People in Production Podcast with Ryan Nelson

Episode 12 - Katherine O'Toole Previews March 2025 and Beyond

• Circle of 5

Share episode

This episode brings to light the dynamic happenings within the Kansas City manufacturing community. As we discuss the future events lined up, you'll get a look into the collaborative energy driving the chapter. 

• Recap of February activities, including the brew night and networking success 
• Insights from the Missouri Association Manufacturers Tradeshow and Conference and shared experiences 
• Announcement of the joint chapter event and its significance 
• Highlights of the She Leads meeting and its focus on empowering women in manufacturing 
• Encouragement for member engagement and the value of authentic connections 

Check out the Webinar on "Getting the Most out of Your NTMA Membership" Live on 3/6/25 @ 3:00 PM (CST) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNmqDLn_Jp8


Register for Ryan's webinar - "Why Your Leadership Funnel Is Broken: Stop Fishing in a Pond You Never Stocked" - https://meeting.zoho.com/meeting/register?sessionId=1071061220


Speaker 1:

All right, folks, welcome to the People in Production podcast. This is episode 12, and for this episode I have the opportunity to talk with Catherine O'Toole again. She's given us a preview of the month of March here in the Kansas City chapter of the KCNTMA, and Catherine's going to share some of what's going on in March and in April and in May and beyond, and she brings the Catherine energy. You're going to love her energy. You're going to love her energy. You're going to love the vision and I think you're going to notice her passion. She loves what she does and the people that she's doing it for. So check out this interview with Catherine on what's Coming Ahead for KCNTME. All right, catherine, we are back again. This is our March update, where we give people a look at what we've done in the past and where we're going in March. And I just want to say what a month February was.

Speaker 2:

I'm trying to settle my eye twitch because we got a lot going on but we accomplished a lot of good things and it was a great month for us. I feel like it was a great month of coming together at our brew night, our networking night. We got to welcome our national chapter relations manager here to the Kansas networking night. We got to welcome our national chapter relations manager here to the Kansas City area. We got to go to Branson together. Ryan, you were an amazing presenter. It was awesome. Yes, at the Midwest Manufacturer Show.

Speaker 1:

Well, thank you for that. It was great. Let's break this up a little bit. So let's talk about the brew night, member appreciation night. Let's be honest, I actually I have flashbacks to our very early in the month she leads meeting where we brought in an amazing speaker from the Hutchison area to address imposter syndrome.

Speaker 2:

We had over 50 ladies RSVP. We started with a group of eight, up to 50. I was feeling ecstatic. And then we had this super sneaky ice storm come in and trap people on the highway for three hours, keep people stuck in their cul-de-sacs at home, schools canceled everywhere and it was such an epic disappointment because she really brought it and it was such a great presentation and I thought this is going to happen again. It's negative 12. Nobody's going to come out. But yes, we've flown, kiernan, I mean, you can't go back on that she's already coming.

Speaker 1:

Her flight has landed, you know but I was shocked.

Speaker 2:

We had over 60 individuals come out. It was a great night, people. I didn't even know hadn't received an RSVP from. It was wonderful, the more the merrier we wanted to celebrate members, potential members, answer questions, and we were able to do that, so it was a great success.

Speaker 1:

I love it and I was fully. I was at a conference that week and I was coming back and I was getting back that day and then, like on the drive back, home.

Speaker 2:

We didn't want you to come.

Speaker 1:

And so I really I knew I was missing out because you had a great guest, you had a great community plan and I hated not being there.

Speaker 2:

but what I love about KCMTMA- if you miss one thing, just join the next thing. We're trying to plan things at all different times of the day. I get it. I have three kids. Everybody has things all the time. Maybe a breakfast works, maybe a lunch, maybe a happy hour, so hopefully there's another option for people that miss something.

Speaker 1:

Well, I love that. And so now let's talk about we had several people that, and so now let's talk about we had several people I think there were 10 or 11 people that went down to Branson later in the month of February. Tell us about the Missouri Association of Manufacturers trade show and conference. How did you experience that? What did you think of that conference?

