Final Thoughts

Networking is always an important piece of doing business in the steel business. There are, in my opinion, three great places to network and each is a little different from the others.

I attended the Metals Industry Dinner in support of the Chicago area Boy Scouts (Boy Scout Dinner) on Thursday of last week. The dinner attracts about a thousand people who pack the Hyatt Regency bar before the dinner (not everyone has a ticket) and then again at the official cocktail party and dinner. The Boy Scout event tends to attract service centers, toll processors, steel mills and trading companies. The attendees can range from owners and CEO’s to sales, purchasing and support people. There are manufacturing companies in attendance but they are much fewer in number compared to the previously mentioned industry segments. The Boy Scout Dinner is a great place to see multiple suppliers in one place without having to move around too much.