We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.
  • ::COVID-19 COVERAGE::
  • INDUSTRY PRESS ROOM
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • MEDIA FILE
  • Create Account
  • Sign In
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Free Newsletters
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • MATERIAL HANDLING
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • LIFT TRUCKS
  • PODCAST ETC.
    • Podcast
    • Blogs
      • Analytics & Big Data
      • Best Practices
      • Dispatches
      • Empowering Your Performance Edge
      • Logistics Problem Solving
      • One-Off Sound Off
      • Public Sector Logistics
      • Two Sides of the Logistics Coin
      • Submit your blog post
    • Events
    • White Papers
    • Industry Press Room
      • Upload Your News
    • New Products
      • Upload Your Product News
    • Conference Guides
    • Conference Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • DCV-TV
    • DCV-TV 1: News
    • DCV-TV 2: Case Studies
    • DCV-TV 3: Webcasts
    • DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
    • DCV-TV 5: Solution Profiles
    • MODEX 2020
    • Upload Your Video
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • MATERIAL HANDLING
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • LIFT TRUCKS
  • PODCAST ETC.
    • Podcast
    • Blogs
      • Analytics & Big Data
      • Best Practices
      • Dispatches
      • Empowering Your Performance Edge
      • Logistics Problem Solving
      • One-Off Sound Off
      • Public Sector Logistics
      • Two Sides of the Logistics Coin
      • Submit your blog post
    • Events
    • White Papers
    • Industry Press Room
      • Upload Your News
    • New Products
      • Upload Your Product News
    • Conference Guides
    • Conference Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • DCV-TV
    • DCV-TV 1: News
    • DCV-TV 2: Case Studies
    • DCV-TV 3: Webcasts
    • DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
    • DCV-TV 5: Solution Profiles
    • MODEX 2020
    • Upload Your Video
Home » Are you connecting, or just connected?
outbound

Are you connecting, or just connected?

February 19, 2013
Mitch Mac Donald
No Comments

We are immersed in technology. Thanks to the easy availability of devices ranging from PDAs and smartphones to tablets and personal computers, we are always plugged in and connected. For the most part, it's a good thing. Sometimes, though, we're reminded that connectivity doesn't always mean connecting.

That point was brought home to us during our latest rounds on the conference and trade show circuit. The season kicked off on Jan. 21 with the biennial ProMat show in Chicago. DC Velocity had a full complement of editors on hand to cover this important show from every angle, cranking out over 50 stories and three-dozen "Supply Chain Spotlight" video interviews during the first three days of the event.

From there, members our editorial team fanned out to cover seven other conferences and shows in a five-week period—events ranging from grocery and retail supply chain shows to manufacturing, transportation, and distribution conferences. The team has covered the map—as well as the industry—with stops in Chicago, Atlanta, Orlando, Washington, and even Mumbai, India.

Traveling to all these shows and conferences is exhausting, but it's also invaluable to our editors in developing the content you rely on to help you do your job better. We often note that you can't cover a market chained to a desk. You can't get a great story via e-mail and text messaging, or even over the phone.

No, to really get the great stories—and to be able to tell these stories properly—we need to go out into the market physically.

Take the ProMat show as an example. Sure, we could all have sat back in our respective editorial offices across the U.S. and waited for the exhibitors' press releases to flow in so we could post them to our website and then stream them out to you via our e-Show Daily. Others do it that way, so why not DC Velocity?

Because you can't ask questions of a press release. You can't see the "news in action" from a Facebook post. You can't gauge the passion and excitement surrounding a new product launch or a new service announcement by scanning Twitter feeds. No, to really, truly get the story, you need personal "connection," not impersonal, technology-based "connectivity." Simply put, you need the human touch.

By traveling the world, we get to meet and talk face to face with the movers and shakers, the innovators, the thought leaders, and the emerging subject-matter experts. We not only get to learn and report it back to you, but we get to develop relationships. We are not just "friends" on Facebook, or "followers" on Twitter. We are people meeting people. We are gathering the news and building relationships. Real relationships. It is these relationships that allow us to not only gather the deliver the news, but also provide analysis and texture. What does the news mean for the market? What does it mean for the future of the logistics profession? Will it allow our readers to do things better, faster, and more efficiently? To answer all those questions, and do so in a substantive, meaningful way, we need to meet the people, face to face.

Although this is not a revelation, it is a welcome reminder of a fundamental truth that's often forgotten in our digital age: While e-mail, text messaging, Tweets, Facebook posts, and LinkedIn networking may be useful supplements to human interaction, they are by no means a replacement. To build relationships, establish trust, and avoid misunderstandings, people need to meet. People need to connect. People need to reach out, not hide behind technology-enabled "connectivity."

In an age when connectivity sometimes seems to have usurped connecting, a few weeks on the road— seeing, being, and networking with people—prove that face time still matters. It matters a lot.

Material Handling Transportation Technology Supply Chain Services
  • Related Articles

    just when you think things are getting better …

    How You Implement Technology Is Just as Important as the Technology You Choose

    100 issues later, the question remains the same: Are you up to SPEED?

Mitchmacdonald
Mitch Mac Donald has more than 30 years of experience in both the newspaper and magazine businesses. He has covered the logistics and supply chain fields since 1988. Twice named one of the Top 10 Business Journalists in the U.S., he has served in a multitude of editorial and publishing roles. The leading force behind the launch of Supply Chain Management Review, he was that brand's founding publisher and editorial director from 1997 to 2000. Additionally, he has served as news editor, chief editor, publisher and editorial director of Logistics Management, as well as publisher of Modern Materials Handling. Mitch is also the president and CEO of Agile Business Media, LLC, the parent company of DC VELOCITY and CSCMP's Supply Chain Quarterly.

Recent Articles by Mitch Mac Donald

Thought I’d something more to say …

Digital supply chains, circular economies, and a whole bunch of uncertainty

Sorry, folks. This is not normal

You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

Most Popular Articles

  • Cold chain giant Lineage Logistics buys its own rail operator

  • Outlook 2021: What’s in store for logistics supply chain?

  • Cushman & Wakefield Brokers Sale of 170 Acres plus Lease for 1MSF Build-to-Suit for Home Improvement Retailer in Commerce City, CO.

  • Thriving in the long haul: interview with Colin Yankee

  • Capacity challenges will continue in 2021

Now Playing on DCV-TV

2mw 01 18 21 thumb

LTL Carriers Using Yield Management Techniques to Identify New Accessorial Charges

DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
As we head into 2021, shippers are not too optimistic about negotiating rates with their carriers. The reason for this, as highlighted in the three CODE RED Webcasts we've hosted with our friends from CSCMP and NASSTRAC, is that in today's transportation marketplace, shippers are operating in uncharted waters. With...

FEATURED WHITE PAPERS

  • Proven Benefits: A Compendium of Slotting Optimization Success Snapshots

  • Bridging Information Gaps in Dock and Yard Operations

  • How Intelligent Sensor Solutions Turn Data Into Action

  • Order picking Solutions: Understanding Your Options

View More

Subscribe to DC Velocity Magazine

GET YOUR FREE SUBSCRIPTION
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • NEWSLETTERS
  • ADVERTISING
  • CUSTOMER CARE
  • CONTACT
  • ABOUT
  • STAFF
  • PRIVACY POLICY

Copyright ©2021. All Rights ReservedDesign, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing