Sessions

2024 sessions will be updated as the committee firms up plans. See below for the 2023 sessions.

Speaker Session Title Session Description
Tom Flick
Leading Change - Empowering Successful Transformation Adapting and changing quickly can mean the difference between an organization thriving or dying. Leaders’ ability to successfully lead through change is paramount to fully realizing its opportunities and avoiding hazards. When a significant change arises, getting it right becomes imperative. Leading Change will equip leaders with the proper understanding of how successful change is created. Organizations that lead change effectively can take advantage of significant opportunities, avoid looming hazards, and thereby create enormous value.
Dale Ford, ECIA Electronics Components Industry Analysis and Outlook

In this session, Chief Analyst Dale Ford will share the latest ECIA research, analyze recent trends, and assess the current health of the supply chain. An exciting future will be explored with glimpses of technologies that will propel the electronics industry and the world into a bright future! 

Geoff Forman and Graham Kilshaw, Lectrix The Present and Future of AI: Anticipated Developments, Implications, and Regulations

We've all heard about it. Generative AI reshaped the expectations for 2023 and it will have a longstanding impact on your business, whether that’s in operational tools or end customer applications. But outside of “AI will take our jobs!”, what does it mean for sales and marketing? Join Graham Kilshaw and Geoffrey Forman of Lectrix for a session that isn’t “The Top 10 Prompts for ChatGPT.” Instead, they’ll discuss AI as an expansion of your resources, the rapidly changing platform ecosystem, and risks ranging from uncertain regulations to accidental plagiarism and intentional theft.  

Jake Hall, Manufacturing Millennial  Digital Marketing: Technology and Workforce

The industry is changing. Older generations are retiring from the workforce, and companies are scrambling to fill needed roles and adapt to a transforming industry. How can we better understand future generations and, more importantly how are automation and technology going to impact the way they work? Can things like digital marketing, AI, ChatGPT, and social media support your company and employees and excite them more about their jobs? In this keynote, we will highlight how companies are finding success in:

  • Better understanding the future generations in your industry.
  • Adopting and leveraging technology that will empower future employees.
  • Finding new strategies to engage your customers and grow your impact.
Jake Hall, Manufacturing Millennial and panel Recruiting Talent to the Electronic Components Industry

What attracts incoming talent to our industry? In this session, you will gain insights into what motivates individuals to enter the electronic components industry and how to attract and retain talent. Hear from a panel consisting of a few individuals that participated in the ECIA Industry Recruiting Focus Groups and what they find crucial when choosing and keeping a position in our industry. This session will reveal recent research from the focus groups about best practices in recruitment efforts as well as information on what the next generation finds attractive in company culture and more. 

Rebecca Heiss
FEAR(LESS)™ Mindset What's Your Story

Finding Adventure in Ambiguity. Our brains aren’t built for this rapidly changing world… But they are adaptable. By consciously crafting a mindset that helps us lean into these challenges rather than treat them as threats, we’ll be able to avoid the burnout, frustration, and turnover that might otherwise plague us and our clients. And, perhaps most importantly, we can deepen the connections we had to the purpose and people that drew us into this industry we love to begin with. This session will provide tools to:

  1. Re-categorize stress as a strength that can drive performance.
  2. Utilize a 3-step scientific technique to shift stress mindsets from ordeal to adventure.
  3. Enable positive communication, ideation, and creative collaborations to lead through ambiguity with a beginner’s mind.
Ben Nemtin Leading with Purpose

Driving teams to thrive today requires new strategies for connecting and getting results. Retention and engagement are major issues as old leadership models don’t deliver like they once did. Effective leaders must go deeper and show empathy and understanding to help teams reach their true potential. When team members truly feel that their leadership and organization cares about their personal and their professional development, that’s where the magic happens.

One of the best ways to help your team gain purpose is to connect with them around their personal and professional goals. As the lines between personal and professional lives blur, it’s time for leaders to develop the whole person. 

David Loftus, ECIA

ECIA State of the Association with Special Guest

David Loftus will give an update on the Association, projects, membership and more. Then David, ECIA Board Chair Mark Shiring, and ECIA Manufacturer Council Chair Tom Wichert will chat with US Department of Commerce Assistant Secretary Matt Axelrod on the state of US export controls.

Riad Nizam, Master Electronics

Building a Winning Culture & High Performance

A winning culture can make the biggest difference in the world for your organization and team members. This session will provide a fun high energy atmosphere in learning just this. Attendees will gain knowledge on how to build a winning culture while still achieving high performance. The audience will learn 2-3 easy and low-cost ways to help achieve a winning culture in their organizations. 

Dennis Reed, Edgewater Research Trends Shaping the Industry

In the last few years, the electronics industry has dealt with unprecedented challenges and sharp swings in demand across virtually all markets served by the industry. In this discussion, we will reflect on what we have experienced and how that will affect the future trends shaping the industry. This session will provide both a top down and bottoms up look at the key markets and trends that are shaping the industry.

Luca Silipo, Geodis  Supply Chains and Corporate Social Value Proposition

We are well aware of the power and risks embedded within the concept of supply chains. They redefine how we manufacture, often shifting production from local neighborhoods to global landscapes. While they might seem like a matter of convenience, driven by cost-effectiveness and capital optimization, supply chains embody a far deeper significance. What if we view them as the paramount framework for social sustainability? In this perspective, products serve as more than mere commodities; they become intricate social connections, offering a unique opportunity to celebrate our society and reflect on its profound significance for us. Let's embark on a collective journey toward shaping a corporate social value proposition… through products.

Cliff Waldman, New World Economics
Global Economic Update

Cliff Waldman will overview the outlook for a global economy that is burdened by slowing yet persistently high inflation, financial fragility and rising geopolitical tensions. Cliff will explain the seemingly chaotic data in the U.S. and elsewhere in the context of market adjustments to a post-pandemic normality. He will discuss the implications of his presentation for the U.S. manufacturing outlook and for the electronic components outlook.