Industrial Strength Marketing
Industrial Strength Marketing
Greg Jones on Workforce Development & Smartforce at IMTS 2024 and Beyond
In this episode of the Industrial Strength Marketing podcast, we’re joined by Greg Jones from SME, a leader in integrating education with industry needs. Greg discusses how trade shows like IMTS are evolving into crucial venues for workforce development, focusing on how these events are transforming recruitment and engagement in the manufacturing industry. This episode is a must-listen for talent-focused marketers and manufacturing recruiters aiming to stay ahead in an ever-changing landscape.
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The Industrial Strength Marketing Show is a top manufacturing podcast that explores the personalities, cutting-edge strategies, tools, and technologies transforming the industrial and manufacturing sectors. Each episode, hosted by James Soto, covers marketing, sales, business development, and integrating martech and AI into industrial B2B strategies. Tune in to gain actionable insights to help you stay ahead in the industry.
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00:00:08:21 - 00:00:37:20
JAMES SOTO
Welcome back to the Industrial Strength Marketing Podcast. I'm your host, James Soto, and today we're diving into our trade show Leaders series focusing on the nexus of trade show marketing and workforce development. This episode is a must listen for talent focused marketers and manufacturing recruiters. We're exploring how innovative trade shows are transforming into prime venues for engagement and recruiting of top talent.
00:00:37:22 - 00:01:06:20
JAMES SOTO
Join us with Greg Jones from SME, a leader in integrating education with industry needs. He'll help us unpack how platforms are revolutionizing recruitment and engagement throughout manufacturing. Get ready for insightful discussions that will elevate your approach to talent acquisition and marketing. I am so pleased to have Greg here. It's great to have you with us today.
00:01:07:00 - 00:01:12:00
GREG JONES
It's wonderful to be here. James, thanks for inviting me to. Great to see you again.
00:01:12:02 - 00:01:32:17
JAMES SOTO
Hey. So before. Before we dive into the, you know, the meat of our discussion, like, we just love to hear in your words how, like your experience in SME leadership in initiatives like tooling u and the smart force Student Summit, you know, have shaped your approach to like, workforce development and manufacturing. You've got a great story.
00:01:32:18 - 00:02:01:11
GREG JONES
Yeah, my story goes back a few years. my first IMTS was in 1986. so, this one at IMTS 2024 is going to be, you know, about my 19th. We missed 1 in 2020 for obvious reasons. But, yeah. So my my experience in education and workforce development began in 2001 when I was part of the executive team that stood up what we called tooling university back then.
00:02:01:11 - 00:02:43:17
GREG JONES
It's now called tooling U SME It's owned by SME, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. So I've been in the education and workforce development space since that time. I really found a fit in my career pathway in this space. And, as you know, prior to, this year, back in 2023, I transitioned from my role at AMT, the Association for Manufacturing Technology, which produces the IMTS show, to my new position as director of Strategic Programs and Partnerships at SME, at AMT in Smart Force Development.
00:02:43:19 - 00:03:15:07
GREG JONES
We we had a team of just a couple of people who were working on education and workforce development. Now I'm on a leadership team that includes a 100 people very focused on solving manufacturing industries, workforce development issues. So we're highly focused on attracting, developing and retaining the this generation of workers in the manufacturing industry. And it's a really exciting.
00:03:15:07 - 00:03:22:18
JAMES SOTO
And and you're also, involved in pretty big event coming up, in IMTS 2024 the, smart for Student Summit.
00:03:22:19 - 00:04:10:01
GREG JONES
Yeah. You know, when early in my career, I, I volunteered to help out at the student summit at IMTS. And then, you know, when I joined AMT in 2012, it was my honor and privilege to actually begin producing the event. So I've been doing that since 2012. We've iterated it, over the years, and in many ways, it takes on the look of, a mini tradeshow within IMTS, because we've always had this goal of putting on display the manufacturing technology classroom of the future for schools and administrators at schools to to be able to see, to understand what our industry thinks their program labs should look like.
00:04:10:07 - 00:04:43:00
GREG JONES
In order to train this generation of CNC programmers, cybersecurity specialists, you know, mechatronics technicians, robotic test technicians, additive manufacturing technicians, and and those types of things. This year at the smart for Students Summit at IMTS 2024, we are going to have more conference type sessions at the event. you know, with a small team at AMT, I was able to pull off a mini trade show in the student summit.
