about April events as well.

If you are planning your webinar schedule further ahead, I recommend “Benchmark Your Digital Innovation Maturity” from Siemens on March 24th. They are a webinar host we haven’t featured before, and the event will focus on recent research into the digital maturity of 150 companies.

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You’ve probably heard that many industry events – not just in procurement – are being cancelled out of an abundance of caution in the face of the coronavirus threat. I’m tracking some of those updates here, and I will continue to update that post as additional information becomes available. All of the events affected so far are this month, but there are quite a few events on the calendar for April and May, and we’re watching for decisions and news about those.

The whole world is trying to figure out how to respond to the coronavirus threat. As a result, we're starting to hear news of procurement industry event cancellations. We will track news of them in this post, making updates as the news comes in.

Many of the events listed below are going 'virtual', so click on the link for each event to read their official announcement.

If you are running an event or hear word of a cancellation that is not listed here, please contact me here.

The February ISM-New York Report on Business was released on March 3rd at 9:45am Eastern and is available for download here. Please see the end of this commentary for additional information about the ...

When we start to have spring weather, it can only mean one thing: the spring conference season is not far behind. This year ISM’s annual conference will be in Boston – my hometown – and so I’m looking forward to meeting many connections that have only been virtual until now. If you are going to ISM, you may want to check out the 2020 ExecIn, hosted by Corcentric. ExecIn is a private, invitation-only conference where supply management senior executive leaders gather for networking, panel discussions, strategic educational sessions on current hot topics and networking with fellow thought leaders.

If you are planning your webinar schedule further ahead, I recommend “How Best-in-Class Organizations Leverage Intelligent Automation” from Everest Group on March 12th at 10am ET.  

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This content was posted on the ATSC blog on February 24, 2020 Acute awareness of China’s impact on global business has been front and center since the onset of the Coronavirus health emergency in late...

This week started out looking kind of bleak, and then at the last minute there were several excellent additions to the events calendar. I’ve recommended what I see as the best below, but you can look at the full calendar to see what else is scheduled this week and into March.

If you are planning your webinar schedule further ahead, I recommend “Top 10 Supply Chain Risk Trends in 2020 – The Big Reveal” from Supply Chain Now and Resilience360 on March 5^th at 11am ET.

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The following are our webinar recommendations for the coming week – selected based on topics and speakers. If you are planning your webinar schedule further ahead, I recommend “Managing Supply Ecosystems“ from IACCM on March 2 at 11am ET.

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For anyone in the Atlanta, GA area who wants to meet an amazing group of procurement professionals, you’ll want to check out the ProcuremenTalks event this Wednesday from 6-8:30pm: Procurement Nightmares, Trainwrecks & Meltdowns: Tales of Lessons Learned.

If you are planning your webinar schedule further ahead, I recommend “Southwest Airlines Gets Jiffy With Automation: An Underdog RPA Tale Driven By Cultural Fit And Ease Of Use” from HfS Research and Jiffy.ai on February 20^th at 11am ET.

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The January ISM-New York Report on Business was released on February 4th at 9:45am Eastern and is available for download here: 2020_ISM-NewYork_January_ROB_v02.pdf. Please see the end of this commentary for additional information about the ISM-New York Report on Business.

In January, New York City purchasing managers reported Current Business Conditions that - while improved - still failed to reach the breakeven point.

In addition to the webinars listed below, this is the first week of the month – meaning all of the economic reports come out. The ISM Manufacturing Report on Business comes out today, followed by the Non-Manufacturing Report on Business on Wednesday. ISM-New York’s Report on Business is in between on Tuesday, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) monthly jobs report will be out on Friday. 

If you are planning your webinar schedule further ahead, I recommend Supply Chain Now’s Interactive Global Forum on March 25th at 3pm ET. They are holding an open-door session to discuss the key trends and developments taking place across the global end-to-end supply chain community.

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If you’ve been a long time follower and reader of the Buyers Meeting Point blog, you know that economics is a key part of the coverage we provide. As the Business Survey Chair for the ISM-New York Report on Business, I have the responsibility for taking the monthly surveys completed by purchasing managers in the New York Metro area and interpreting them, looking for insights and trends on demand for professional services. This report, along with the other regional and the national ISM manufacturing and non-manufacturing reports, are often based on data collected for one purpose and then leveraged for another.

One commonality that I’ve noticed in webinars, blog posts and discussions recently is that digital transformation is getting REAL this year. No more nonsense. We’re over the hype, past the buzz and bored by the generalized razzle dazzle (jazz hands!). Expect to see more of this in 2020… as procurement gets smarter, service and solution providers will have to overcome our skepticism and critical thinking, focusing on the reality of digital transformation and the hard work required to make it successful.

If you are planning your webinar schedule further ahead, I recommend ‘Supporting C-Level Digital Initiatives with Business Spend Management’ from Coupa and Mickey North Rizza, IDC’s Vice President of Enterprise Applications Research.

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In addition to the virtual events listed below, I added a big ‘IRL’ event to the calendar this week. The Atlanta Supply Chain Awards are being hosted in part by our friends at the Supply Chain Now podcast. They are now taking registrations as well as nominations for multiple award categories. Click here to learn more.

If you are planning your webinar schedule further ahead, I recommend ‘Trends and Innovations in Print’ from Sarah Scudder and the team at Procurement Foundry on February 5th at 1pm ET.

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Happy new year everyone! We’re officially back after a holiday break that was far busier than I would have expected. Not only are there quite a few events listed for January, I’ve already been adding events to February.

If you are planning your webinar schedule further ahead, I recommend ‘Managing Risk in the Next Decade’from riskmethods’ General Manager of North America Bill DeMartino on January 21st.

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The December ISM-New York Report on Business was released on January 3rd at 9:45am Eastern and is available for download here. Please see the end of this commentary for additional information about the ISM-New York Report on Business.