Read the transcript
Dylan McIntyre (0:06)
Hi everybody. Welcome back to the LoSasso podcast. Today, we have an extra special guest. But before we get to that, my name is Dylan McIntyre. I'm an account supervisor at LoSasso Integrated Marketing, and I've been here for about four and a half years.
And today, as our lovely co-host, we have:
Jana Martin (0:22)
Hi, I'm Jana Martin. I am the media production manager at the Association for Advancing Automation, also known as A3, the host of Automate Show.
Dylan McIntyre (0:33)
Jana, can you tell us about who A3 is and what the Automate Show is?
Jana Martin (0:43)
Yeah, absolutely. A3 is a global trade association that is here to support the automation industry. whatever sector or form that may be, whether you are making robots or using robots or doing something with AI, we touch that, and The Automate Show is our biggest in-person event.
It's a trade show that happens once a year, and we bring 40 50,000 people together in one week to celebrate the incredible advances of technology, leadership, learning, and everything to do with automation, and we do it all with the help of our friends at LoSasso Integrated Marketing.
Dylan McIntyre (1:24)
Perfect. Thank you, Jana. Yes, we're so excited to have you on our scheduled podcast today. We're really excited. Today, we're going to be covering the topic or the theme about just elevating automation in general and how collaboration and community really just power industry progress.
So we'll kind of just talk about a few different things that relate to The Automate Show. And just kind of things that have worked for A3, um, you know, both in peak and off-peak seasons and stuff like that.
Jana Martin (1:50)
That sounds great. Absolutely. I can't wait to dive in.
Dylan McIntyre (1:55)
Okay, perfect. So we'll start this nice and easy. Everybody's most favorite question, and my favorite question because it's an annual show: What are you most excited about this year's Automate Show?
Jana Martin (2:03)
Oh boy, Dylan. Well, thanks for setting me up with such a great question, because there are so many things that I could say.
Of course, we're immensely excited to be back in Chicago, hometown of LoSasso. We'll be back at McCormack Place, but it's going to be a little different because we're in two halls this year, will be in the north and the south. So, when you go to automateshow.com and check out our website, make sure you check out all of the exhibit areas, not to miss any of the cool things we're doing, which includes more exhibitors.
And another thing I'm really excited about is our expanded footprint for our student challenge. We just saw an incredible response last year. It was so transformational to see all of those students there on the show floor at Automate, you know, putting these technologies together um and doing those competitions. So, it's really exciting to see that grow.
(3:04)
But I have to say my favorite thing, Dylan, as a member of A3's inclusive leadership committee, is the Women's Empowerment Forum. That for sure is such a powerful and inspirational event to attend. Every year, we just have the most, you know, decorated speakers.
Women and leaders who have been in the industry for many years, who have great insights and advice for younger generations moving their way up through the automation industry.
Dylan McIntyre (3:37)
I'm really happy you mentioned education and the women's empowerment forum just now because, as you know, I've been working with you on the show for, you know, a number of years, and it's been really exciting to see how much that has grown year-over-year.
And I'm really excited to watch the students get even more into it with these student challenges because last year we had, you know, it was newer for Automate, but it was so cool to see all the excitement and energy from the kids and how brilliant they are.
Oh my god. I was like watching these robots, and I was like, I could never do that.
Jana Martin (4:04)
I know. How do they get so smart, so young?
Dylan McIntyre (4:07)
Yeah! So I’m excited to see that this year. And to your point, the empowerment forum, too. I remember a few of us attended last year for some social media coverage, and the speakers were just amazing.
So, I'm, you know, excited to see how you and the committee are going to take that to the next level for the ‘26 show.
Jana Martin (4:26)
Yeah. And I'll just preview. We're really excited to try to create more opportunities for, I will say like, thoughtful networking.
Not just throwing a bunch of people in a room, but trying to create those ways for people to actually get to know each other and figure out how they could maybe help each other out.
Dylan McIntyre (4:44)
Awesome. So, we're going to kind of dig deeper a little bit more into some like specifics. This first one kind of looks at, you know, Automate as a whole. More so, kind of thinking about how you and your team essentially approach fostering a year-round association for your online audience outside, because obviously, this event takes place once a year for about a week.
So when you guys are kind of like let's just say out of show season or peak season, what have you, you know, what do you guys normally do to stay you know up to date with your
announcements and everything like that, or what have you found to be very successful?
