If last week was sleepy, this week is slammin’! 5 webinars and 4 live events provide plenty of opportunities to learn, share and network. Of course, all of three of this week’s recommended webinars are on the 16th at either 1 or 2pm ET, so make your choice wisely.

If you are planning your webinar schedule beyond this week, I recommend ‘Disrupting Finance and Procurement: A Conversation with lululemon athletica About Digital Transformation’ from Coupa on June 19th. I love an opportunity to peek behind the curtain at well-known brands, and even though it is a webinar, I never give up hope that someone will figure out a way to offer free samples. (!)

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I have good news and less good news… The good news is that I added 8 webinars to the calendar on Friday (7 of which are in May). The less good news is that there are only 3 events to shoes from this week. Take a look at my comments below to see what I recommend.

If you are planning your webinar schedule beyond this week, I recommend ‘Executing a Successful Procurement Transformation’ hosted by Ivalua on May 29th. This webinar will be presented by Duncan Jones from Forrester Research on the study that generated so much buzz at the Ivalua NOW event in Paris a couple of weeks ago. If you are interested in some insights about the study, which focuses on the misalignment between procurement’s maturity and our perception of our maturity, you can visit Art of Procurement’s blog or read my own write up here on BMP.

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As we turn the calendar to May, there are already 8 webinars and 3 conferences listed. If you are planning your webinar schedule beyond this week, I recommend ‘Procurement: The Forgotten Member of the Supply Chain Function’ hosted on June 19th by SCNRadio, TalentStream, and APICS Atlanta and presented by Jonathan M. Townsley, CPM Supply Chain Practitioner & Consultant.

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I’ve been watching this week shape up for a while: Thursday is absolutely crazy. There are 7 events all on the same day, 2 at 1:00pm ET and 3 at 2:00pm ET. Great minds think alike, as they say.

If you are planning your webinar schedule beyond this week, I recommend ‘Achieving agile procurement in digital transformation’ from tealbook on May 2nd at 2pm ET. The event will feature an introductory presentation from A.T. Kearney Vice President Hugo Evans.

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After last week’s busy schedule – including a number of webinars and the ISM conference in Houston, this week falls back to a slower pace. I’m seeing a ‘clustering’ effect for the next two weeks, where a bunch of webinars are being offered, but they all seem to overlap. Even this week’s three recommended events all occur on Tuesday within a three-hour window.

If you are planning your webinar schedule beyond this week, I recommend ‘Accelerating Supplier Enabled Innovation – Harnessing the True Power of Supplier Relationship Management’ from Zycus and Four Pillars’ David Atkinson on April 23rd at 11am ET.

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In addition to the virtual events recommended below, this week also brings us ISM’s annual conference in Houston, TX. If you are going, make sure to go see my good friend Rod Sherkin (President of ProPurchaser). He’s presenting in the Challenges track on Tuesday morning at 10am: Cost Transparency– Catalyst for Achieving Negotiating Goals.

If you are planning your webinar schedule beyond this week, I recommend either ‘Supply Chain Tech Update: Drones & IoT’ from Supply Chain Now Radio, Talent Stream, and APICS Atlanta on April 26th at 12n ET or the next session of AoP Live: Automate Procurement Without Spending a Dime: Harness the Power of Group Purchasing on April 25th at 2pm ET from Art of Procurement and UNA GPO.

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If you look at the April events calendar, we have a funny dynamic shaping up this month. Nearly all of the webinars are on Thursdays! In fact, there is even one more event I’ll be adding to an April Thursday shortly. If you happen to be an event host or organizer, how about showing Tuesdays and Wednesdays a little love? You’ll have less competition, that’s for sure!

If you are planning your webinar schedule beyond this week, I recommend ‘Your Contracts Are A Goldmine’ from IACCM and ContractPodAi on April 9th at 11am ET.

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Are you ready for this? There are 12 webinars between Tuesday and Thursday this week – in addition to ProcureCon Indirect East taking place Monday through Wednesday. If you’re going to be at ProcureCon, be sure to catch Philip Ideson and Joanna Martinez in the Negotiator’s Boardroom on Day 2 at 9:50 am.

If you are planning your webinar schedule beyond this week, I recommend ‘COST TRANSPARENCY - A Catalyst for Achieving Negotiating Goals’ from Rod Sherkin, President of ProPurchaser, on April 25th at 1pm ET.

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I added nine new events to the calendar this week, and they are all taking place in the next three weeks – concentrated around just four dates. When you look at the full calendar, check out March 19, 26 and 28 and April 4.

If you are planning your webinar schedule beyond this week, I recommend ‘How to Tie Wellness Into Strategy’ from C-suite Network and Rx2Live on March 26th at 2pm ET. I don’t know much about either of the organizations associated with this event, and I honestly don’t know how I got on their mailing list, but the topic is refreshingly new. I know AI and transformation and machine learning are important, but its nice to have an alternative. As we turn the page to spring, we could all probably use a new bounce in our step by balancing our strategic performance with our holistic well-being.

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As we crawl towards spring, there are plenty of webinars taking place, but also some live events happening over the next few weeks. ProcureCon Indirect East is Florida on March 25-27 and Ariba Live is in Austin, Texas April 1-3.

