Most business professionals would agree that industry conferences today are a crapshoot. Once limited to a few per year, the conference business has exploded with highly specialized events, half-day seminars, and virtual shows.

You could spend all year touring the globe (and the Web) attending conferences. But why would you? Most would agree that many conferences — including some of the tried and true industry association event — offer watered down content, vendor commercials, and rubber chicken lunches.

So, how can you ensure that you’re investing your money and time in the conferences that can enhance your supply management (and career) performance? Supply Excellence put this question to someone who would know, purchasing guru Doug Smock. As ex-Editor in Chief for Purchasing Magazine, author of two top-selling purchasing books (including On Demand Supply Management:World-Class Strategies, Practices, and Technology), and editorial director of Global CPO.com, Doug has attended a conference or two in his day. Frustrated with the degradation of content and value delivered at industry shows, Doug took matters into his own hands — literally — by taking the reins of the Conference Board’s once-vaulted annual Purchasing Conference.

We caught up with Doug to ask him what went wrong with industry conferences, how supply managers can ensure they are making the most of the events they attend, and what he has done to overhaul the Conference Board’s Purchasing Conference.

Supply Excellence (SE): Purchasing and supply chain industry conferences have gone through some dramatic changes and lean times in recent years. What has been missing from these once popular and once valuable shows?

Doug Smock: I think the conferences have become, by and large, too proforma. There are now many players without real supply management expertise or involvement. It’s strictly a business.

SE: Can you recommend a litmus test purchasing professionals can use to assess the value of specific industry conferences?

Doug Smock: Look to see if there is thematic content. The Purchasing Conference on November 15 and 16 will dig deep into what I found is a real issue for top purchasing management: How to deal with constant change. Shelley Stewart, my co-author on Straight to the Bottom Line, has been through two major corporate changes and will give the keynote speech, Raytheon will also provide insight from a major industry research project on how purchasing will change in the next 10 years. There are 19 great speakers who will provide insight.

SE: Wow, you really have pulled together an impressive roster of experienced thought leaders for the Purchasing Conference. And from the great job you did moderating the supply management execs on the finance, healthcare, and manufacturing Industry Directions panels at Empower 2007 earlier this month, I am certain you will motivate some inspiring dialogue. Presenters and attendees also find that conferences deliver value for networking for new hires or to be hired. What is your thought on the networking value of industry conferences these days?

Doug Smock: Peer networking is the only value in too many purchasing conferences. We will offer that plus a very valuable program.

SE: You’ve attended quite a few conferences in your storied and experienced career. What is the pre-conference routing you use to ensure that you get the most from a conference?
Doug Smock: I always looked for presentations based on real experience by practitioners. The best presentations often cover unexpected problems, such as some of the supplier issues with early e-procurement installations. There has been too little of this at most purchasing conferences. Of course, my litmus test was always — ‘Could I get a story from it?’

SE: This year, you took over the Conference Board’s annual Purchasing Conference, which is coming up in New York on November 15th and 16th. What changes have you made to the conference to maximize the educational and networking value to attendees?
Doug Smock: I looked back at what I felt are some of the strongest programs I have come across in the last two years, at best-in-class supply management organizations. For example, I have had a great deal of respect for the Purchasing Department at Procter & Gamble. Larry Loftus, who ran their purchasing training program in China, is going to share his learnings there as well as what it takes to run a first-class purchasing education program.

SE: What are the major themes and marquee presenters at the Purchasing Conference this year?
Doug Smock: Scott Searls, the SVP of Procurement and Logistics at Alltell will discuss how to proactively manage the supply chain. Spend Management only tells you where you’ve been. Scott has developed a forward-looking tool that tells you where you are going, even in terms of margin. He was one of the key drivers of this tool development at Lucent and helped stave off bankruptcy [there] through accurate margin forecasting. It really shows the power of great purchasing. Quentin Sameslon of Motorola is oging to take the wraps off a new automation tool that allows truly global information integration. The new “Control Towers” allow POs (for common product/supplier combinations) to be issued simultaneously to different business units. This is the kind of unique, new content I am talking about. There’s a lot more.

SE: It’s really great to see that you will be emphasizing innovation in procurement — something which, to your point, has been absent from many conferences in recent years. And, considering that the impact technology and globalization demand such innovation, your overhaul of the Conference Board’s Purchasing Conference could not have come at a better time. Where can Supply Excellence readers go to get more information on the conference or register to attend?

Doug Smock: Follow this link for more information on The Purchasing Conference

SE: Thanks, Doug. And best of luck with the conference. I’m sure it will be both valuable and inspiring.