Michael Ference Fluid Power Marketing

We enjoyed a great lineup of presentations at the 2020 NFPA Annual Conference in Miami a few weeks ago.  I stayed riveted to every word from the stage and took good notes.  For the first time, I had the opportunity to hear speaker Don Rheem of E3 Solutions and his talk was great! It would be difficult to capture and report all that I learned but I want to highlight some of my takeaways.  Human beings are herd creatures and the dominant ecology for humans is other humans.  If you consider how much time we spend at work, the ecology of our workplace is critically important.   Compensation and benefits are certainly important aspects for our employment but consider, based on the above statements how important workforce culture is for our personal satisfaction.  All companies need to understand this fact as they attempt to attract and retain good workers.  Don made the point that from the beginning of the industrial revolution until about 2 years ago there was always more people

Our next Fluid Power Technology Conference is coming together nicely.   Here is a link to our website  The event will be held at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul on June 16-17, 2020 with a workshop day on Monday June 15th.  We have a different and unique floor plan that will allow access to our exhibitors all day with conference sessions being held in two different rooms, very similar to our Cleveland event this past November. Our seminar schedule is in the works but I can tell you that Joe Kovach will be doing a keynote session as he dazzled the crowd at our Cleveland event.  He will be talking about solving hydraulic problems with innovation and, having taken his presentation in, I can tell you that it is most interesting. We will also be forming technology panels on specific topics that we are planning now.  Our exhibitors will be doing presentations for their own unique fluid power solutions.  Our expert presenters are ready to go to round out two days of informati

A few years ago, I listened to an audiobook by author Neil Pasricha titled The Happiness Equation .  I used it as a self-help book whether the audience intended it to be or not.  I found it to be very helpful. One of the key concepts of the book was about finding your Ikigai, which I understood to be a purpose in life.  According to Wikipedia, Ikigai is a Japanese concept that means a reason for being.  As I recall, Pasricha advised that if your career is your Ikigai, then never retire.   Interesting that at the NFPA Annual Conference in Miami last week, keynote speaker Fred Harburg brought up this concept again and in more detail than I remembered, Take a look at the chart above and see if it applies to you.  The Ikigai is at the intersection of Love doing and being, Need, Rewarding, and Good at.  I really enjoyed Fred Harburg's talk and learned a lot about Ikigai.  Thanks NFPA for having Fred as a speaker. For more information about NFPA and their upcoming me

The 2020 NFPA Annual Conference was held last week at the Mandarin Oriental in Miami.  The weather was great, the networking was both fun and interesting, and the speakers were great! The event kicked off with an introduction of outgoing president, John Stenz of Force America who did a fine job of directing the Board of Directors over the past year. In John's words the state of the fluid power industry is strong with genuine people.  Having been in this industry for many years, I agree with John and I think him for his years of service on the Board and direction over the past year.  Jeff Hand of Ross Controls, who wast the Treasurer over the the past term confirmed that the organization is financially stable. Eric Lanke who is President and CEO of the NFPA discussed the four main areas of focus for the association including : Effective Forum Industry Statistics Promoting Fluid Power Educated Workforce Eric did a fine job of explaining all that the NFPA do

Webinars are a great way to share technical information for the benefit of the audience.  Here is some information about an upcoming event produced by Fluid Power World.  The webinar will be presented by Winters Instruments. A New Solution to Monitoring Pressure in Applications with Vibration and Pulsation This webinar will cover the history of dry and liquid-filled pressure gauges and how a new solution addresses their limitations.  Attendees will learn the components of a gauge, when to install liquid-filled vs a dry pressure gauge, potential issues that may arise and how a new solution overcomes those issues.  At the end of the webinar, attendees will know what pressure gauge to install to minimize system downtime. Attendees of this webinar will learn to: Identify the components of a pressure gauge Know wen to use a liquid-filled gauge vs a dry gauge List the issues with liquid-filled gauges Click here to register

In April, our excellent content surrounding your advertising message continues in   Fluid Power World magazine and digital media network.  Our print magazine has some very interesting and informative content planned this issue. It starts with our coverage of the  Waste Management , collection, and recycling industries and we will review the many contributions of hydraulics to the latest innovations in this field.  Also, the  Oil & Gas exploration market always remains viable because of our growing need for energy.  We will review the fluid power systems involved in the machinery that helps to meet our energy needs. Pneumatics in Food and Beverage  will be the focus of our pneumatic feature in April reviewing some of the interesting ways that food and beverage items are delivered to consumers.  We have coverage of three big events in April including the Offshore Tech Conference, NAHAD, and our own Fluid Power Technology Conference. Turning to the digital side of our bus

Web banners are a really great way to advertise in our market.  You may ask why?  My opinion of course, but the answer is that we have great traffic on our Fluid Power World network of websites. Our network consists of five website including Fluid Power World, Pneumatic Tips, Mobile Hydraulic Tips, Hose Assembly Tips, and Sealing & Contamination Control Tips.  The idea behind the Tips sites is to attract the interest of individuals interested specifically in mobile hydraulics, pneumatics, hose and fittings, and seals and filters.   The great content found on these websites is syndicated to our Fluid Power World website which has original content of its own.  It is this content that drives our traffic and I am happy to report that our January traffic was by far a new record high for both visitors and page views. Your company's advertising on our websites attracts the attention of our users and helps to increase your brand awareness.  Clicks on your ads lead our au