Elevating Logistics: TMSA's Elevate Conference

The Elevate conference did exactly as promised— elevated the conversations, people and connections of the marketing and sales efforts in logistics, celebrating 100 years of TMSA with many more to come.

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Now that I've had plenty of time to cool off amidst my treasured air conditioning, I'm ready to tell you all about my experience at this year's Transportation Marketing and Sales Association's (TMSA) Elevate conference. Held in early June, and warm New Orleans, this year's conference highlighted 100 years of TMSA with great content on the behind-the-scenes practices of the best logistics and supply chain companies. 

Image (7)The opening keynote, author Ty Bennett, kicked off the event with a bang. Speaking on the power of storytelling, he explained the nuance communication as a tool to connect teams and create relationships in the workplace. In my job, communication is literally everything. I walked away from this topic with a deeper appreciation for the balance between credibility and relatability in the quest to cultivate compelling conversation through storytelling.

And storytelling really was a major theme at Elevate. Everyone shared their stories and their insights. In one session, Dionne Noisette, digital strategy and global communications leader at FedEx, shared her personal experiences with balancing work and motherhood. She gave examples and advice for flourishing in your personal and professional life, and the capacity for growth along the way.

There were so many opportunities to mix and mingle with people in the field— something we all appreciate more post-pandemic. There were also so many options for breakout sessions. In one I attended, Leslie Beard, strategic executive advisor at Culture Index, examined 7 work-related personality traits and the usefulness behind understanding these in a workplace context to help drive better communication and engagement across the board.

Image (6)Kameel Gaines, CEO at Rig on Wheels, joined Kaitlyn Quin, recruitment marketing manager at NFI, and Charlie Saffro, CEO at CS Recruiting, to discuss the intersection of people, purpose and profit. They gave some great examples of business strategy that fuses all three goals together as a collaborator effort to develop people and the businesses they work for.

Image (4)And in the economic panel, Lee Klaskow, senior analyst at Bloomberg, Lindsay Bur, senior economic analyst at American Trucking Associations, and Dean Croke, principal analyst at DAT Solutions, broke down the current state of affairs, detailing the current decrease in consumer purchased goods and an overall decrease in durable goods. With the housing market a driving factor in freight economics, tough times make for a tough market, even with earnings expected to increase next year but without a huge ripple effect. 

The Blazer's Bash celebrated award winners, and later, I even got to see some New Orleans ghosts on the streets of the city (or attempt to anyways). Overall, the Elevate conference did exactly that— elevated the conversations, people and connections of the marketing and sales efforts in logistics, celebrating 100 years of TMSA with many more to come.

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