Final thoughts

That October we held the very first SMU Steel Summit Conference in Las Vegas in conjunction with METALCON. Packard gathered a handful of speakers and sponsors and titled the event “Construction & Steel Trends: Which Way Are the Winds Blowing?”

On top of our day-to-day newsletter operations, our four-person team created conference brochures, banners, presentations, embroidered shirts, registration packets, and more. Yep, four people, two of whom were part-time. We saw just over 100 folks squeeze into our conference room that year, a number we were very pleased with!

The event quickly grew in the following two years as attendance ticked higher. The Summit was again hosted alongside the METALCON convention, first in Atlanta in 2011, and then in Rosemont, Ill., in 2012.

We took a year off in 2013, focusing on the new SMU website. We were growing in every area and trying to keep up with the pace of change.

Then in 2014 we stuck our necks out and planned a Steel Summit hosted by us alone, selecting the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta as our venue. (A place that worked well enough for us to remain there still today!)

We had more than 200 folks join us in Atlanta that year. And we have watched that headcount grow by an average of 130 people each year since. We neared the 1,000 attendee mark in 2018, proudly surpassing it the following year. This year, we are closing in on 1,300 as I write this article. Hopefully, you’ll help us make the 2024 Steel Summit our largest to date!

Summit evolution

Weeks before my first Summit, I was gearing up for my return to school. This week, I attended three open houses at my kids’ schools. A lot has changed for me over the last 15 years, and I fondly look back on how the Summit has evolved.

In the early days, I manned the AV table in the back of the conference room. I managed the speaker presentations, videos, and live polls from a single laptop—by myself! Thankfully, we now leave some of those tasks to professionals, so I’ll have a little more time to mingle.

This year, you might admire the plush furniture we have on stage. In the early days, I remember loading up my kitchen barstools and lugging them to the GICC for speakers to sit on during the fireside chats. I had to rent a large car. Because they wouldn’t fit into the back of my two-seater Mazda.

When Packard pitched the idea of a SMU Summit App in 2016, I was skeptical. Would the hand-shaking, face-to-face steel crowd actually be interested in an app? But working alongside developers, I got the first SMU Summit app up and running with minimal hiccups a month shy of the event. (Editor’s note: The desktop version of the app is already up and running for those of you have already registered for Summit. We should have the mobile app ready to go next week.)

To my disbelief, we had a download rate of almost 70% of attendees! Whoever said the steel industry didn’t like tech?! The app remains a key feature of the conference to this day. It allows attendees to see who else is at the event, set up meetings, view the agenda, participate in live polls, and more.

Speaking of tech, I look back to 2020, when the Covid pandemic forced us to pivot to a virtual event with only a few months to prepare. We mailed welcome boxes to attendees stuffed with conference materials, sponsor swag, even sponsor-branded IPAs. Whatever the conditions, we adapt.

That’s why I’m so excited to attend Steel Summit 2024. Having watched it blossom over the past decade and a half is truly special. I take great pride in witnessing its growth and evolution, especially having been there since the beginning. It is gratifying to know that this conference, which I helped shape, will continue to thrive and make an impact for years to come. I can’t wait to see you all there!

PS – If you you’re new to Summit, you can check out the agenda here and register here.