00:04:43:01 - 00:05:10:05
GREG JONES
This time I've got more SME staff supporting us on on co-producing the student summit. So, we've got staff that's managing the right of show in our Smart Force amphitheater. We're doing things like bringing, you know, Megan Ziemba, Drew Crow, Chris Luecke, Toni Neary who I know you know really well in for manufacturing ally rally series sessions in that theater.
00:05:10:10 - 00:05:27:11
GREG JONES
And we'll also do some things that we're calling lightning learning lab sessions in that theater. So I'm really excited about the sort of conference type sessions that will be able to include on top of that, meaning trade show that we do in the Student summit.
00:05:27:13 - 00:05:46:09
JAMES SOTO
Wow, that that's amazing, Greg. And what a what a great body of work. So congratulations on on that journey. you know, also interested a little bit on on tooling U that's that's a very interesting initiative that you've been, you know, you started with and, and now you're you're coming full loop on right?
00:05:46:11 - 00:06:11:21
GREG JONES
Yeah. You know, I was part of the original executive team that stood up tooling u in, in 2001. And then, you know, when I was with AMTDA, the Machine Tool Distributors Association, and then we merged with AMT, I was a customer of tooling U SME, we use some of their classes in training AMT member type of salespeople.
00:06:11:21 - 00:06:47:23
GREG JONES
And, and in our company members, so highly connected. But I didn't know the depth of how tooling u is so highly represented in most career technical education programs at schools, whether it's a CTE high school or community college, but more importantly, very deep in industry, in manufacturing in the US. So thousands of companies are using tooling u as their, you know, book of knowledge to begin training their people.
00:06:47:23 - 00:07:15:11
GREG JONES
If they're doing it, you know, directly at their shops or if their larger companies, or in tandem with the community college that they work with locally. tooling u is really important to mix, education and workforce development. And this year at IMTS SMEs got three different booths in the, workforce development space. So there's a tooling U SME booth in the West building.
00:07:15:12 - 00:07:45:13
GREG JONES
There is the SME workforce development booth that's part of the students summit that I produce. And then there's a Workforce Innovations booth upstairs near AMT Emerging Technology Center in the North Building. so we're really happy to be there, on display in that innovation's booth. There's going to be things like virtual reality in the education space, some of the tooling, new classes in VR and some other things that we've got.
00:07:45:15 - 00:08:08:14
GREG JONES
We've got some partnerships in SME, workforce development that are going to be on display there, and I can't give away a lot on that. But just think in terms of the development of AI in workforce development is what you're going to see in that booth. And I think the booth number on that is 236900.
00:08:08:16 - 00:08:22:09
GREG JONES
So we're going to be inviting industry to come see that booth and what we've got, on display that they can use again to attract, develop and retain their workforce.
00:08:22:11 - 00:08:28:01
JAMES SOTO
So so is this the biggest IMTS ever for for workforce. And this sounds like a lot.
00:08:28:12 - 00:08:53:12
GREG JONES
I really think it is. And that's that was intentional on both Doug Woods, the CEO of AMT and the AMT board of directors, when, we made the decision for me to transition from AMT to SME, you know, with, with the power of SME and all the 100 people that we've got in workforce development, we feel like we can get more done.
00:08:53:14 - 00:09:16:07
GREG JONES
And to put that all on display at IMTS is the best venue in the country. To do that as well. I think IMTS going to be 1.2Mft² of exhibit space and, you know, but the biggest challenge that most companies are having is how do we adopt more smart manufacture technologies, how do we get better at automation?
00:09:16:09 - 00:09:30:00
GREG JONES
And, you know, how do we recruit the workforce that's going to enable our companies to do that, whether we're a small job shop, a medium sized manufacturer or a large manufacturing company?
00:09:30:02 - 00:09:46:12
JAMES SOTO
Yeah. No, absolutely. It's the issue we hear all over the place, Greg, you know, how do we how do we, you know, we've got the work, not the workers. We're looking at the the evolution of the advancement, factoring. And we're looking at the skill sets we're going to need and that the issue persists. You know, I don't know if you know this.
00:09:46:12 - 00:09:51:20
JAMES SOTO
We we helped brand, build, design, and launch manufacturing Day back in, you know, 2012 2013.
00:09:52:01 - 00:09:52:09
GREG JONES
Yeah.
