Experience Senior-Level Education and Networking
The North American Wholesale Lumber Association (NAWLA) Leadership Summit is known across the forest products industry as the event where decision makers come together to gain knowledge and establish connections that allow them to expand their businesses.
Seventy-three percent of 2020 event attendees indicated they learned something new that will help them change their approach and/or grow their company, and another 20 percent responded “maybe” to the same question.
The value of Leadership Summit is also demonstrated by attendee feedback such as this from Ralph Beckley of Stella-Jones dba/McFarland Cascade, who said the event is, “A great opportunity to discuss current problems and disconnects within the industry and what others are doing to overcome.”
NAWLA is not able to host the event in March 2021 in-person due to the continued impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the organization is excited to announce its newly confirmed plans to host NAWLA Leadership Summit: The Virtual Experience, March 16-17, 2021.
As with the in-person Leadership Summit, the virtual experience is open to all decision makers within the forest products industry, including those from retailers, buying groups, jobbers and all other segments across the supply chain.
The virtual event will feature high-caliber content for forest product industry executives, focused on trends, insights and best practices from industry leaders that will help attendees shape future business decisions and maximize profitability.
While agenda details are still being finalized, past-event speakers have included c-suite professionals including CEOs and presidents, and those who lead supply chain and logistics, marketing, account management and other key functions at top manufacturers, wholesale distributors, and transportation and technology providers. The 2021 event is expected to deliver a similar line-up of experts and innovators.
“The agenda for the virtual NAWLA Leadership Summit will be condensed into two days to enable greater engagement with the programming,” said NAWLA Executive Director Scott Parker. “As a result of this streamlined offering, and costs savings associated with hosting a virtual experience, NAWLA is able to offer a reduced registration fee to 2021 event attendees. Attendees will also benefit from cost savings resulting from not having to travel to an in-person Leadership Summit. We hope this means that more industry decision makers are able to tune in and stay with us throughout the event.”
Networking is another top-rated aspect of the Leadership Summit, as evidenced by this comment from 2020 attendee Dave Destiche of Amerihart Ltd. He said, “I benefit every time I am able to network with my peers at this event. I hear new perspectives on industry topics/ issues every year.”
To help facilitate relationship-building, the Leadership Summit agenda also includes several virtual networking activities. NAWLA will enlist the Icebreaker platform, a highly rated feature of the recent NAWLA Exchange virtual event, for Leadership Summit. The tool pairs individuals for rounds of speed networking, and provides sample questions you can ask of the person you’ve been matched with to help get a conversation started.
In addition to this 1:1 activity, NAWLA will offer a group networking session highlighting unique elements of Fort Lauderdale, the destination for its 2022 in-person Leadership Summit event.
Within the virtual event platform, attendees will also have the opportunity to send private messages to other registered participants, and schedule individual or group meetings, in one central location. Those meetings will be integrated into each attendees’ schedule for ease of access throughout the event.
For those seeking to learn more about new products and services available from suppliers and service providers, NAWLA will provide dedicated virtual tabletop time on the schedule, as well as sessions hosted by event sponsors.
Registration is now available for NAWLA Leadership Summit: The Virtual Experience. To learn more about the event or to register, visit nawla.org.
