Gardner Web: Blog https://www.gardnerweb.com/atom/blog A collection of the most recent blog posts. Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 -0400 Events and the Industrial Purchase Process In this first of a multi-part series examining trends, tactics, and takeaways revealed in the Industrial Buying Influence report, we look at the role of events in the industrial purchase process and share strategies and best practices for finding the biggest ROI from your event marketing strategy. As digital and artificially created marketing volume increases, a strong “you can’t fake a handshake” sentiment persists amongst an industrial manufacturing community that values face-to-face interaction to evaluate business solutions.

event marketing

This sentiment is evident in the 2025-2026 Industrial Buying Influence report which reveals live and in-person events as an essential component of the industrial purchase process and industrial marketing mix. Industrial buyers rely on tradeshows and conferences to discover and evaluate product and service solutions, particularly during the early and mid-stage of their buying journey.

Here we take a closer look specifically at the importance of events – including tradeshows and conferences and supplier and distributor open houses – through their role and usage as an information resource, purchase process influencer, advertising vehicle, content channel and lead acquisition tool.

Inside the Numbers

Events as a Resource

  • Tradeshows / conferences return as the 2nd most used resource for getting product and process information; Supplier / Distributor Open Houses ranked 6th
  • Tradeshows / conferences return as the 3rd most used resource for making purchase decisions; Supplier / Distributor Open Houses ranked 7th
    • Tradeshows / conferences play a primary role in each stage of the purchase process, but are primarily early and mid-stage influencers
    • Supplier / Distributor Open Houses showed less impact during early buying stage but become a more notable influencer during mid and late stage buying

Events and Advertising

  • Tradeshows / conferences are the #1 most effective advertising channel for forming or reinforcing a positive impression of a supplier/vendor

In which of the following sources, if any, does advertising and marketing for a specific supplier/vendor typically form or reinforce for you positive impressions of the supplier/vendor advertised?
Source: 2026 Industrial Buying Influence Report

Events and Content Marketing

  • Tradeshows / conferences ranked as the 2nd most effective content marketing resource for forming or reinforcing a positive impression of a supplier/vendor.

Events and Lead Generation

  • Scanning their badge at a tradeshow is the 2nd most likely way for a prospective buyer to show interest in being contacted by a sales representative
  • Upon having their badge scanned, buyers prefer to be contacted 2-3 days after the event ends; preferably by email; no more than 3 times

Maximize Your Event ROI

Your event presence is the unique combination of your company’s personality, culture, knowledge base, and solutions. Following are four takeaways for maximizing your event ROI.

  • Content – Increase exhibit value by investing in content creation, before, during, and after the event. First, attendees view events as a research opportunity. Be sure you have solutions-based content available in your booth in some combination of live demonstrations and presentations; applications and success stories; case studies or white papers; and, in-booth subject matter experts. Second, use the event as an opportunity to create content to package and share long after you leave the show floor. Photos, videos, research, customer testimonials, and interviews all make for great post-event content.

  • Advertising – In recent years, in-person events have become more than just marketing channels—increasingly buyers are forming more positive impressions of those companies who exhibit. That impact comes partly from the event format itself, but also from the credibility gained through active participation and visible commitment to the industry. An opportunity exists to extend that brand awareness benefit by investing in pre-show, onsite and post-show advertising and sponsorship opportunities. These activities reinforce brand message, drive attendees to your booth, and often carry beyond the event itself, reaching broader audiences throughout the entire show cycle.

  • Lead Nurturing – Event registrants have specific preferences for post-show follow-up. They expect to see brand and content forward advertising from exhibitors. For those badges you scan, know that follow-up timing is important. Buyers indicate 2-3 days after the event as the optimal time to follow up, with email being the preferred channel. Our recommendation is 2-3 personalized, content-based follow-ups complemented by an office phone call. If no response, allowing some time to laps before reengagement efforts is advised.

  • Audience Extension – Even the biggest events reach only a portion of the total buying audience. The same marketing message you prepare for the event can be repurposed and amplified throughout the year to a larger audience. Doing so will keep your name top of customers’ minds and may increase the likelihood of engagement at future events. Keep your brand present in the market with organic and paid campaigns, to both an existing and new audience, to maintain the momentum you build up from the event.