Jana Martin (5:18)
Yeah, absolutely. Um, I mean, with having so much that goes on in one week, and so much that happens in one year that we need to talk about, and then so much to get excited for in the next
year, it's honestly not too difficult, um, to keep a lot of content and a lot of hype going on on the internet digitally about the show.
But you know, we do have to be thoughtful and creative about it. And I think we've done a really good job in the last couple of years of really shifting our focus to being that on, you know, adding value on the specific platforms where we are.
So, how do we create content that is then going to catch you as you're scrolling by, whether it be on LinkedIn or Instagram or TikTok Tok or YouTube, even, and just make you have an emotion and stop and think twice, and maybe send it along to somebody or give a comment.
And that's just something that I feel like, as we've thought about all of these things that go on in automation, in the AI, obviously, there's always something new to talk about.
(6:25)
Yeah. Vision technologies, you know, as we think about humanoids and and uh driverless cars, motion control, of course, makes all of this happen.
And then, you know, robotics is kind of being the embodiment of all that. It's just, um, there's always new studies, new technologies, and new things for us to kind of be talking about in this automation world.
Dylan McIntyre (6:48)
Yeah. I mean, it's endless, as you kind of put it. Like it, it just seems like every day there's a new advancement, especially with AI. I feel like that just keeps growing and growing and growing, and it's just crazy because, like to your point, it's just there's new updates and new content that you know you can just keep giving to your audience, you know, I mean year round.
Jana Martin (7:07)
Yeah. It's non-stop, truly.
Dylan McIntyre (7:09)
Yeah. So I guess that's a good segue into you know the role social media plays in general. Can you kind of talk us through how the role of social media essentially plays in engaging the Automate audience specifically? So people who are, you know, on the show floor, seeing all this exciting stuff, the week of the show or even, you know, before or after the event.
Jana Martin (7:27)
Yeah, absolutely. And we do try to think about that in both ways, like, what are people that are coming to Chicago, what do they need to know? What are the resources they need to have? So, you know, our teams work very hard to come together with, you know, lists of places that you can get your lodging and your amenities.
And then of course, we provide direction on our site on how to go to all of the different cool events that we have. We offer a lot of training in person, actually at Automate. So if you're looking at upskilling yourself and taking yourself to that next level as a technical person, you can do one of our certified professional courses or exams.
(8:10)
And you can come and learn a lot at our conference. I mean, our conference, just alone, without The Automate Show trade show attached to us, is absolutely massive. Hundreds and hundreds of sessions and experts in their niche-specific fields giving kind of an update on really what's happening in the industry. And so using social media to kind of show that and broadcast that out, make sure all of our speakers have their speaker cards, and they're able to talk specifically about the sessions that they're doing.
(8:49)
You know, if we're able to do an Automate live and talk about multiple different kinds of education folks coming together, you know, for the student challenge, and just talk about the details of all of that.
We love polling our audiences, too, and kind of hearing about, you know, their thoughts on what we should be doing or what would be interesting to talk more about. So, what's really been fun is just to kind of have fun with social media and just use it in new ways.
(9:14)
It's really fun to work with the LoSasso team to be experimental and to test things outand then say, "All right, what worked? What can we do more of?"
Dylan McIntyre (9:25)
Um, yeah, you kind of mentioned a variety of different platforms, and the social, you know, the interconnected web just keeps expanding. It seems like there's a new platform every year that people are kind of jumping on. Have you found any social platforms or content formats that we've um you know, that you or the team kind of posted on to be, I would say, more effective for the industrial or automation audiences?
Jana Martin (9:50)
Yeah, absolutely. And you know you can add to this too, as you see this and work with our teams on this as well, or let me know if you think differently, but I think for sure, LinkedIn as a professional community is such a strong platform for us.
We find the leaders of all of our exhibitors and our member companies are themselves active on this platform and giving their own thoughts and opinions about the posts and the different things that that we're we're sharing.
(10:22)
So that was the LinkedIn bit and then and then another platform that we've been experimenting with, which we have had a lot of success with, related to our podcast, automation, and that would be Reddit.
And the interesting thing that we've discovered on Reddit is that because it's a bit more of an anonymous community and because there's such a long-standing history of people having
really open and frank conversations on that platform, we've found that as we jump into some of those conversations, people are really eager to hear more about what our guests and our speakers have to say as it relates to maybe “unhyping” things. If that's a word.
(11:07)
Like you know, in our world of automation, it's all about the hype and the AI and the humanoids, and it's so cool and fun and exciting, but I think people are always wondering, well, is that real? Like, where are things really? What are the capabilities? Where is the road map?
