Modex 2024：破纪录，机器人无处不在

3月14日结束的破纪录的Modex 2024很有可能让你的耳朵仍在嗡嗡作响。事实上，今年在亚特兰大，各种记录都被打破了。注册人数为48733名观众，比2022年的Modex展会增加了32%，三个展厅的58万净平方英尺（另一项记录）容纳了1200多家参展商，两年前大约850家，更不用说我连续几天打破纪录的“步数”了。

正如执行总编辑诺埃尔·博登堡上个月在我们的《日报》制作前所报道的那样，我们从未见过在活动前发布这么多产品。“这是一个记录，”她说，“还有很多来自我们通常不关注的公司的独特产品。”他们都在那里，展示自己的产品，努力在这个非常拥挤的市场中脱颖而出。

事实上，有这么多摊位要参观，有很多人要见，有很多人要握手，有几英里的路程要走，我花了几天时间才把那些重要的收获融入我的脑海。

直到3月底，我与执行主编鲍勃·特雷比尔科克和高级编辑罗伯托·米歇尔一起开始了我们2024年虚拟峰会的计划（将于7月25日上线），这一切才真正形成。我们首先要回答一个简单的问题：那么，我们在MODEX学到了什么？“老实说，”Trebilcock说，“今年我们真的没有看到任何新的东西。我们看到的是过去几年引入的许多创新——现在需要消化的创新。有太多的东西，现在运营部门必须把它们都想出来。”

米歇尔对此表示赞同，并补充道，当我们进入这个“大消化”阶段时，整合就是游戏的名称。他说：“所有这些自动化、机器人和将其结合在一起的软件都能真正发挥作用。”。“这不再是一门科学项目。现在，我们需要停下来消化它（对我们自己的运营意味着什么），并找出如何正确应用它。”

永别了……就目前而言，我在职业生涯早期遇到的一位非常明智的人力资源总监曾告诉我：“没有什么人是不可替代的。”通过多年的员工管理，我发现她99%是正确的。

正如许多现代读者可能听说的那样，长期担任执行主编和撰稿人的鲍勃·特雷比尔科克于3月31日正式退休。

在过去的30多年里，他逐渐成为杂志的“代言人”，我几乎可以肯定，他对这个市场的洞察力、理解力和热情是无法取代的，他在这个市场上度过了大部分职业生涯。

Bob不仅在这个市场上长大，家庭托盘生意点燃了早期的火焰，而且事实上，他对电影、爵士乐、吉他、海明威、姜戈、贝克的兴趣范围，以及他作为艺术家、编剧、伴奏吉他手和B2B记者的独特沟通能力，使他处于一个大多数人永远无法企及的平台上。

当我称他为“Renais sance man”时，他从不喜欢，他是一个罕见的在多个领域获得渊博知识或熟练技能的人。但如果Bob不是其中之一，那么他们不存在。我相信他们会的。

Modex 2024: Records broken, robots everywhere
There’s a good chance your ears are still ringing from the record-breaking Modex 2024 that wrapped up on March 14. In fact, all sorts of records were broken this year in Atlanta. Registration rang in at 48,733 visitors,up 32% from Modex 2022, and the 580,000 net square feet across three halls (another record) housed more than 1,200 exhibitors, up from around 850 two years ago—not to mention my back-to-back record-breaking “steps” days.
As executive managing editor Noël Boden burg reported leading up to production of our Show Daily last month, we’d never seen so many product releases before an event. “It was a record,” she said, “and so many unique products from companies that aren’t typically on our radar.” And they were all there, fl ying their fl ags, working to differentiate in what is becoming a very crowded market.
Indeed, with this many booths to visit,people to see, hands to shake, miles to walk,it took a few days for any major takeaways to settle into my brain.
It didn’t all really formulate until I got together with executive editor Bob Trebilcock and senior editor Roberto Michel at the end of March to begin our 2024 Virtual Summit plan ning (going live July 25). We begin our summit planning by answering the simple question:So, what did we learn at Modex? “To be honest,” says Trebilcock, “we didn’t really see anything new this year. What we saw was a lot of the innovation that’s been introduced over the past few years—innovation that now needs to be digested. There’s so much out there,and now operations have to fi gure it all out.”
Michel agreed, adding that, as we enter this “great digestion” phase, integration is the name of the game. “All of this automation, robotics and the software that pulls it together really works,” he says. “This is no longer a science
project. Now, we need to pause to digest what it means to our own operations and figure out how to apply it properly.”
Farewell…for now A very wise HR director I met early in my career once told me: “No one is irreplaceable.” And I’ve found through my many years of managing staff that she’s 99% correct.
As many Modern readers may have heard,long-time executive editor and contributor Bob Trebilcock offi cially retired on March 31.
He evolved into “the face” of Modern over the past 30+ years, and I’m nearly certain that his insight, understanding and passion for this market in which he spent the majority of his professional career can never be replaced.
Not only did Bob grow up in this market,with the family pallet business fanning the early flames, but the fact that his range of interests-film, jazz, guitar, Hemingway, Django, Baker and his ability to communicate from the unique position as an artist, a screenwriter, an accom plished guitarist, as well as a B2B reporter with true industry knowledge at the ready puts him on a plateau most will never be able to reach.
He never liked when I called him a “Renais sance man,” that rare person who’s acquired profound knowledge or profi ciency in more than one fi eld. But if Bob isn’t one, then they
don’t exist. I believe they do.