As you develop your overall marketing strategy, consider events such as conferences, tradeshows, and open houses as central components of your mix. Realize too that the total value and impact of your event investment can be multiplied by working to maximize content creation, capitalize on high-impact advertising options, thoughtful lead follow-up and ongoing organic and paid audience extension. Those efforts are made more valuable when working with partners that can help you create the right content and match that content with engaged, first-party audiences and trusted contextual environments.

In part 2, we will examine the impact of brand awareness on the industrial purchase process.

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Tue, 12 Nov 2024 00:00:00 -0500 Insights That Inform: The Power of Partnership Canon Virginia, Inc. and Gardner Intelligence joined to gain insights to what partnership means and how to develop beneficial partnerships that flourish. Canon Virginia, Inc. a mold manufacturer, outsourcing solutions provider, industrial products company and beneficiary of business partnerships, set out to promote partnerships to drive innovation and progress across the industry. They reached out to Gardner Intelligence for help gaining insights to what partnership means, how to develop beneficial partnerships, and how to foster their growth.

Research Solution

Gardner Intelligence, in collaboration with Canon and its marketing agency, designed, conducted and analyzed research that informed Canon’s initiative to promote partnerships.

Gardner Intelligence conducted 1:1 interviews with Canon’s prospects in Gardner’s database that, in combination with the agency’s interviews with Canon’s customers, yielded depth of understanding and input to survey design.

Gardner lead the development, administration and analysis of a survey to quantify partnership objectives, development processes, ongoing practices and other characteristics to gain additional insights and expertise about partnerships.

Gardner Intelligence is committed to leading research that delivers knowledge and insights that meet customer objectives.

“Gardner Intelligence is committed to leading research that delivers knowledge and insights that meet customer objectives. Informing decisions for better customer outcomes fuels us. It is super exciting to have the opportunity to help distribute the white paper Canon Virginia Inc. developed using data and insights from our collaborative, multi-component research program with CVI and its agency,” said Jan Schafer, Director of Market Research.

Insights Applied

Canon Case Study

Canon applied Gardner’s research insights to:

  1. Grow and optimize its own partnerships
  2. Develop a white paper to promote partnerships for the benefit of the moldmaking industry as a whole (including Canon!)

The White Paper includes:

  • Elements of partnerships
  • Common catalysts for partnerships
  • Market dynamics
  • Engineering the experience

> Download Canon’s White Paper, Harnessing the Power of Partnerships

Start Your Research with Gardner Intelligence

Download and share this case study featuring Canon and Gardner Intelligence.

Contact Gardner Intelligence for insights that inform your decisions related to:

New initiatives – Brand equity – Strategy – Messaging – Product development 

> Visit GardnerIntelligence.com

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Wed, 18 Oct 2023 08:00:00 -0400 Five Tools to Improve Your Webinar Audience Engagement Learn how to boost engagement in your webinars to keep your audience tuned in and connected to your message. Abby Hull, director of digital products, reviews five tools you can use today in your broadcasts. When planning out a webinar, you’re often thinking about the content you want to present, how you’re going to tell your story and how to make the presentation look amazing.

man chilling at desk

But there are more reasons to run a webinar besides simply presenting your content. Your goal is to make connections with people in the industry who are looking for solutions. You want them to engage with you and your content — not just stare at a screen for an hour.

So, what can you do to engage your audience more while broadcasting?

Here are five tips to help boost interactivity and engagement with your webinar audience:

1. Turn on those webcams

In the last few years, there’s been a shift in comfort levels surrounding online meetings. More and more people are willing to turn on their webcams, regardless of their location. In 2023, 78% of webinars presented by the Gardner Business Media family of brands used webcams at least in part if not in full. A common trend is to have webcams on for the introduction and the Q&A session at the end. Plus — based on stats from 2023 — we see an increase in engagement scores calculated by our webinar software. Webcams alone can boost engagement by 2% (from 45% to 47% engagement on average for 2023).

2. Show, don’t just tell

Multimedia content, including videos and GIFs, are a great way to keep your audience’s attention. Showing how the process works can keep them focused and not reading their inbox while they listen in (we’ve all done it, don’t deny it 😊). Content such as composite layers/layup, twin-screw extruders, and CNC machining paths all work well as videos or GIFs. If those aren’t your forte, you could also consider a step-through set up in your presentation that shows the transition between steps. And for those of you who focus on software, we can work with you to do a live demo of your system.

3. Poll your audience

If you’re looking for more information from your live audience or are interested in progressive profiling, polls are a great solution. Polls can help you achieve a knowledge baseline for your audience, gauge how often your audience uses a specific solution, and help gather more data to share later for each user. Using polls as a progressive profiling tool can also help minimize the number of questions you need on your registration form — shorter forms tend to lead to fewer abandonments. We offer a number of formats in our webinar platform; just let us know what you’d like to include.

4. Chat them up

The most under-utilized tool available for webinars is the chat section. Many presenters are hesitant to use the chat feature in our webinars, and it’s perfectly understandable: they can be distracting, there could be crickets or there could be a rock show, and there’s always an underlying concern that a competitor may join and stir the pot. As this tool isn’t used as often, our audiences aren’t accustomed to using it, and are thus typically less interactive — unless you prompt them. Asking about their pain points and getting real-time feedback can be invaluable when a poll just doesn’t fit. We recommend having a chat-focused team member join alongside the presenter to focus on those conversations while the presenter continues to share their knowledge.

5. Share your knowledge beyond the webinar

A webinar only lasts so long, and more often than not you may have way more content that you’d like to present. Handouts are a great way to balance presented content and additional resources. We find that white papers, case studies, learning resources, and testimonials work well — however, you may share anything that you feel would be beneficial to the audience. Our system can support many different types of handouts, so just reach out if you have any questions. Check out our quick guide for the available formats.

Regardless of your comfort level with webinars, using these tips — even if you start by adding just one at a time — is a great way to engage your audience further while sharing your expertise. Next time you plan a webinar, be sure to think about these five tips and see where they might make the best sense in your webinar. While they won’t be applicable every time, they are good cards to have up your sleeve. And if you’re still new to webinars or want to reach a new audience, don’t be afraid to work with a partner that’ll help guide you through the process.

Abby recently presented this content as a webinar. You can watch that webinar on-demand. For more information about webinars, please reach out to Abby Hull.

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Wed, 30 Aug 2023 16:00:00 -0400 Veteran Marketers Know How Print Plays in Their Plans. Do You? There’s more than enough research showing print engenders higher recall and a satisfying social effect with readers.
Mark Semmelmayer, Chief Idea Officer, Pen & Inc. Marketing Communications

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to read Joe Pulizzi’s blog and started doing backflips. The premise of his blog, “Time to Rethink Print?” wasn’t just right, it was damn right! Then I stopped for a minute.

Rethink? For most seasoned marketers, print has never been far from our minds. In fact, back in 2013, I wrote a blog for this newsletter titled. Print Advertising is Dead. Or is it?. So, it’s not news to me or our marketing brethren. Then, the backflips started again. But why?

Because a new crop of marketers, coming from differing schools of thought, are seeing what marketing vets have always seen. Joe’s bona fides as a content marketer are beyond impeccable, but his eyes were opened to the fact that good content doesn’t exist solely in the digital realm. It also exists on the piece of paper in a target’s hand. And it’s effective.

Analyzing this blog, I think his arguments for print fell into two categories: social and psychological. On the social side, his key points were:

  • Customers still need to know what questions to ask
  • There are no audience development costs

On the psychology side his points were:

  • Print still excites people
  • It grabs attention
  • Its focus on information retention
  • Print lets people unplug

First, a quick look at the social side of Joe’s key points:

Indeed, customers need to know the questions to ask, but does digital provide the information needed to formulate those questions? I think not . . . or at least not as well. According to Website Builder Expert, the average time spent on a web page is 53 seconds. Ask yourself how much info can be conveyed and retained in that time span. My guess? Not much.

Mark Semmelmayer, Chief Idea Officer, Pen & Inc. Marketing Communications

Einstein is quoted as saying “True genius lies in asking the right question. The solution is just mathematics.” That ad or spec sheet you put in your prospect’s hands gives them a chance to think critically about your offering. They can cross-reference your features and benefits to their needs and ask those questions. The result? A logon to your website, or a phone call or email, to explore your offering.

Saying there are no audience development costs is, to paraphrase Jefferson, a truth that is “self-evident.” With print advertising or direct mail marketing, the list compiler or publication has spent beaucoup bucks assuring your message covers the target. With your own printed material, distributed by sales reps or distributors, on sales calls or at trade shows, you did the leg work to make sure the audience was right.

Next, on the psychological side of Joe’s thinking, the evidence to support him is formidable indeed!

As for print exciting people and grabbing attention, Joe’s own writing puts it very well:

“I talked to a journalist recently who said it’s harder to get people to agree to an interview for an online story. But mention it will be a printed feature and executives rearrange their schedule. The printed word is still perceived as more credible to many people than anything on the web.”

Moreover, credibility is a key word here. Ask yourself, if a major news story breaks, are you just going to read about it on the web? I’d think not, you’d immediately turn to a video news feed and grab any printed info at hand to feel fully informed.

In terms of information retention, studies published by Temple University, neuroscience research firm True Impact and other research institutions suggest that printed marketing materials tend to outperform digital along several key dimensions.

Last year, the Pew Research Center conducted a survey on American reading preferences across all age groups. Their findings:

     •  39% of respondents said they read only print books

       29% said they read both digital and print books

       7% responded that they exclusively consume books in a digital format

 It’s not much of a stretch to think the same is true for print advertising or collateral.

Without a doubt, the printed page is focused on information retention. Multiple studies have linked printed materials to better retention of information compared to digital media. In 2016, researchers from the University of Maryland published their findings on this topic in The Journal of Experimental Education.

The researchers first asked college students which medium they preferred for studying, and which they felt offered them the best recall. Students overwhelmingly chose digital content for both responses. When they were tested on their actual retention of information, the results demonstrated these students clearly had better recall after reading printed materials.

And, finally, about print letting people unplug. The time spent on our digital gadgets isn’t just about quantity of time, it is also about the quality of lifestyle. As Azadeh Aalai Ph.D. wrote in Psychology Today, “While there are benefits in having access to such a plethora of information in real time, there is also a risk of developing information overload and mental fatigue.”

Mark Semmelmayer, Chief Idea Officer, Pen & Inc. Marketing Communications

Multiple studies have shown discrepancies between print and digital results are partly related to paper’s physical properties. With paper, there is a literal laying on of hands. Equally important is mental perspective. Print is a one-person immersive experience, devoid of distractions like pop-up ads and videos. In simple terms, print’s just calmer.

All this psycho mumbo-jumbo is crud. Why should I spend money on print?

Consider this, recently published in Finance Online, Review for Business:

  • Print and direct mail marketing bring a 9% customer response rate compared to other digital marketing channels, which hover around 1% or less (R.C. Brayshaw, 2020).
  • Print ads generate a 20% higher motivation response (R.C. Brayshaw, 2020).
  • Advertising in print drives higher brand recall vs. digital (77% vs. 46%) (Newsworks, 2020).
  • 92% of 18- to 23-year-olds find it easier to read print over digital content (Forer, 2017).
  • The response rate for direct-mail marketing is 37% higher than the email rate (Medina, 2019).

Convinced that print still has a place? I sure hope so. It’s an integral part of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC . . . if you don’t know about it, look it up) which espouses the strategy that the best marketing program puts messages in front of prospects when they need it, in the form they want, whenever they want. I’m a big believer in that philosophy.

Here endeth the lesson.

Need more information?
Mark Semmelmayer, CBC
Chief Idea Officer
Pen & Inc. Marketing Communications
Saint Simons Island, GA
770-354-4737
LinkedIn

About the Author

Mark Semmelmayer, Chief Idea Officer, Pen & Inc. Marketing Communications

Mark Semmelmayer, CBC

Mark is a past international chairman of the Business Marketing Association (BMA), the 2015 recipient of BMA’s prestigious G.D. Crain Award and an Inductee into the Business Marketing Hall of Fame. A 40-year B2B marketing pro, including 32 years with Kimberly-Clark, he’s the founder and Chief Idea Officer of Pen & Inc. Marketing Communications, a consultancy in Saint Simons Island, GA.


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Mon, 28 Aug 2023 09:30:00 -0400 Communication That Seems Obvious Isn’t Fix your sales and marketing alignment problems with this not-so-obvious answer: Better communication.
Stock Photo

You’d be surprised at the oversights and inefficiencies that go undiscovered in sales and marketing alignment. 90% of content strategy has nothing to do with content. But it has everything to do with communication. The way forward is better communication for sales enablement. Read more

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Fri, 25 Aug 2023 13:30:00 -0400 Numbers Don't Lie In manufacturing, mathematics is a defining element. In fact, much of the innovation that manufacturing has introduced is the result of a solid foundation in mathematics. Mauricio Pineda, Associate Editor of Modern Machine Shop Mexico writes about how mathematics is fundamental to information analysis in manufacturing. Employee Spotlight Profile


Mauricio Pineda, Associate Editor

Modern Machine Shop México
Gardner Business Media, Inc.
 