Speaker 2:

So it was a brand new experience for me and over 130 vendor booths, powerhouse breakout sessions and speakers. I felt it was phenomenal and I think it was just a great time for our group as well, and, ryan, you got to lead a board training session for us. I think that we all appreciated that and the insight that we were able to take away from it yeah, love it.

Speaker 1:

You know, at that session what I did was I do an assessment tool with something called AccuMax Index and people take this and then we can see how they show up in their workplace and what that means to the board.

Speaker 2:

See where all the dots played out on the chart there and who was a leader in what area.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and see where are our strengths as an organization and that type of thing. It was a lot of fun to go through that and I appreciated that opportunity. And then, yeah, as you mentioned, I got to do a workshop for the conference and just talk about developing that mid-level leadership how do we turn a technician into someone that's a supervisor and talked about some of the tools that organizations can use for that. So that was a blast.

Speaker 2:

I really loved it, but we are jointly going to be hosting a manufacturing expo here in Kansas City in October with Ma'am, and we could not be more excited to welcome that group of individuals who are very strong in Central and Southern Missouri, into our greater Kansas City community and showing off what our members do really, and that's what that event is all about to look at the capabilities of our member shops, to look at who does what best and who they can do business with to help them as well and so this is really an event for you as a manufacturer, to come and brag on yourself.

Speaker 1:

This is a quality for you, and this is what we do.

Speaker 2:

I know some people are like I'm not setting up next to my competitor. No, that's not what this is about. This year is about breaking down the barrier of competition, focusing on individual company strengths and playing to those. And we want to bring in the OEMs, we want to bring in the industry partners, but what we really want to focus on is our manufacturers and their capabilities. We want everybody to know what Kansas City manufacturing facilities can do. You know, Fred and I were talking about this a little bit.

Speaker 1:

And again, this is coming out next fall. So not to be confused yeah, this coming fall, out next fall. Um, so not to be confused or yeah, yep, this coming fall, excuse me. And not to be confused with this event we're going to talk about in a little bit in april. But um, one of the things fred and I talked about um at the conference is listen, this is an event for you to show your stuff so that we can draw more business here. If you want to have someone from your team to see the other businesses in the area, make sure you bring multiple people so that one of you can staff your exhibit.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, and I would say not just for this event but for all of our events Don't just bring one. Ntma is not limited to one individual. You should have quality there, you should have an estimator there, you should have a sales manager there. You should bring the people so that they can develop their networks, develop themselves as a leader and benefit your company.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome, catherine. I love the energy you're bringing to it. We talked about what happened in February. We talked about what's happening this coming fall. Let's arrow in right now, for those people that are listening. Let's talk about the month of March.

Speaker 1:

I know that we are doing a joint thing in March. On March 6th at three o'clock that's just in a couple of days we are having a conversation with the chapter executive director in St Louis and with you and with some members, and we're just going to talk about how to get the most out of your NTMA membership. So that's just going to be a casual conversation just to offer some perspective to our members about what's going on and what they can do. So I'm going to be hosting that event. It's just going to be an online thing and if you can't be there for the live thing at three o'clock, no stress, that's okay. It's going to be hosted at my Circle of Five YouTube page. So if someone wants to go to Circle of Five coaching on YouTube, check that out. But that's just going to be a fun conversation. What are you excited about?

Speaker 2:

Well, st Louis is a very dynamic chapter and they're a long-standing chapter. They have a few more regular members metal manufacturers than we do, and they this year I just heard Shelly report today on a chapter executive call. They're doing an event plus every month also. So she is bringing people together and they are turning up and they are hopefully going to turn out for our joint chapter event here in April. And we are going to prep CaseyC members for that joint chapter event with a leaders luncheon on March the 28th that's a Friday and we are going to talk about how to network for success. So not just showing up, but showing up with a purpose when you come to these networking events. Like I said, st Louis has it going on. We need to find out who these members are, what they're doing and how we can part to get and how we can partner together. There's really no reason to be sending things to the coast or out of our region if there's somebody here that can do it and do it well. So let's start with St Louis.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love it. So many of our people are like, man, I want to give it to local business here in Kansas City. But if Kansas City can't do it, who's close to me that it's going to be. It's going to be a good, long term partnership that we can develop right here in the Midwest so that we develop a reputation.

