Often it’s the success of a company as a whole that takes center stage. But while greater profit margins make headlines in the annual report, it is critical to hear from the individuals who work hard every day to drive better performance across the business. Especially in the logistics industry, where change can take time to implement, it’s important to celebrate the smaller wins that make those big wins possible. The individuals who work in the FourKites platform on a daily basis to improve their supply chains are the true champions of visibility.
You may have heard about FourKites’ annual Visibility conference – the industry’s largest user conference that brings together hundreds of visibility champions across our customer base. No sales, no vendors, just pure mindshare, networking and a celebration of our collective progress as a visibility community.
Here’s why you should be motivated to present at Visibility:
- Position yourself as a thought leader and enhance your CV. When you’re active in your industry, you can develop a reputation as an expert to your peers and supply chain partners. While experts don’t necessarily have all the answers, they do help advance the conversation. Presenting at a conference does just that. And if you want to become an official expert in supply chain visibility, learn more about FourKites certification here.
- Network with peers. Industry conferences provide a valuable opportunity to network – even more so when you take an active role by becoming a presenter. Attending your session (or even just skimming the abstract) gives others insight into your work and sets the foundation for more productive conversations throughout the event. Collaboration and idea-sharing is easier when you identify common ground early on.
- Improve your presentation and communication skills. In an emerging market like real-time supply chain visibility, early adopters often find themselves in the role of educator, explaining to others about their visibility program, what technology they are using and what business objectives they are achieving as a result of this initiative. Conferences give you an invaluable opportunity to practice these skills. Presenting your work and accomplishments to an audience of like-minded supply chain professionals will improve your ability to communicate the value of these projects to stakeholders within your organization and throughout your career.
- Be an advocate for supply chain visibility. No discipline thrives in a vacuum. More attention = more participation = more innovation. This is especially true when machine learning and big data are involved, because calculations improve based on the amount of data that’s fed into the algorithm. Speak out at Visibility and be an advocate for growing this community. The bigger the real-time visibility community gets, the more we all benefit!
- Contribute to the product roadmap of customer-driven innovation. FourKites has always been dedicated to a customer-driven product roadmap. In fact, our most impactful products have come about through close collaboration with our customers (see that collaboration in action at our first Innovation Workshop) – including Lane Connect, which was recently updated with additional criteria at the suggestion of one customer, and CarrierLink, which we relaunched last year based on direct driver input. User conferences are a great time for such collaboration and brainstorming, and as a presenter, you will be able to make your voice heard even more.
So, have we convinced you yet? Apply by March 20 for your opportunity to speak at Visibility 2020!