Some time ago I read an article on the BBC's "Science Focus" website about whether humans invented or discovered mathematics. To me, this topic is simply fantastic.

Some describe mathematics as the underlying language of the Universe, and they say that humans have simply been discovering that language. Others mention that mathematics is something we have been inventing, like any other language.

In any case, this is a question that humanity has been asking itself for thousands of years, but there is no clear answer.

But it’s clear that in the modern world, mathematics is part of everything: from telephones to our understanding of human biology and, of course, humanity's place in the Universe.

In the manufacturing industry, mathematics is a determining element, for the simple fact that it is fundamental to modeling and solving complex problems and because it is used in the real world of manufacturing. In fact, much of the innovation that manufacturing has introduced is the result of a strong foundation in mathematics.

As a journalist, one of the mathematical applications that I have found most fascinating is statistics, because it is a tool that helps to find patterns or trends and, eventually, make predictions.

Put another way: Collecting data and organizing it with the goal of understanding it, can help you make better decisions.

Mauricio Pineda, Associate Editor, Modern Machine Shop Mexico

Statistics and the Mexican Manufacturing Industry

Seven years ago, I joined Gardner Business Media as part of the Modern Machine Shop Mexico team (by the way, I was also part of the Plastics Technology Mexico team at some point).

Throughout my time at Gardner Business Media, I have been constantly learning about the different processes that are part of the manufacturing industry. I have had the opportunity to cover events such as IMTS and NPE at an international level.

In Mexico, I have been able to cover practically all the industry trade shows (including our events such as FITMA and Meximold) and other industry events.

But one of the most important aspects of my job has been to write articles about the overview of the most important industries in Mexico, such as Automotive, Aerospace, Molds & Dies, Medical Devices and Oil & Gas.

Month after month I have written these articles that combine the comments of the leaders of the different industries with statistics that complement the information.

It’s precisely in these articles where I have shown data and information that have the objective of providing readers with a broader overview to understand the evolution of Mexican manufacturing in the last few years.

It hasn't been an easy task. In Mexico there are few institutions that provide detailed data on the manufacturing industry, so it has been necessary to investigate, investigate and then investigate again.

Today, I can say that throughout all these years working for Gardner Business Media and Modern Machine Shop Mexico, I have had the opportunity to see the Mexican manufacturing industry from the perspective of statistics.

And I can say that those statistics speak of good results and good prospects for Mexican manufacturing. Numbers don't lie.

These are just a few important examples of the Mexican manufacturing industry:

  • Mexican manufacturing industry represents about 18% of the Gross Domestic Product.
  • 75% of manufacturing exports correspond to metal production, machinery and equipment.
  • Mexico moved up from eighth to seventh place among the world's largest manufacturing exporters in 2022, surpassing Taiwan.
  • Latin America consumes more than 10 billion dollars of manufacturing technology and of those 10 billion dollars, Mexico consumes more than 50%.
  • Mexico is the 8th largest consumer of machine tools in the world.
  • Mexico is the 7th largest producer of vehicles in the world and the first in Latin America.
  • In 2022 Mexico became the fourth largest auto parts producer in the world, surpassing Germany.
Mauricio Pineda, Associate Editor, Modern Machine Shop Mexico

Business Intelligence

To give shape and meaning to all this information, I started to gather in one place the articles and news that have been accumulating with data and statistics of the Mexican manufacturing industry, that is how the hashtags #inteligencia-de-negocios was created on the website of Modern Machine Shop Mexico.

In this space you can find information and statistics of all industries that are part of the manufacturing sector in Mexico and information on relevant conjunctural topics such as the benefits of nearshoring and the USMCA.

The hashtag #inteligencia-de-negocios shows a global perspective of the Mexican manufacturing industry with the objective of helping the audience to make better decisions.

I want to show an example, the news "Import figures of machining centers in Mexico in 2022", published on the Modern Machine Shop Mexico website, shows that the import of machining centers had a growth of 8.7 % in 2022.

For Mexico it is important to maintain a growth in machinery imports because it means that the national manufacturing industry is expanding and requires more equipment to attend the demand.

And if we add to this information the data of the top 10 countries from which Mexico has imported machining centers in the last 10 years ... you simply get a more complete overview of the topic.

Mauricio Pineda, Associate Editor, Modern Machine Shop Mexico, Gardner Business Media, Inc.