00:09:52:09 - 00:10:15:05
JAMES SOTO
And you know, these things can become movements. You know, they can become these big pan industry promotions. And you know, the theme we're talking about here today is, you know, what are the playbooks that folks are running to really address that skilled labor gap. And what are they doing to really capture, you know, attention. and, and provide opportunities out there?
00:10:15:07 - 00:10:45:14
JAMES SOTO
you know, and that sense a lot has changed, you know, for the last year since, since 2018 and how industrial brands, engage talent at trade shows, like, what have you noticed, you know, in your experience, you know, you know, in terms of attracting attention and creating business opportunities, capturing the imagination, you know, especially for, you know, students and educators, you know, aiming, you know, to secure that that future, that future workforce.
00:10:45:16 - 00:11:11:11
GREG JONES
Yeah. I think the important thing to do at trade shows with regard to teachers and students coming is invite as many as you can and then do really innovative things. I mean, I see a lot of trade shows doing, scavenger hunts for students. And, you know, at IMTS we used to have what we call student friendly exhibitors.
00:11:11:16 - 00:11:37:21
GREG JONES
That's one of the reasons why we transition the students somewhat to look more like a trade show. it's really impossible for schools to be able to see 1.2Mft² of exhibit space in the context of, the day long field trip. Right? You think they get on busses at school? They they get downtown. by the time they arrive at ten, they really only have half a day to be able to see
00:11:37:21 - 00:12:25:11
GREG JONES
IMTS and, that's really impossible to do. You'd have to go through a lot of shoe leather very quickly in order to see that much space. So that's why we were intentional about, having the student summit look like this mini trade show, manufacturing technology, classroom of the future. And we can keep the students and the teachers right there engaging with CNC, controls, engaging with VR, engaging with teach pendants for robots and things like that, and really have the students interact with the technologies that are on display, as opposed to having them walk around a big trade show like that.
00:12:25:16 - 00:12:54:18
GREG JONES
And this year, yeah, we are going to be doing, what we call lightning learning conference sessions that are based on technology for the most part, and will allow students and teachers to sit in a classroom environment and learn about, you know, robots and learn about CNC programing, what we're trying to do, really important these days to have our industry become more diverse and inclusive.
00:12:54:20 - 00:13:18:19
GREG JONES
So we're trying to put on display, for students, a design that shows them a sense of belonging in the industry. We want to help them understand what it means to be a roboticist, what it means when you are a CNC programmer what that looks like to them, so that they have a better sense of belonging in a career pathway in our industry.
00:13:18:21 - 00:13:20:00
GREG JONES
00:13:20:00 - 00:13:24:00
JAMES SOTO
You can make it here. You can make it in manufacturing. Yeah. That's the that's the message right?
00:13:24:00 - 00:13:56:14
GREG JONES
Yeah. Hey. Yeah. Speaking of that, yeah. You know, I've been working on an on an advisory council basis with, Governor Pritzker's office in Illinois in the department, Commerce and Economic Development in Illinois. They've rebranded a campaign that, used to be called Manufacturing Matters that was designed to encourage families and, and their young people to seek an education at a community college and a career in manufacturing.
00:13:56:16 - 00:14:27:16
GREG JONES
They've rebranded that as Make It in Illinois. And what I like about that is the double entendre of, you know, in Illinois is a big manufacturing state, and as an individual, you can really make it in a middle class lifestyle. If you'll simply make the decision to go to community college program in manufacturing technology. So in Illinois, and you know, you're going to be set on a career pathway.
00:14:27:16 - 00:14:38:02
GREG JONES
And that is a really well-paying job. And it's going to provide you that middle class lifestyle that we should we should all aspire to.
00:14:38:04 - 00:15:03:11
JAMES SOTO
And, you know, I think the the, you know, by the numbers, Greg, if you look at retail and other, you know, alternative choices of our workforce, especially our future workforce, you know, the value proposition for manufacturing is so compelling and it's such a great bridge to the middle class that, you know, last I looked, I think was a study a couple of years ago was, that about, you know, about $26 an hour.
00:15:03:11 - 00:15:12:12
JAMES SOTO
You start to see that bridge to the middle class. And, I think, you know, did you see it, too? We all know manufacturing, you know, does pay very well.
00:15:12:14 - 00:15:42:18
GREG JONES
Yeah, we pay better than that. So it's it that's the fastest pathway to to the middle class at at the least cost. You know, families are starting to understand, I think that a four year college degree isn't the right choice for every kid coming out of high school. you know, we're seeing that on a national level not to get political or anything, but, you know, retiring student loan debt is probably not the best solution for taxpayers overall.
