Events

MAPP and ARPM’s Young Professionals Networks are excited to host a YP pre-conference session targeting those attending the Benchmarking Conference who are under 40. This professional development program is for industry young professionals looking to grow their network and leadership skills. This extraordinary session will include leadership peer-to-peer round tables, a manufacturing industry leadership panel and an inspiring leadership presentation from Tony Cucolo, retired Major General.

At 2:30pm, the session will start with a presentation on Company Culture: Ownership! Responsibility! Attitude! from Chuck Forrestal, President of Metro Plastics Technologies. Attendees will hear about the evolution of Metro's culture from the beginning of Chuck's time as President to where it is now. Forrestal will share the challenges his team faced, how the employees turned the culture from one of negativity to one of positivity, and the strategies utilized to ultimately improve the culture at Metro Plastics.

Attendees will then hear from Tom Wood, Vice President of Sales at E-S Plastics and current MAPP Board Member, as he shares his experience on the importance of relationship-building. Based on over 30 years of experience in the plastics manufacturing, Wood will walk through strategies (and the resulting benefits) of networking and how building credibility and trust across the industry can impact your career.

At 4:00pm join us for Leader Presence: High Impact, All Yours where Cucolo will address: how aware are you of your “presence?” A leader’s presence is a combination of many things, such as, body language, tone of voice, composure, ability to communicate, and more. These are things that set an atmosphere of confidence and positivity in an organization and allow a leader to extend their influence or directly influence a difficult situation. It simply cannot be helped that people form impressions and pass judgment on you based on your presence. A strong presence can inspire confidence, motivate employees and strengthen teams. A presence is something you can control, develop and sustain. Cucolo will offer tips and techniques to help you become more aware of your own presence and offer ways you can sustain a positive and influential presence.

While the Pre-Con Sessions are free-visit the conference website to register for the 2023 Benchmarking and Best Practices Conference.