And I think if you come to the Automate show and really experience any of our media properties, you'll see the fun and the excitement of the robots, but you'll also hear from the experts the actual truth of like where these technologies are and how they're actually helping humans today in their work.
Dylan McIntyre (11:43)
I mean, that makes complete sense, and I'm happy you mentioned Reddit because I think one thing we're starting to notice, too, just Reddit has just been such a great platform for those really technical niche, you know what I mean, conversations to be happening because the people have such a passion for it.
(11:59)
And to your point with the automated podcast, when you kind of, you know what I mean, chime in on something, it's all these people are on this, you know, whether it's like a you know what I mean, the Reddit thread for a specific reason. So it's great to know that you know an engaged audience on a platform that's like an open forum is still there.
because I know that we primarily have, like, use LinkedIn just because we know most of you know professionals, you know, the professional side of I would say, like the industry is all over there, but what you kind of mentioned to where we started to have some fun this year, I think, is TikTok
(12:31)
Just because I know, like Facebook and LinkedIn, and Meta, obviously not Meta Instagram, you can obviously have fun and be flexible, but TikTok is like, as we know, it's the platform to really kind of push the limits a little bit, of like the creativity and fun you can have.
(12:47)
I think it's been a lot of fun, as you kind of mentioned, showcasing all the cool things you can see on the show floor and spinning it with a little bit more of like a current trend or some funny little gifs and stuff to make it a little bit more lively because again, there's so much on the show floor that's just eye-catching and just so cool to see. So, it's like, how can we show it all, you know?
Jana Martin (13:06)
Absolutely. I will add that it's been incredible to see the work that has been done on our TikTok, and it makes me really excited to kind of show people we do have that aspect. We are the cool fun world that you want to come and work in and be a part of.
Dylan McIntyre (13:24)
Okay. So, we've talked about social media and how you know Automates used it for its promotions, you know what I mean? Information and stuff like that. I guess in what other ways has building an internal community either advanced A3 or Automate's mission of you know, really being that leader in the automation and robotics industry?
Jana Martin (13:45)
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, this is such a fun thing for us to talk about as A3 because if people don't know, A3 has been around in different names and in different forms for the last 50-plus years.
We started as the robotic industries association and multiple different associations, but then you know we came together, uh, about three or four years ago as one A3, and so we still have that history of members.
(14:15)
So if you're walking around the show floor, you'll see companies that have been exhibiting at A3 events and have been members of A3, you know, involved in creating our standards. Uh, involved in our webinars, involved in all of this training and this content that we produce. And so we really do have such a strong connection with our members.
(14:37)
Our board for the A3 is made up of A3 member leaders, and we have many different boards because we have many different industries and tech sectors that are involved in making automation actually come together.
And so I just think that rich history of folks coming out for our multiple events that we hold all year long, from, you know, the A3 member business forum in January to our international robot safety conference.
(15:11)
We occasionally do a robotic grinding and finishing specific event. Uh, we've done an AI and smart automation conference. And of course, we are doing the humanoid robot forum. We have these opportunities all year all around the country and even around the world um as we go to Mexico for ITM and and all of hese different events around the world because it is really important for us our leaders and our our people at A3 to be connected personally with all of the people in these industries um because that's how we stay connected to what we need to be doing as an association to support them.
(15:52)
I know for a fact that all of the interests of our members that considered how we make our event schedule. That is how we choose, you know, what we're going to be doing as an association. We're asking, and we're listening, and we'll send out, you know, surveys to our members and and we're constantly looking for that feedback because we don't do anything without having that input first.
(16:21)
And yeah, I'm trying to think of a surprising element, but I will just say, like I'm almost never surprised because there's always a need that I didn't anticipate, and there's always an opportunity, um, that you know I never thought of.
And so that's kind of the fun of getting to sit here at A3, is because fortunately a lot of people know that we are the source for automation, and so come and bring your ideas, and we'd love to get you connected with the right people to kind of make whatever that is come to life.
Dylan McIntyre (16:49)
Yeah, I love that you mentioned the survey because your team, as an association, really does value the input attendees give, which, because of your point, a lot of the feedback in there
gets taken into account for the sessions and topics for the conference, or things on the show floor, or even attendee experiences.
(17:09)
Um, and the reason why I'm happy you brought that up too is because as you probably have seen on like social media, for example, we've started to do that a little bit with like polls to try to get some more, you know what I mean, attendee behavior insights prior to the show that could potentially lead to maybe a a different approach to one of the networking parties or so, you know, I mean, that's just an example,
(17:28)
But you know what I mean? It's so great that we can always just see how much you guys value, you know what I mean? Attendee feedback and exhibitor feedback, and how you know what I mean, help put on such a well-rounded show each year.