Mauricio Pineda, Associate Editor, Modern Machine Shop Mexico

I don't have an answer to the question of whether mathematics was invented or discovered by humans; but I have learned that mathematics and science are fundamental to innovation and information analysis in manufacturing.

That has been one of my greatest learnings from working at Gardner Business Media and Modern Machine Shop Mexico.

Need more information?
Mauricio Pineda, Associate Editor
Modern Machine Shop México
Gardner Business Media, Inc.
+52-1-55-1460-5198
Twitter
LinkedIn

About the Author

Mauricio Pineda, Associate Editor, Modern Machine Shop Mexico

Mauricio Pineda

Mauricio Pineda is Associate Editor of Modern Machine Shop Mexico. Since 2008, he has covered the manufacturing sector in Mexico, writing for several industrial magazines. Mauricio covers all events in the metalworking sector in Mexico for Modern Machine Shop. He has a degree in Communication from the Universidad del Valle de Mexico and a degree in Digital Journalism from the University of Guadalajara. He joined Gardner Business Media in 2016.

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Wed, 23 Aug 2023 09:30:00 -0400 Teaching an Old(?) Dog New Tricks You’re never too old to learn something new. Cara Decknadel, Digital Editor for MoldMaking Technology and CompositesWorld, writes about the importance of hobbies and challenging yourself. Employee Spotlight Profile


Cara Decknadel, Digital Editor
MoldMaking Technology
CompositesWorld
Gardner Business Media, Inc.



No one prepares you for how weird it feels to graduate college and start a career. You spend the majority of your life in school, building towards your career goals and suddenly there are no more projects, no more papers. I dreamt about it for years. I fantasized about coming home from my job and doing nothing, no assignments to forget about or put off to the very last minute, no emails from professors, pure unbothered bliss. Or so I thought.

Another thing no one tells you? How much you will miss learning new things on a regular basis. Your brain is like any muscle, you need to keep flexing and challenging it in order to build it. Also, just like any exercise, it can take a while to get motivated to actually do it. Which is why for most of my twenties, I spent a lot of time on hobbies and projects I eventually abandoned. Part of it was the belief that I had to be good at something the minute I tried it. I practiced my guitar, but not enough, so I was shocked when I wasn’t Jimmy Hendrix after two weeks. I had a very naive idea that everyone who has ever been good at anything was good at it right away. I completely missed the “Practice makes perfect” message in middle school.

There is also a misconception that starting anything past 20 is already “too late” and I held onto that belief a little too tightly. One day in my late twenties, I went to visit some close friends and their 10-year-old said to me “Can I show you some of my skateboarding tricks?” I agreed and followed him out to the yard where he proceeded to show me kickflips and ollies. He had only been skateboarding a couple of weeks. I was envious of his ability to stick to anything that long and progress. “I have always wanted to learn how to skateboard but I am too old,” I said with a laugh. He looked at me like I had just grown a second head. He got very serious, “It is never too late to try.” I laughed again but really took it to heart.

It wasn’t too long after that that I started to longboard. No, I was not consistent with it but I had fun doing it. The rush I would get when I would go a little steeper, a little faster and not fall always gave me the rush I needed to keep going. One day, my fiancé, Kevin, was watching me and he said, “You really need to try snowboarding.” That winter, I was hitting the slopes.

Literally, hitting because I could not stop falling. I took a lesson from an impatient instructor and almost quit right then and there. There was no way I would ever learn, I remember thinking to myself. Kevin attempted to convince me to practice on a larger hill than the bunny slope because I would not get the momentum I needed to learn steering and stopping. My fear kept me from graduating. I stuck to the bunny hill until I finally admitted he was right, in order to get better I was going to have to fully challenge myself.

Cara Decknadel, Digital Editor, MoldMaking Technology and CompositesWorld

My first day snowboarding, giving a thumbs up that it is okay to be bad at things!

Getting off the ski lift was a feat in itself. I was especially uncomfortable riding up with strangers. On one of my first lift dismounts I went to get off the chair and began to fall, panicking. I accidentally grabbed the person to my right and brought them down with me. After that, Kevin politely told anyone trying to ride up with us that I was a beginner and needed space getting off the lift. I continued to fall many times boarding down the hill but I didn't give up. It was partly because Kevin wouldn’t let me and partly because I finally understood I would get better if I kept trying.

