In addition to the events listed below, we also get one other fantastic gift this week – we FINALLY get to turn the calendar from April to May. I can’t think that I’m the only person that is past ready to bid farewell to April 2020 forever. If you are planning your schedule further ahead, I recommend “Contract Management Tips to Prepare for the Next Global Pandemic!” from IACCM and ContractPodAI on May 5th. BTW: If you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list to be sure you get my weekly recommendations in your inbox each Monday.

We have another strong week of events this week – in fact, you may have noticed that there are several webinar series being hosted in the industry right now. The events this week from Tealbook and Corcentric are part of series where you can register once and receive sign in information for the entire series. If you are planning your schedule further ahead, I’d love to have you sign up to join me on an event next week hosted by Fairmarkit and also featuring Jill Robbins, Senior Director of Global Indirect Procurement at Elanco, and Erin McFarlane, Head of Strategy at Fairmarkit, Click here to register. BTW: If you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list to be sure you get my weekly recommendations in your inbox each Monday.

If you want to attend a webinar about COVID-19, you have plenty to choose from. The reality is, every webinar about every topic is being either officially or unofficially reworked to reflect the world's short-term focus on the pandemic or longer-term projections about what may come next. A word of caution about predictions: consider your own ‘visibility horizon’. How far into the future can you look and say with any level of certainty what will happen? Don’t assume that, just because someone seems authoritative, they have more information than you do. Take in all of the quality information you can, and then make your decisions locally. If you are planning your schedule further ahead, another weekly webinar series just hit the calendar. Corcentric will host a webinar each Thursday for the next three weeks (starting on April 16th) focused on Navigating During Disruption. BTW: If you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list to be sure you get my weekly recommendations in your inbox each Monday.

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 13th. Each webinar will feature a thought leader like Chris Sawchuck, Walter Charles, or Tim Herrod. BTW: If you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list to be sure you get my weekly recommendations in your inbox each Monday.

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 7th at 11am ET. BTW: If you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list to be sure you get my weekly recommendations in your Inbox each Monday.

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. BTW: If you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list to be sure you get my weekly recommendations in your Inbox each Monday.

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. BTW: If you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list to be sure you get my weekly recommendations in your Inbox each Monday.

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.

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.   BTW: If you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list to be sure you get my weekly recommendations in your Inbox each Monday.

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 5th at 11am ET. BTW: If you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list to be sure you get my weekly recommendations in your Inbox each Monday.

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. BTW: If you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list to be sure you get my weekly recommendations in your Inbox each Monday.

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 20th at 11am ET. BTW: If you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list to be sure you get my weekly recommendations in your Inbox each Monday.

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. BTW: If you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list to be sure you get my weekly recommendations in your Inbox each Monday.

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. BTW: If you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list to be sure you get my weekly recommendations in your Inbox each Monday.