Speaker 2:

And I'll tell you, brian, I filled in an email this week about well, in the past, this was my experience with NTMA. Well, you know what? What happened in the past isn't what's happening today. Our NTMA members want to support other NTMA members.

Speaker 1:

We want to work together and we want to see each other succeed. So I think that this joint event is the skeptic for that person who's just not sure. I know MTMA has some policies about how can a person just come visit and see what it's like before they put money down and be a member. Can you tell a little bit about that? Can you tell a little bit about that?

Speaker 2:

Or an event and check us out. I feel like you can put into an email a blurb that states what you do and what your goals are, but I think that you really do have to come and experience our network to really develop an understanding of that. And then, several times throughout the year, we're gonna offer events for non-members, just like this Joint Chapter Business Summit April 24th and 25th. There's a member rate and a non-member rate, and then we also have our very fun golf tournament which is coming up May the 8th and that is open to everybody. You can register a foursome and come out and play with us, or as a single also.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and you know what's interesting, uh, Catherine, is when people here come and network, it is not coming to sell. This is not a selling environment. It's come and be curious. I will tell you. I have that awkward conversation with all of our industry partners and associates.

Speaker 2:

This is not a time to pass out your business card. It's not a time to solicit. It's a time to build relationships and that needs to be authentic. And if your service is needed in the future, I would love to provide your information on behalf of you to a regular member. But let's keep that aside and let's have a great time at the event and focus on whatever the purpose of that event is.

Speaker 1:

Yes, Yep, I love to promote just this idea of curiosity Learn about the people Ask questions. You don't have to be a super high, charismatic person just to sit next to someone and say, tell me about your company and what's your ideal client and do you have capacity for more business, and just learn about them like that and it gives you the opportunity to help your neighbor, and some of those conversations come a little easier when we're foaling or we're doing shuffleboard or bowling or doing one of the great events that we have planned this year as well.

Speaker 1:

Really, we've got our call coming up and then we have that leadership luncheon.

Speaker 2:

I would love for all of our KC members to attend and get focused and get ready for that joint chapter business summit in April. So it's really kind of a precursor for again networking with a purpose and I think it will be very beneficial.

Speaker 1:

Love it. Yes, I'm very excited to talk about this one.

Speaker 2:

Ryan, april the 17th is our next she Leads meeting, and that she Leads meeting is a she Leads meeting, but it's going to run simultaneously with a half-day female youth manufacturing immersive. That's a lot of words to say. We're doing a female youth event and we are inviting all of the high school students ladies to come out and join us. So they'll join us for our regular she Leads meeting, which is going to have a leadership training session. We're going to tour Hutamaki, we're going to have a Q&A panel with industry front runners, we're going to have a large freight truck come through and we're going to do a truck tour in the parking lot. Then we're going to head over to CNR manufacturing, which is a small, family owned business, and we're going to be able to compare and contrast different types of enterprises, being large and small, and the different job opportunities and supports that are available for females that are interested in engineering, robotics and any metalworking career in engineering, robotics and any metalworking career Outstanding.

Speaker 1:

I love this. And, catherine, one thing that's so important you have been an administrator for a lot of this stuff, but that event isn't happening because Catherine's making it happen. That event is happening because you put together a team of people who want to see traction and I will say Ryan, it is.

Speaker 2:

So it's amazingly unique when you sit with women on the she Leads executive board or you talk to women that attend meetings. They all have their own reason for attending, and mine is very different and it's very personal, as are the other ladies, and I think it's great that we all have a shared vision for wanting to educate and empower females in the manufacturing sector, and especially those that are the younger age females. We want to be those role models that we might not have had ourselves.

Speaker 1:

Love that and you know, catherine. The other thing that I've got to point out is, if you are listening to this podcast and you're part of the Kansas City chapter of MTMA or the St Louis chapter or any other chapter, if you want to be involved, there are ways for you to step in and benefit the industry. It's not. Yes, there's opportunities on the board, potentially, but there's other ways that you can make a difference. And if you want to say hey, I'd love to help set up an event or I'd love to help make some contacts, if you need someone to help facilitate.