00:15:42:18 - 00:16:19:13
GREG JONES
It may be for the individuals who are impacted by that, but then what's the solution going forward long term to the cost of college in in my humble opinion, the best route is community college. First we're going to, you know, have an impact on, I think this new generation that's a little more inclined towards the skilled trades than we have been in in the past couple of generations, and they're going to see it's a lot more affordable to get a college education at community college.
00:16:19:17 - 00:16:47:08
GREG JONES
And that's the really important thing to understand. Community college is, is college. And you're going to come away with an associate's degree, a certificate in manufacturing technology, whether it's a Nims certificate or some other, depending on the job function that you're you're learning in. But, that's really the in my opinion, the best pathway. And I can speak to that as a parent.
00:16:47:14 - 00:17:11:06
GREG JONES
Right. My son also went to community college before and after he got his bachelor's degree. And he's he's killing it in cybersecurity right now. So that's that's a perfect example of, you know, how community college can be workable as a solution to your education.
00:17:11:08 - 00:17:38:03
JAMES SOTO
And these are all so important. All these things are so important to share. They're so important to put out there. and you know, where we are looking at that nexus of is, you know, how are people meeting, you know, how are they, you know, on your end producing these great experiences and opportunities? And then how are these manufacturers, you know, and these manufactured marketers and recruitment marketers are out there trying to attract, develop and retain talent.
00:17:38:03 - 00:18:05:12
JAMES SOTO
And they're using marketing in these venues as a vehicle. And so what really interests us and I think would, you know, be very interesting in all of that context, Greg, is, you know, you've seen a lot and, you know, from what you've seen, like what effective things, strategies are you seeing manufacturing manufacturers using? You know, you know, for communicating and, you know, searching, marketing to these key workforce stakeholders?
00:18:05:13 - 00:18:38:15
GREG JONES
Yeah, I think H.R. Departments are getting a little bit better at communicating to this upcoming generation. we struggled with that for a pretty long time, I think. But as as HR recruits younger generations into the HR job function, they understand the types of folks that they're trying to bring in. we're thinking as an industry more about diversity and inclusivity in manufacturing.
00:18:38:17 - 00:19:05:19
GREG JONES
James, I can remember, you know, 25, 26 years ago walking around IMTS and and thinking to myself, how come everybody in this industry looks like me back, that it was probably not a three piece suit, but but a suit and tie? but you a gray haired guys like me, and I am. It's now. Yeah. The industry looks different.
00:19:05:21 - 00:19:38:20
GREG JONES
We're recruiting better. I think companies are are getting better than that. And then once you get those individuals in the door, I'm seeing better retention capabilities, better upskilling of the workforce, more companies, are building and training and development programs at their companies. Sure. They they definitely use tooling u, but they also partner with their local community colleges to to help them do that.
00:19:38:22 - 00:20:15:19
GREG JONES
And then tracking that training to the individual is is very important. Again, whether it's Nim certification that they get because their CNC program or, or and Nims has many other credentials in the manufacturing space now too. but being able to track those and the concept of digital badges for individuals that follow them through their career life cycle, that's really important because as individuals, we all want to demonstrate that we're improving ourselves as we go through our career.
00:20:15:21 - 00:20:49:04
GREG JONES
And so that that is helping companies retain individuals as they begin to upskill. Those those people I've, you know, worked on, a session with BMW in South Carolina. they they've got a program there called RPM Road to Production Management. So they, they see their rock stars on the factory floor, and they put them in an upskilling program that's going to lead them to a management position on the floor.
00:20:49:06 - 00:20:53:09
GREG JONES
So it's really good companies are getting better at that.
00:20:53:11 - 00:21:13:06
JAMES SOTO
Yeah. And so so well said and so much there. done pack. No Greg the you know, I think you know, the diversity you know, you know, change even from 2020 at IMTS, you can you can see the demographic, you know, the shift and that, you know, these shows are starting to, to look different.
00:21:13:12 - 00:21:23:03
JAMES SOTO
Yeah. We're seeing data that's showing women are approaching, I believe, and exceeding, roughly the, the 30% of our workforce in manufacturing.
00:21:23:05 - 00:21:25:08
GREG JONES
Still not enough, but.
