From Total Beginner to Multi-Panel Speaker

The first time I attended Forum, it was happening right in my backyard, Austin, Texas. It was 2019, and I was a procurement supervisor for the city of Austin. It was very exciting, made more so because so many people from my organziation were able to attend.

I stepped into Forum without a good understanding of what it was. I assumed that everyone attending and speaking would be so highly knowledgeable and experienced that they would be unapproachable. I wondered if I’d even understand what they were talking about!

To my pleasant shock, there were people from every generation, age group, and experience level at Forum. And sure, I met some extremely experienced procurement professionals who knew a lot more than I did. But they were so friendly and inviting! This wasn’t the college lecture experience I had built up in my head; it was a very interactive adult learning experience.

There really weren’t the egos I was expecting, and that’s one thing that makes Forum stand out from a lot of other types of industry events. Everyone from the entry-level attendees to the vendors to the speakers and keynotes are all there to learn and to help others learn. It’s what sets Forum apart and what makes me want to keep attending every year.

Now, as a procurement manager, I am still excited to attend Forum to see all my procurement friends from across the continent and learn about the latest things happening in our field. I’m also excited to send members of my team to Forum either in person or virtually.

Lighting A Spark

I was fired up after having such a great in-person experience at Forum in 2019. I applied for and was accepted into a program called Leaders Edge (now called Edge). This exceptional program gave me much-needed confidence, plus opened me up to a community of people invested in each other and our learning and growth. I’m a strong advocate for the program and encourage anyone looking to meet people outside their agency, build their confidence, grow their network, and get exposed to new thoughts and ideas to apply as soon as applications are out.

Being at Forum also motivated me to become a speaker. I brought a notebook with me to the Forum and started taking notes during panel discussions about what topics had been discussed and which ones were missing. I wanted to fill in some of the gaps to help others like myself who were not as far into procurement as many of the presenters and keynote speakers.

When Forum went virtual in 2020, I took my shot at speaking. I’ll be honest – knowing I had a chance to re-record my talk if I made a mistake made it a lot easier to present than doing it in front of an audience. Everything went great, so I partnered with a colleague to present in person the following year. I ended up being part of four different presentations! It was amazing to have the confidence to go from being unsure about Forum itself to standing in front of a live audience four different times and presenting on a topic I felt knowledgeable about.

Advice for First-Timers

I was fortunate enough to attend Forum for the first time with several of my colleagues. But don’t hesitate to attend if you get the opportunity and don’t know anybody else! People at Forum are incredibly friendly. Here are my three tips to get the most out of it.

1. Keep a notebook: I have a notebook handy where I write all my Forum-related information, questions, and ideas. When I come home, I have the information at my fingertips to tell my team about, along with ideas for what we should implement. And when it’s time for the next year’s call for papers, I have lots of ideas for talks ready to go!

2. Look at the agenda ahead of time: You might feel overwhelmed once you’re at Forum, so it’s a good idea to look through the agenda before you arrive and choose which panels you want to attend. Then you won’t feel confused or out of sorts when you’re at the venue.

3. Get outside your comfort zone: Attend at least a few talks on topics you don’t have a lot of knowledge about so you can start getting a more well-rounded understanding of procurement as a whole. This is also a great way to meet people from different backgrounds and areas of specialty. Go ahead and introduce yourself to new people – they are just as excited as you are to expand their network.

If you have an opportunity to attend Forum, do it! You won’t regret it. Get out there, take some risks, and get to know more about procurement than what you are doing for your entity.