If you are planning your webinar schedule beyond this week, I recommend a new listing from HfS Research on March 28th at 11am ET: ‘Integrated Automation: Why You’ve Been Doing It All Wrong’. This panel formal webinar will feature speakers from HfS, KPMG, and a ‘mystery’ Chief Data Officer “To be Announced”.

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This week is much slower than last week with only two events currently on the calendar. As of right now it looks like the reverse of the proverbial saying about March: on our calendar it is coming in like a lamb but shaping up to go out like a lion. If you are planning your webinar schedule further in advance, there are two different events I recommend looking at.

The first is an Ivalua sponsored event focused on The Hackett Group’s Procurement Key Issues 2019 CPO Report on March 26th at 11am. Philip Ideson (Art of Procurement) and I discussed some of the most interesting findings of the report re: procurement’s capability needs v. investment on last week’s This Month in Procurement podcast.

The other event you may want to check out is from ProcureAbility and SIG – also on March 26th. The webinar is titled ‘Category Management in Only 30 Days!’ (their exclamation point). It will help you anticipate the gaps and minefields that might otherwise prevent you from rolling out a category management program… yes, in only 30 days.

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We have another busy week on the calendar with a focus on - contracts! All three of this week’s picks take a completely different look at the topic, from automation to economics to the incorporation of taxes. If you are planning your webinar schedule further in advance, I recommend ‘What happens after due diligence? Don’t stop there.’ from LexisNexis on March 5th.

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This week and next week are busy, with 8 webinars currently scheduled for each. One thing I’ve noticed since starting back up in January is that webinar hosts are posting events with a bit less lead time than usual – sometimes less than a week – so make it part of your routine to look at our full calendar each Monday (or Friday afternoon) if you’d like to see a complete list.

If you are planning your webinar schedule further in advance, I recommend The Future of Procurement: Apps, Talent, & Innovation from Ardent Partners and Tradeshift on February 28th at 1pm ET.

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The month of February is quickly filling up, and we had several last minute additions to the calendar for this week. If you are planning further in advance, I recommend ‘Vested for Success - An Innovative Approach to Complex Services Acquisition’ from Public Spend Forum and Vested’s Kate Vitasek on February 20th.

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As we start the month of February, events about 2019 planning are starting to give way to events with broader themes: specifically digital transformation and AI. In fact, 2019 may just be the year of ‘More of What We Saw in 2018’. I’ll continue looking for a new topic, but until then: transformation and automation it is!

If you are planning further in advance, I recommend an upcoming event from Philip Ideson at Art of Procurement: AOP Live. It is all about getting participants to engage with subject matter experts rather than zoning out or dozing off during an overly scripted slide-driven webinar. In February, AOP Live will feature Sammeli Sammalkorpi (Sievo) in a discussion about Establishing Your Procurement AI Game Plan.

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If you have a tendency to look ahead to Friday every week, just a warning: Friday is the start of February. (What?) On the bright side, industry webinar hosts seem to have gotten back into the swing of things after the holidays, as I added 7 new webinars to the calendar this week.

If you are planning further in advance, I recommend 'The Psychology & Business Case for Workplace Organization' on Feb. 15th from Supply Chain Now Radio, Talent Stream, APICS Atlanta, and Beau Groover, Founder & President of The Effective Syndicate.

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Although the two webinars I’ve recommended below are generally applicable, this week’s webinars also include a two specific applications of procurement process and technology in Higher Ed. Check out the full events calendar if you are interested. If you are planning beyond this week, take a peek at Tradeshift’s event on e-Invoicing and supply chain finance on January 31st or Coupa’s webinar about strategic sourcing optimization on February 19th. Both of those are good bets for expanding your knowledge.

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Welcome back – and happy new year! We are officially kicking off 2019 with this week’s webinar recommendations. If you are looking for a longer term recommendation, check out ‘Hey Nineteen: Procurement’s Playbook for 2019’ from SIG and Zycus on January 29th at 1pm ET. It will feature the findings from The Hackett Group’s 2019 “Procurement Key Issues” survey, including key topics such as the acceleration of digital transformation in procurement and a look at the ongoing strategic initiatives and technology adoption trends that support it.

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So… this is it. This is the last week of webinar recommendations for 2018. There are no less than 12 events taking place this week (and one on the calendar for next week). My official events coverage will start again for the week of January 7th, but I’ve already started adding events to January, so feel free to peek ahead. If you are planning your webinar schedule beyond this week (or year!), I recommend ‘5 Steps to Reach AP Excellence in 2019’ from basware and Ardent Partners on January 15th.

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I can’t even believe it is December already. And if you thought your personal schedule was out of control, you should look at this weeks’ calendar!! The November ISM-New York Report on Business will be released on Tuesday, December 4th at 9:45am ET and Public Spend Forum is hosting a Happy Hour in Arlington, VA that same evening. If you are planning your webinar schedule beyond this week, I recommend ‘Understand the Risk Big Picture — It Doesn't Stop at Supplier Risk’ from riskmethods’ Bill DiMartino and Peter Smith on December 13th at 9am ET).

Right now it still looks like December 10-14 will be the last week of webinar recommendations for this year. I’ll know for sure next week, but I’ll absolutely start them again on January 7th.

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