00:21:25:10 - 00:21:46:21
JAMES SOTO
It's still a ways to go or how we're getting there, you know, very, very important, initiative there. you know, I, I, there's so much happening here and, you know, I'm, we're so focused now on how many people come together to me and things like smart force at shows. And there's kind of like this really strong tradeshow season.
00:21:46:23 - 00:22:10:00
JAMES SOTO
and there's just this great platform for workforce that happens in the fall. You know, I want to get to some funny stories here. I'm curious. Like, you know, now that you have this mini trade show running in terms of smart force and the things you've done to promote events, when you look at the folks that are investing to be there, you know, those recruiters, those marketers, those people out there and yourselves just trying to promote that.
00:22:10:00 - 00:22:31:07
JAMES SOTO
What what do you what do you think? What do you see? Folks that are actually doing any really cool things. You saw that a major branded and they invested to put out there, and they're probably coming out of their marketing budget that they're what are some of the things, you know, maybe without naming names that you've seen that have been really compelling, that some of these manufacturers and companies have done?
00:22:31:09 - 00:23:00:00
GREG JONES
Yeah, I think, at the last IMTS 2022, the the most fun thing that we had on display at the student summit was spot the robot dog from Boston Dynamics. really very much of, featured attraction, you know, it's it's get getting interest. A lot of people to see a dog that looks and acts like a robot but can do very many really important things.
00:23:00:00 - 00:23:32:06
GREG JONES
And we also arranged to take spot on a walkabout around IMTS a couple of the days and you know, I was kind of amazed to see the reaction by people in the industry to, you know, to spot, I don't know if you were there and, and saw us. Oh, yeah. We were there. Yeah. So there had a, you know, a robot arm with an end effector, that made it look like it had a face like a dog.
00:23:32:06 - 00:24:02:09
GREG JONES
Right. And, so that was really cool to see. you know, it's as far as companies go, there's, there's other one other thing that I wanted to mention. back in 2014, Dean Kamen, the founder of First Robotics, did a keynote for us at this at the Student Summit in, you know, going into the event, working with his team, because Dean is a really busy person.
00:24:02:11 - 00:24:38:19
GREG JONES
He said, you know, he's got half hour onstage with you, and then he's out. He's he's got other meetings. Dean ended up doing his keynote, taking a lot of Q&A, spending the entire morning with students and teachers, talking to them about the importance of first robotics as a tool that schools can use to encourage more young people to a pathway towards robotics, but also a pathway towards engineering and in manufacturing.
00:24:38:19 - 00:25:06:07
GREG JONES
So, you know, Dean was, you know, one of my favorites to have a, at the student summit. you know, we've we've got a lot of, high level manufacturers, brand names that you would recognize. FANUC robotics is huge at the student summit. they, they do competitions with kids to see if they can keep up with a robot sorting different things.
00:25:06:09 - 00:25:37:05
GREG JONES
but they'll also allow the students to put a teach pendant in their hands, and they show them how to program and move a robot arm or a cobot, in real time. So that's that's really cool to see. Haas automation is a premier, you know, name in CNC machine tools. They're an active part of the students summit, have been from the very beginning, since it really took on the look of a trade show.
00:25:37:07 - 00:25:48:04
GREG JONES
And again, they allow students to program on a simulator. And it's just great to have companies like that joining us.
00:25:48:06 - 00:26:04:22
JAMES SOTO
Wow. And, and and it's it's creating a great experience. And I love how Dean is like just talking engaging with folks. And that's kind of a theme. We're we're focusing on a series of trade leaders. And when we hear just the yeah.
00:26:05:00 - 00:26:05:14
GREG JONES
00:26:05:16 - 00:26:24:11
JAMES SOTO
Around every band, I say, there's a friend. And to the extent that you have these folks there that you can you can just speak with, has been has been very impactful in terms of how folks are engaging, especially when we come together. you know, another area curious to get your thoughts on with all this education.
00:26:24:11 - 00:26:50:13
JAMES SOTO
We know that the future workforce, they consume the world differently than we do. They use channels to communicate and to entertain and to, you know, socialize differently than we do. So, you know, with in your experience, with the rise of digital tools like social media influencers, video, you know, how has you know, from your perspective, the industry strategy or, you know, even tactics changed, you know, compared to previous years?
00:26:50:13 - 00:26:53:00
JAMES SOTO
You know, in terms of how we we engage.