Speaker 2:

And that's where Sheely started. It started with an idea and I'll tell you what. Do I feel qualified to have that idea or lead an organization? No, I do not, but I found when I presented that idea, other people recognized the need for it and got behind it. So I would say that any idea or suggestion that somebody needs that is valid is going to find support and we are going to roll with it.

Speaker 1:

I love it, catherine, you're doing a great job. I'm going to mention one other thing as part of MTMA membership. We've invited anyone that's interested in being a part of our peer advisory group. It's a free peer advisory group for manufacturers, and our next session is actually going to be on March 10th.

Speaker 2:

You got it. I had it on the next page here.

Speaker 1:

So March 10th from. You got it. I had it on the next page here. So March 10th, from two to three, if you're interested. That's just going to be a conversation where I'm sharing some insights and then we create a conversation within the community about what we do with these things. I sent an email about this, really looking forward to that next session, and I'm so glad that we're doing this call today because I feel like hate to say it.

Speaker 2:

I send a lot of emails but they are not meant to be burdensome. I understand and recognize how busy all of our members are, but I don't know the best way to reach them with all of the great things that we have going on. Yes, we can post that on our website. How many people are just going to electively jump on that? I'm going to go with maybe 10 out of 200. So I think email we're trying. We're trying this podcast. So if you are watching today, thank you for those that do read the emails, and if you don't, breakdown of the events one more time Leadership Luncheon, march the 28th. She Leads Event April 17th. Joint Chapter Business Summit, the 24th and the 25th. And Golf, may the 8th. We are currently doing registrations for all of these. Then we throw in our peer coaching call, which is the 10th, and then this coming Thursday, our joint do we call it a podcast? What do we call that, ryan, with the St Louis chapter Live webinar? It sounds very fancy and I like it.

Speaker 1:

It's actually a live webinar, so I mean, there's just so much. How do we communicate it? I don't know, but it's all for the members right.

Speaker 1:

Yep, and we're having a blast doing it. And I'll throw out one other thing I'm actually going to do. After the Manufacturing Association of Missouri, or Missouri Association of Manufacturers Conference, we just saw such a demand. I'm actually doing a webinar on March 18th called why your leadership funnel is broken. Stop fishing in a pond. You never stopped. That's what we're talking about at that event, and so, if anyone interested, that's something that I'm doing with circle of five just to help people rethink how are we shaping our leaders for the future?

Speaker 2:

And I'm excited about that.

Speaker 1:

Catherine, dynamite job with what's happening. Yep, it's going to be great. It's going to be a lot of fun and I want to thank everyone for listening and if there is something that you're excited about, leave a comment. Whether you're listening on YouTube or you're listening on Spotify or Apple Music, you're listening to this. Leave a comment, let us know what you appreciated about this, and we are so grateful to be, I'll bring two.

Speaker 2:

Oh boy, let's see it. They wanted to come say hi, oh wow, I did. Yes, yes, it did.

Speaker 1:

You said you were going to get these. I didn't realize it had already happened.

Speaker 2:

No, I didn't go that far. We're just trying to make it through night one.

Speaker 1:

We'll see you tomorrow All right. Hey Catherine.

Speaker 2:

Okay, that's awesome.

Speaker 1:

Hey, I love it. Thank you for being on the podcast.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. Thank you, Ryan.

Speaker 1:

Thank you everyone for being a part of the KCMTMA community. Like I saidatherine brings the energy. I have no doubt that you are just excited, fired up about it. You can see yourself involved in things in the future. Listen, if you are not a part of kcntma yet, as katherine said, check it out. Come visit an event, experience what we're about, experience a community and see if it's a right fit for you. We are a growing community of people and they really value their partners, so come be a part of it.

Speaker 1:

And if you want to know more about what's going on, on March 6th we're going to be doing a live webinar and I'm going to keep that online. After that, you'll be able to hear more about what we're doing as part of being NTMA, which is a national organization. How do you get the most out of your benefits? So check that out as well. Thank you for being here. I love that you're a part of the People in Production podcast. If there's something that you're going to be a part of at a future event that Catherine talked about, leave it in the comments. Let us know what you can't wait for, and let's keep being the community. That is so great. I'm proud of you guys Proud to be a part of it. Take care no-transcript.