Eventually, I graduated from the beginner green slopes to the intermediate blue slopes. I used to get queasy on the drive to the slopes, so wound up with nerves, fear of failure getting the best of me. Now, I can confidently make it down longer, steeper runs, the fear that I might fall no longer holding me back. I do still struggle getting off the ski lifts at times but there have been many days since my last incident. I will never be Shaun White but I have come such a long way and found a new activity I enjoy. If I hadn’t taken a chance and continued to push and believe in myself, I would have never gotten this far. I also feel there is a misconception that you must be good at a hobby to enjoy it. In truth, if the point of having hobbies was to be good at them, then no one would have hobbies.

Cara Decknadel, Digital Editor, MoldMaking Technology and CompositesWorld

Me after a fall, too tired to get up

Challenging myself carried beyond my hobbies. I had spent almost seven years at a job where I had grown stagnant. I was doing mindless work and not challenging myself. I was consistently applying to different jobs, even outside of my field and not getting anywhere. Then, COVID hit and I became apathetic to the fact that I would ever find a new job, much less one that I liked. After years of job searching, my friend tagged me in a job listing on Facebook. “What do I have to lose?” I thought, as I sent my resume. Less than a week later, I got a call for an interview. That interview led to a second and a third and within a couple of weeks, I was hired at Gardner Business Media.

Working at Gardner has been different from my last job because I am challenged on a daily basis. I have taken on projects the old me never would have. For example, when asked if I would begin to do some video editing, I wanted to say, “no” because I had no faith in my ability to do it. Now, I edit videos regularly and I don’t stumble through the editing software as much as when I first started. I have gotten to a point where I can appreciate a challenge because I know where it is going, I get to learn something new that I didn’t know before.

I am not old by any means. I turned 30 last year and I am not sure what I thought would happen. Everyone made it sound like you turned into a pumpkin at the stroke of midnight of your thirtieth birthday. For me, it has been a new decade to make promises to myself that I intend to keep. One of them being to always keep pushing myself out of my comfort zone because the payoff far outweighs the nervous shakes beforehand. If it is one thing I have learned both from my own life and those around me, you are never too old to start a new hobby, a new venture, or a new career. None of us are making it out of here alive so there is no reason to not make the most of it.

Need more information?
Cara Decknadel, Digital Editor
MoldMaking Technology
CompositesWorld
Gardner Business Media, Inc.
LinkedIn

About the Author

Cara Decknadel, Digital Editor, MoldMaking Technology and CompositesWorld

Cara Decknadel

Cara is the assistant digital editor of MoldMaking Technology and CompositesWorld. Cara has a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication with a minor in Sociology from Wright State University. Cara is an avid backpacker, snowboarder, and cyclist. She resides in Maineville with her fiancé, Kevin, their dog, Heidi and cats Toulouse, Silver and Molly Shannon.

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Mon, 21 Aug 2023 09:30:00 -0400 Reasons to Add Podcasts to Your Marketing Mix Elevate your brand’s credibility and influence through the human voice of podcasting.
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Podcasts are valuable not just for promoting your brand and services but also for promoting those of your clients and corporate partners, particularly if you can organically feature them as an expert guest. Read about the reasons in this blog. Read more

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Mon, 14 Aug 2023 09:30:00 -0400 Editorial Guidelines to Weave into Your Content Strategy Let’s clarify what is meant by editorial guidelines and go over five you should include in your content strategy.
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Editorial guidelines provide standards for creating content and ensure creators speak to your target audience in a relatable and appropriate manner and with integrity and authenticity. You can use these guidelines to craft content style guide briefs for your creators, with variations for different content types, channels, and buyer personas. Let’s clarify what is meant by editorial guidelines and go over five you should include in your content strategy. Read more

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https://www.gardnerweb.com/blog/post/editorial-guidelines-to-weave-into-your-content-strategy
Mon, 7 Aug 2023 09:30:00 -0400 Top-Tier B2B Product Videos and Lessons We Can Learn from Them Here’s a list of seven high-quality product videos. Take a closer look at the lessons you can learn from each one.
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Videos let you address complex subjects in an engaging and dynamic way, as well as create interesting pieces that enhance the customer experience. The most effective product videos are those that quickly convey the benefits of a product without boring their viewers. To help you make engaging B2B product videos that stand out and keep the viewer's attention, here’s a list of seven high-quality product videos. Take a closer look at the lessons you can learn from each one. Read more

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