00:26:53:02 - 00:27:28:07
GREG JONES
Yeah. Well, you can tell by looking at me that I'm probably not the biggest on, user of social media. Right? I'm not of that generation, for IMTS... IMTS 2022. you know Chris Downs at AMT Chris schooled me on how to get better at LinkedIn. Right. Because I wasn't an active user. had lots of followers and I was connected to lots of people on LinkedIn, but I wasn't really active in putting content out there before.
00:27:28:07 - 00:28:18:16
GREG JONES
So I worked with Chris Downs at AMT, to show me how to get better at that. And I'm still learning. But, one thing that I felt and during IMTS 2022 and, you know, especially afterwards, was we could not have put on the show that we did as an industry with the attendance that we had. If it wasn't for, you know, the the Meaghan Ziembas and the Drew Crows and, and yes, Industrial Marketing's and Chris Leucke is and everybody who's is a lot more active on social media than I am, I it felt palpable that they brought in the audience to IMTS that hadn't been to IMTS before.
00:28:18:18 - 00:28:46:09
GREG JONES
You know, you could see it in the people who were there. We were much more diverse as an industry and that was really exciting to me. Yeah. And especially, you know, at that time, 2022. IMTS 2020 didn't happen for all the reasons we know why. And, so it was really good to come back to it's with a changed ecosystem of people that were there.
00:28:46:11 - 00:29:21:08
JAMES SOTO
Wow. That's that's amazing. and we we've seen that experience and, you know, we've been very fortunate industrial and industrial studios to be part of like the creators Lounge and you know, bringing, you know, Megan in and, you know, finding and talking with drew and, you know, these great advocates and passionate stakeholders, you know, for manufacturing. And all of them are passionate around the issue of attracting the next generation and inspiring all, you know, people from all, all stages of their careers, from all walks of life to explore the great opportunity of of manufacturing.
00:29:21:08 - 00:29:41:15
JAMES SOTO
And, that is so much fun. And I dispute your social media claims because, if you're listening here and watching everybody, Greg and I have a really good Strava game, which is, which is a app we use to track our cycling. Yeah. And, we do a little social encouragement of each other. There. So, so, you know, you coming along there.
00:29:41:17 - 00:30:08:04
GREG JONES
my friend? Well, I'm good at Strava because, you know, bicycling is my passion. And and to that I would mention that you know, we do a miles for manufacturing 5K at IMTS so we get sponsors of that we have participant fees. Everybody gets a T-shirt. but since I'm a little bit older, I don't run.
00:30:08:04 - 00:30:45:07
GREG JONES
It's too hard on my body. You know, I am I'm a bicyclist. So we actually do, a bike kit, a bike jersey for the miles for manufacturing event, too. That gets us a lot more sponsorship revenue. All of the sponsorships and participant fees we used to donate to Chicago Public Schools and to local first robotics teams, and to community based organizations in the Chicago area to support those underserved, underrepresented students in Chicagoland.
00:30:45:12 - 00:31:14:16
GREG JONES
So that's really a passion of mine too not just because I'm a bicyclist, but because we as an industry are able to give back. And that's really important. this year we will have it's the 10th anniversary of miles for manufacturing 5K at IMTS. And we're going to have our largest contribution back to the community of schools and first robotics teams that we've ever had before.
00:31:14:18 - 00:31:16:18
GREG JONES
Wow I'm really excited about that.
00:31:16:20 - 00:31:41:10
JAMES SOTO
Wow. That that's great. That's like putting your passion into action. Yeah. That's bringing people together. That's you know, the plays seem pretty simple. Bring people together, be highly engaged with them, capture their imagination with great experiences and innovative ways to to to educate and learn. And, you know, we're we're marketing and we're trying to grow our businesses and fill our talent pipelines and make sure that, you know, the future workforce is considered.
00:31:41:10 - 00:32:04:04
JAMES SOTO
There's just so much happening. And it's just so great to see all the things that that, you know, SME, you know, Smart Force, AMT, IMTS, so many Tooling U’s so many, initiatives are doing to make an impact. And, you know, we're going to take a quick break here. So for everyone listening, we want you to check out our trade show playbook.
00:32:04:04 - 00:32:29:09
JAMES SOTO
It's filled with really great strategies from this series. Guests like Greg and the team from industrial to help you with your next event. and it's really going to be a great trade show success guide, so stick around. We'll be right back with some more insights from Greg. Okay. We're back. So, Greg, this is fantastic. I have one fun question for you.
