10/04/2023
ENCORE Leadership Conference Recap
Our 2023 ENCORE Leadership Conference was a great success! Thank you again to all of our sponsors, partners, speakers, staff and of course, all of the participants who attended this year.
We kicked off the conference on Monday morning with Charles Schiele with Google. Charles detailed what AI looks like and the different types including Large Language Models. He also explained what things AI can work with, what data it can consume, what it can export and the new opportunities AI can drive, such as quick service restaurant drive-thru ordering.
We then welcomed Dr. Ralph Williams of Jones College of Business at the Middle Tennessee State University back for the second year. This year, he discussed the why and what of leader credibility and what one can do to build it. Leader credibility is all about someone else's perception of your actions, and a little slip in your actions can make a big dent in your credibility to others.
Next, Kurt Wells and Jim Wulfek of the Center for Great Work Performance took the stage to discuss how to Serve, Manage and Lead in your business. One must Serve people, Manage systems and Lead culture every day in order to be successful. Look daily at quality, cost, time, safety and morale and communicate those five key items often and openly with your employees.
After seeing her on the GMA / The Print University learning platform, it was an privilege to have Pat McGrew of McGrewGroup to speak at ENCORE this year. Pat detailed how AI can help take the guesswork out of all aspects of the printing process when properly integrated. When looking internally at your business, don't be surprised to find that AI is already in your shop.
During a delicious lunch of soup, salad and baked potatoes, Charles Schiele once again took the stage to elaborate on his morning session on how to innovate and adapt AI into your shop. Work together with tech providers since you know your shop better than they do. The more that you get involved with AI, the more responsible and ethical you must be.
To speak on complacency and AI adoption, we welcomed Joe Boroi of IBM. He said that complacency is the enemy and that AI has the opportunity to make everyone superheroes when used in the correct capacity. It is best to learn how to leverage the tools available in order to thrive. AI is intended to augment human capabilities; not replace us.
From our Michigan region, Dave Goodenough and Seth Vanderark of Edgewater Automation explained to attendees that automation speeds things up while ensuring the same processes are used. Automation can increase productivity, fix labor shortages, improve quality, enhance safety, and reduce costs. They then showed us some impressive videos of some AI systems they have built and integrated into various industries, including packaging, ink, labeling, pharmaceutical and automotive.
Pat McGrew re-took the stage to enlighten us on the dark side of automation and AI. A big downside that has been shown with AI is designers, writers, artists, etc. have found their work being used on platforms without their permission. Another downside that has been seen in AI systems is biases. It is up to those who program AI to not impose such biases on to the systems. Pat sees cyber insurance rates continuing to rise as people are using AI bots to scam and steal information from companies.
We welcomed Joe Boroi back to the stage to continue his enlightening discussion from earlier. With data and AI, there are 78,000 known vulnerabilities exploited every day. This requires us to never trust and always verify what AI is doing. Make sure that you have policies and processes in place to protect your business.
Finishing off the terrific education sessions for the day, Jeff Smith of Fisher Phillips was on hand to discuss legal considerations with AI. His biggest take away is that humans have to be the last line of defense when working with AI. It is not a fool-proof solution, and you must take caution to ensure that the work being produced is ethical and legal.
If you are a member with a login to our website, you can view presentations from conference here.
After such great education sessions, we all wound down with some soft rock tunes while enjoying tasty hors d'oeuvres and cocktails. Everyone had a great time networking and discussing the day.
As always, thank you so much to our tremendous sponsors! We could not have executed such a great conference without them.