#SmartSenseLIVE 2023

Our annual user conference, #SmartSenseLIVE 2023, was a phenomenal success. It was year two of organizing this event, and we were grateful to see an increase in attendance, engagement, and value added to our community. Professionals from each of our verticals came together for mutual education, collaboration, and knowledge sharing. I’m so grateful to the customers, guest speakers, and Board of Advisors members who made this year’s LIVE an unforgettable experience filled with energy that is propelling SmartSense forward in the industries that we serve.

I entered the conference with these words ringing in my ears: We do not compete on safety—something that Tom Davis from CVS told me shortly before I traveled to Orlando for LIVE. Our customers are leaders in their industries. They develop competitive advantages in a number of ways. Product safety, however, is something their stakeholders expect, not applaud. In accordance with that sentiment, we crafted the programming of LIVE to transcend the fundamentals of product safety and truly educate attendees on the innovations and forward-looking strategies that will become essential as the worlds of healthcare, pharmacy, and food service evolve.

Day 1: Wednesday, October 11 — Board of Advisor Meetings and Welcome Reception

One of the purposes of LIVE is to bring both our Healthcare and Food Service Advisory Boards together in person to discuss present and future strategic initiatives for SmartSense. Ed Marx recently joined our Healthcare Board of Advisors and Josh Jewett recently joined the Food Service board , so we were excited to have the added value of their counsel and expertise as we convened. Each board member presented new ideas, which facilitated some amazing conversations and actions that we took home with us to work on going forward.

At 8pm, the conference opened to all attendees with a welcome reception where drinks and hors d'oeuvres were served. I will say, with the familiarity of returning attendees and the enthusiasm of first-time participants, the energy of the welcome reception was off the charts. Every one of our breaks during the conference, both at meals and in between sessions, was marked by a noticeable buzz in conversation and exchange. Year by year, we are building a community that enriches all members.

Day 2: Thursday, October 12 — Programming Packed to the Brim

We packed the first full day of LIVE to the brim. I opened the programming with a welcome keynote updating everyone on SmartSense highlights from the past year and introducing the amazing content planned for the rest of the conference. After that, we had a fantastic lineup of speakers:

• Paul Brody gave his keynote titled, “Blockchain: The Next Wave of B2B Transformation.” Although many of our customers are not yet using blockchain, we feel that it is important to bring thought leadership and education programming to LIVE in order to critically examine topics beyond operational execution. Paul’s deep expertise in ethereum and supply chain provided a new lens for attendees to view product traceability through.

• Bill Ray provided a deep dive into emerging protocols, and IoT innovations. We always preach the business value and operational outcomes associated with our solution. However, it is important for our customers to have knowledge around the context of the technological backbone of the solution. Bill’s passion and excitement gave us a thorough preview of what’s coming next in IoT

• Vic Vercammen ’s talk, “Managing Product Safety & Compliance Across Domains,” featured his wisdom from years of leading safety programs for both food retail and retail pharmacy. We’re privileged to have Vic’s expertise active within our advisory board and welcome his experience with DSCSA on the retail pharmacy side as we help retailers prepare for FSMA 204 requirements coming in 2026 on the food retail side

• Joel Vengco closed out the general session with his speech, “Reimagining the Way Health Systems Operate by Transforming Care Delivery.” As data within all our organizations continues to grow, managing that data in a way that improves access to care is an essential component of digital leadership. Joel’s work at Hartford Healthcare provided an example of an organization committed to realizing improvements in operations execution by embracing technological innovation.

I was impressed with the clarity, vision, and level of innovative thinking displayed in each of these presentations. The diverse range of perspectives communicated through these talks brought great value to our subsequent discussions and sparked passion for growth within our industries.

After lunch, we moved from the high-level topics of the morning keynotes and burrowed down into the nitty gritty of our customers’ goals for the next 12 months. We split up into healthcare and food service tracks, which featured two sets of customer panels on each side during the afternoon sessions. It was exciting to see so many of our customers presenting the value (the how and the what) they have built around our platforms. From program optimization to technology adoption and labor recruitment, the peer-learning topics discussed throughout the sessions provided key insights for the attendees to take back to their own departments for consideration and implementation. A lot of connection takes place during these sessions, and we know attendees keep in touch throughout the year after the event to be a resource for one another.

User conferences are not all about business. They’re for celebration too. After a full day of programming, we gathered at Discovery Cove for a Hawaiian Lūʻau, dinner, drinks, award ceremony, and dance party. Everybody had a blast making fun of my dance moves—it was a great way to end the night

Day 3: Friday, October 13 — Becoming a #ProductSafetySuperHero

To start off our final day, Dr. Darin Detwiler gave his keynote, “Product Safety as a Mission,” reminding our community of the deep responsibility we hold for protecting the lives of the consumers and patients who rely on us to keep their food and medicine safe. We gave out signed copies of Dr. Detwiler’s book, Food Safety: Past, Present, and Predictions, and had fun posing as Product Safety Superheroes (see below). The work we do has an enormous impact across the healthcare, retail, pharmacy, and food sectors, and Dr. Detwiler’s moving mandate highlighted the critical nature of getting it right.

I had the privilege of moderating the Customer Executive Panel, which featured Vic Vercammen, Chris Adams , and Stacey Klinzing . They were able to draw upon their decades of experience to answer questions related to the upcoming challenges of 2024, technology adoption, and prioritization of criteria during the vendor vetting process.

Before lunch, attendees split up again into Idea Exchange sessions for healthcare and food service. I believe the sharing of knowledge, insights, and challenges is what leads to innovative solutions and advancements in our industries. Both of the Idea Exchange sessions fostered meaningful critical thinking and growth ideas for the participants. A lot of interdisciplinary learning took place between professionals from grocery retailers and restaurant brands, and between operators at hospitals and retail pharmacies.

After lunch, SmartSense Chief Product Officer Sammy Kolt closed the event with a product roadmap review, giving customers a comprehensive look into what we’ve done, what we’re working on now, and what we’re considering for the future along with new ways users can recommend new product features and enhancements. We’re always working on ways to make our solution better and I am grateful that we had the chance to unveil some of those things to our customers in person.

Looking Forward to LIVE24

I want to wrap this up by thanking everyone who attended again. Your presence and active participation made this year’s LIVE a remarkable success. The connections you made and knowledge you shared during the event has a powerful impact on both your career and SmartSense’s continued success. We greatly appreciate how you’ve kept the momentum going by continuing to build relationships at LIVE. We’re incorporating the feedback you’ve provided through notes and the attendee survey as we plan LIVE24. I can’t wait to announce the location and date so, which will become public soon. Get ready to mark your calendars. See you all again at LIVE24!