00:32:29:11 - 00:32:52:08
JAMES SOTO
before we do a quick wrap up, but this is, this is one I'm real curious about. So you've you've been in the game a bit, you know, and you've, you've seen how folks are trying to really engage with our future workforce and how they're putting their best brand, best foot forward. you know, are there any like, noteworthy or newsworthy things you've seen?
00:32:52:08 - 00:33:05:12
JAMES SOTO
Lessons, funny anecdotes, you know, like horror stories or just like massively huge successes that, you know, you know, our folks trying to reach this workforce could learn from.
00:33:05:13 - 00:33:39:13
GREG JONES
Yeah, I think there's quite a few things, you know, starting with the fundamentals. So when you're inviting students to your big event, try not to limit it. You know, I talk with school systems in Chicago all the time who try to do other trade shows at McCormick place, where IMTS is located and other associations tend to limit the number of students that are allowed to attend.
00:33:39:15 - 00:34:08:15
GREG JONES
some even limit it to as low as 100 students at their show on a daily basis. That, to me is is not a workable way for us to entice the next generation to come to our events and consider a career in our industry. We should open it up as much as possible. And I understand the the reasons for some of that.
00:34:08:17 - 00:34:50:12
GREG JONES
It kind of goes to the same reason that some trade shows will literally have signs out front at registration that say no one under 18 admitted, over the years in smart force development at AMT, the AMT board of directors told us to go even younger. So whereas we normally invited high school, community college and college students to the Smart for Student Summit, we began inviting elementary schools and middle schools, and that changed the environment.
00:34:50:14 - 00:35:21:01
GREG JONES
At the student summit at IMTS, without harming, you know, the experience for the exhibitors or all the other students. And it allowed us to introduce manufacturing technology to students at a much younger age. We know, the science is clear that especially young girls make a decision about what they're going to be when they grow up, when they're in fourth or fifth grade.
00:35:21:03 - 00:35:54:06
GREG JONES
So if we can't invite students into the industry at our trade shows at that age, then we're missing an opportunity to engage with them. wow. That's that's one of the things the other thing that I'd say is, had the importance of having VR applications on display at your education event, at a trade show. We know that this generation of young kids coming up are gamers and they're going to be really adept at putting on a headset.
00:35:54:08 - 00:36:22:11
GREG JONES
And they may be, you know, working on a robotics application or CNC simulation application, but they're used to that, because they have their gamers and, you know, which, by the way, again, I am not I gave up gaming when, Pac-Man was a thing when I was in college. That was that was enough for me sticking quarters in a Pac-Man machine.
00:36:22:13 - 00:36:54:23
GREG JONES
I moved on from gaming after that when my kids were little. I did enjoy Crash Bandicoot, but I really haven't done a lot of gaming other than that. But, you know, we I think at in 2022, we had at least 8 or 9 different VR applications on display that students could put a headset on and, you know, experience that in a real world manufacturing technology environment.
00:36:54:23 - 00:37:02:17
GREG JONES
So those couple of things I think are really meaningful for an education of that at a trade show.
00:37:02:18 - 00:37:23:14
JAMES SOTO
so don't limit it. Go younger. Yeah. And create amazing immersive experiences. I think that's something that we'd all want you know, like, you know, whether it's social, whether it's virtual, reading them where they're at and, and really also helping them to imagine the future, like at the show where you're going to be showing them what the future classroom you know, of the future looks like.
00:37:23:16 - 00:37:55:15
JAMES SOTO
Those are those are definitely amazing things. so so, Greg, I also just want to take a moment to pause here to thank you for your contributions to the manufacturing, the pursuit of attracting, developing and retaining talent of all ages. and really, you know, getting hands dirty, you know, in a good way, into into how, you know, we're going to connect the dots and get, get great pathways and credentials and, and digital badges, you know, connected to people.
00:37:55:17 - 00:38:04:05
JAMES SOTO
00:38:04:06 - 00:38:11:03
GREG JONES
James, I've completely lost connection to you. Now, can you hear me?
00:38:11:05 - 00:38:49:04
JAMES SOTO
Okay, Greg. That's amazing. again, I just want to thank you for your contributions over all these years to addressing our skilled labor, how we attract, how we develop, how we retain folks creating amazing events and experiences, from smart force to tooling u and really, your passion of connecting the dots and telling the stories of how we can actually, you know, put ourselves out there as individuals to to reach these key audiences, these students, these educators, these counselors, these manufacturers, all the folks that can have a big stake in and addressing our skilled labor gap.
