Final Thoughts

May 8, 2020

The “new normal” is to reinvent oneself or the way you will do business going forward.

As many of you are aware, I am no spring chicken. Yet I refuse to live in the past. I learned (the hard way – through unexpected career changes) that I needed to constantly keep myself relevant to my customers. The way I think is to try to imagine what your needs are going to be in the weeks, months and years ahead. This pandemic has just added a new sense of urgency to the way I see our relationship through the continued development of the SMU “community,” and the group of products we have to offer those in the industry that SMU covers.

Last week you heard me talk about what will be the first SMU “Virtual” Steel Summit Conference. This will be no small project. If we are going to go down this road, I want to bring a product to you that offers value – perhaps even exceeding that of our “live” conference (which is already the largest flat rolled and plate steel conference in the Western Hemisphere).

John Packard Summit 18 Let me back up a second to inform those who missed last Thursday’s Final Thoughts – a decision on whether we will host our Aug. 24-26 conference at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta will not be made until June 1. By then we should have a better feel for if we can conduct a “safe” conference and what that would entail. Whether we conduct a live conference at the GICC or not will not influence our decision to conduct a “virtual” online conference over the same three days.

The next 15 weeks are going to be quite interesting, and I hope you will join me on the journey.

When I built the original SMU Steel Summit Conference, I believed a conference had to bring some key values to attendees in order to keep them coming back for more: access to decision-makers, quality speakers discussing topics of interest to the audience, a good environment without too many distractions and plenty of time for networking at a reasonable price.

The SMU “Virtual” Steel Summit Conference is going to be built with each of these keys in the forefront of our minds. Our vision is to provide an environment where you miss nothing – no longer will you be forced to miss a portion of the program because you are in a meeting outside of the meeting room. You will also have opportunities to interact with other attendees, have live chats – introduce yourself to someone new. You will have more time to make appointments before the conference, during the conference and after the conference is over.

Stay tuned for more in the coming days, weeks and months. We have 15 weeks to go before show time!

We have just a couple of days before our next SMU Community Chat Webinar, which will feature Dr. Chris Kuehl, Managing Director of Armada Corporate Intelligence. Join me and Dr. Kuehl at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, May 13. You can register for this week’s free webinar by clicking on this link.

I saw the CEO of Carrier Corporation speaking to CNBC on Friday morning. He believes the housing market in the United States will be down 15-20 percent. He was asked if demand is being “pushed out” or “eliminated” due to the pandemic. He felt that the U.S. recovery would not be the same as China, which appears to be going through a “V” shaped recovery. The U.S. will have a shallower drop in demand (China was 50 percent for Carrier) but it will take much longer to return to pre-COVID-19 levels. He also mentioned that when dealing with labor issues and proximity, this may move more manufacturing toward robotics.

If you are looking to renew your membership, or if you would like to become a new subscriber, please reach out to Paige Mayhair at 724-720-1012 or by email: Paige@SteelMarketUpdate.com . You can also reach out to Jill Waldman at 303-570-6570 or by email: Jill@SteelMarketUpdate.com

As always, your business is truly appreciated by all of us here at Steel Market Update.

John Packard, President & CEO