Council of Logistics Management
A Personal Perspective on Being a Member of the CLM Roundtable Executive
The annual conference for the Council of Logistics Management (CLM) is only weeks away! I am very excited about the conference, which has the theme “enhancing Global Relationships: Passport to the Future,” as well as by its location this year – Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (The conference had been held outside the United States only once in the past, in Montreal several years ago.)
For those not familiar with the CLM, it “is a not-for-profit professional organization which provides leadership in developing, defining, understanding and enhancing the logistics process on a worldwide basis; a forum for the exchange of concepts and best practices among logistics professionals; research that advances knowledge and leads to enhanced customer value and supply chain performance; and education and career development programs that enhance career opportunities in logistics management.”
This year I am serving on the Arrangement Committee which services the annual conference in ensuring that the conference attendees find their way to the sessions, tours and other events. I am going to be serving the tours segment of the conference on the committee as a local representative who is proud of the distribution and logistics facilities we have in the Greater Toronto area.
Given my position on the Arrangement Committee, I believe that the tour tracks will be most exciting. I know that the local Roundtable executive has dedicated hours of diligent preparation in order to secure some of the most unique facilities found in the Greater Toronto Area. Conference attendees who participate in these tours will be shown facilities such as the world-class AJ Billes facility Canadian Tire has north of the Toronto. If you plan on attending one of the tours you should sign up early as there is limited space and has always been a “sold out” event at the previous conferences I have attended.
The annual conference is four days that is jam-packed with events like General Sessions, where speakers such as Peter Jennings from ABC Nightly News Anchor address the entire body of conference attendees. In total there are 41 different track topics, including four tracks dedicated to tours of facilities in the Greater Toronto Area. The various track topics cover everything from A to Z in logistics and supply chain management. Some of the Track Topics include: Canadian Logistics Success Stories, Creating Logistics Value, Emerging Technologies in Supply Chain Management and Global Logistics Strategy, to name only a few.
Thinking of last year’s CLM annual conference in Anaheim, California, I recall what made it so memorable was meeting people on a personal level, starting with the first morning general session when I entered a large open hall to enjoy breakfast with a several thousand other logistics professionals. The meals were not as memorable as the conversations and the professionals that I met and shared ideas and experiences with. The speakers at the general sessions were both innovative forward-looking professionals and truly gifted speakers. But it was their genuine effort that contributed to making this event truly world class.
Organizing the conference into small digestible segments is best facilitated by the individual track sessions. The specific tracks and the many different sessions presented are truly informative and typically provide great dialogue in a medium-sized group setting. In fact, I recall sessions in which participants made commitments to meet after the conference to further discuss issues and examine further how these new ideas could be mutually beneficial to their respective organizations.
To those of you from Canada who have not yet attended CLM’s Annual Conference, I would highly suggest you take the opportunity to attend this year in Toronto. The conference will offer you a unique professional experience that will provide dividends to both your professional career and organization.Because CLM is committed to continuous professional development, even when the conference leaves town a piece of the CLM will remain, namely, its local Roundtable. We, as the executive, are committed to providing you with interesting events a number of times throughout the year.
I hope to see many of you at the annual conference this year in Toronto and that this event will promote your professional development as it has to mine.