00:38:49:06 - 00:39:09:06
JAMES SOTO
So before we wrap up, I want to give you the opportunity and the floor to share or plug anything you wish. So whether it's an upcoming event but we know of or any new initiatives or any just personal projects you'd like to share, we'd like to give you a plug and we'll link it to everybody watching.
00:39:09:07 - 00:39:42:11
GREG JONES
I don't think anybody wants to know about my personal project. I did put an outdoor kitchen on my patio this summer, but yeah, I had other skilled trade people do that for me. Right. good, good. bricklayers. Good carpenters been visiting the house, all that good stuff. so really, the importance of skilled trades, but, you know, as far as the smart for Student Summit, and I am just encourage everyone to go to imts.com/smartforce.
00:39:42:13 - 00:40:19:22
GREG JONES
Registration is free for for schools, for students. really for anyone who wants to come, we we're going to be doing guided tours, this student summit for the manufacturing extension and partnerships around the country. those folks are going to be able to register for free as well. And, some of the other things that I would point out is there will be sessions by the manufacturing USA institutes at the Student Summit on their more modern makers program.
00:40:20:00 - 00:41:05:07
GREG JONES
So look for that. If you join us at the summit, we're going to be doing some things with some of the individual institutes, notably ARM, the Robotics Manufacturing Institute on roboticscareers.org, how to get into a career pathway in the robotics and AI industry. And, one of the other things that is really important is the manufacturing imperative workforce pipeline challenge, a program that SME is working on with the Department of Education to attract more students to community colleges around the country to get them into manufacturing, technology, career pathways.
00:41:05:13 - 00:41:29:18
GREG JONES
So there's going to be a ton to see. And then after IMTS I'll be off to Fab Tech, which is an event that SME partners with FMA and PMA and AWS on, and we hope to attract more students to that event in Orlando, Florida as well. But my focus right now is IMTS, heads down on that.
00:41:29:20 - 00:41:55:16
GREG JONES
And it's going to be I think we've got what like, yeah, 50 days left before I leave for set up week. And it's it's going fast. My deadline, is the end of this week for all exhibitor applications. The student summit is going to be a floor plan of approaching 30,000ft². This time it will be the largest student summit that we've had.
00:41:55:21 - 00:42:19:14
GREG JONES
NASA Artemus is joining us, first robotics in Illinois and Chicago Public schools. First, we'll have a demo field on display to engage students into joining more first robotics teams at their school. So I'm really excited about that because I'm passionate about that pathway from First Robotics to our industry.
00:42:19:16 - 00:42:28:06
JAMES SOTO
Wow, that is the longest best plug ever. The amount of links we're going to have to put in this podcast.
00:42:28:08 - 00:42:29:15
GREG JONES
00:42:29:17 - 00:42:48:00
JAMES SOTO
Incredible. and I and I think maybe some of our I'm kind of I was looking aside because our, our team maybe like popping up here, you know, hearing modern makers and working with MEP and the manufacturing USA, the Advanced Manufacturing Institute, we work on all those projects. We actually work the design, and all the work of that
00:42:48:00 - 00:43:10:22
JAMES SOTO
Those design work and campaign work is happened here at industrial. So, so we're all kind of working together in this great community that capture, you know, the imaginations inspire our next workforce, you know, generation of workforce to our industries and really make an impact. So, you know, I want to really, thank you for being on the show.
00:43:10:22 - 00:43:12:12
JAMES SOTO
Greg. This has been incredible.
00:43:12:13 - 00:43:23:20
GREG JONES
It's my pleasure. And thanks for inviting me. It's an honor and a privilege for me to be able to produce the student summit. And, we're looking for a great one this time.
00:43:23:22 - 00:43:45:17
JAMES SOTO
Well, great. Greg. And on that note, I want to thank you, the audience, so much for making time in your day to listen to the Industrial Strength Marketing Show. I hope today's discussions with Greg has inspired you to make marketing, technology, and people even more of a strength of your business, especially in the realm of workforce development and trade show strategy.
00:43:45:17 - 00:43:55:12
JAMES SOTO
So for more insights from industrial marketers or to connect with us, visit industrialstrengthmarketing.com. We'll catch you next week.