Jana Martin (17:42)
Yeah, we really do. And we really want to emphasize it doesn't go into a nameless inbox that nobody checks. The leadership team reads them all, and we as a company read them all and and we change our course often depending upon that feedback. So, thank you to everyone who has submitted that feedback.
Dylan McIntyre (18:00)
Um, kind of just like thinking more broadly, um, I know we kind of talked about untapped opportunities and more so of like marketing and stuff like that, but where do you see potential opportunities for like partnerships or like community collaboration within like the automation ecosystem?
Jana Martin (18:18)
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, this is something that we are always hearing from our members about. And even when I was at the A3 desk at Automate Show last year in Detroit, I had many people come up to me throughout the show day just asking like, "Hey, I don't I'm not using a lot of automation yet or I don't know how to implement automation into my factory, my workflow, you know, my manufacturing, whatever that is. How do I get connected with that?"
And so we do have many tools and resources, and you are able to go to the automate.org website and ask a professional a question, or you can go through our webinars and see all of the very specific topics we cover there.
(19:03)
And I think that you know, just the more resources that we can offer and the more ways that we can actually connect people. Um, I know that we have a new NextGen program coming up where we're going to actually be able to connect students with mentors.
We're really excited about getting into this world of um, you know, not just talking about connection and and collaboration, but really um, having real-life uh, examples of that and and actually connecting real people with each other beyond all the connections that you get if you come to one of our events or networking events.
Dylan McIntyre (19:39)
Yeah. I mean, and even you mentioned like uh the pod your automated podcast that you kind of referenced earlier, like I just loved how your team kind of saw a gap maybe in the community or something like that and you kind of are just took that step forward and like started having these conversations within like these industry tech sectors with the professionals that are actually like involved in the day-to-day.
Because again, I think that's another great opportunity for you guys to just increase, you know, overall partnership and collaboration within the automation ecosystem.
Jana Martin (20:12)
Absolutely. And that's what we want to continue to do is just continue to grow into that next layer of folks that are automation curious and maybe don't know as much about it, but oh, I have a Roomba or a whatever kind of vacuum robot. Um, oh, that's automation. Oh, okay. Let me learn more about Helen Grainer and actually how this started, and oh wait, what is Willow Garage?
And you just kind of get to learn about the history of automation by listening and watching that podcast. And so, um, thank you for calling it out. We really do love that show and and Brian's such a good host. Um, you know, he really has such a deep background in technology, and he's such a great reporter. Uh, it makes all of our jobs easy. So yeah.
Dylan McIntyre (21:00)
He is the pro of alt-tech.
Jana Martin (21:04)
Definitely.
Dylan McIntyre (21:06)
So kind of thinking like bigger picture, I know we kind of talked about a few trends and whatnot, but is there anything that you or your team are seeing whether in automation or just like in digital engagement or you know kind of more in that general house of stuff that's kind of inspiring you or things that you have starting to see like trends year at Automate and stuff like that?
Jana Martin (21:26)
Yeah, absolutely. Well, I'll answer both. Um, I think from a marketing perspective, and I won't get into this a ton because we already talked about it, but I'm really inspired by the AI.
I think sometimes I'm both inspired and scared of it because I see, oh no, this thing that used to take x number of people x amount of time. It, you know, it's a little bit scary, but, you know, if you just have that growth, the opportunity mindset, and you learn how to use it, I think it is really a transformational and very exciting tool for us.
(21:55)
Um, and then of course, when you go to The Automate Show, you're going to see a million crazy inspirational technologies and whatnot, but obviously, the primary one that stands out to everyone is humanoid robots. And so, you know, you've come and seen um, you know, Unit's humanoid robot at various A3 and Automate Show um, events And then, of course, last year we had Agility's humanoid robot on the show floor as well.
And it's really exciting to see how these technologies are being used by other A3 member companies, like um, Aptronic is working with Mercedes to get Apollo into their factories. And so I think that's where A3 does a really good job of showing, you know, okay, these projects are in test phase.
(22:46)
These are pilots. Like we're still at the beginning stages of figuring this out versus you're scrolling through your feeds and maybe you see 1X's video of Neo and you're like, "Oh my gosh, the robot's going to run around my house and clean it up all day until you go and watch the in-depth um Wall Street Journal piece where you learn that, oh wait, actually they're teleycoping uh to control the robot, which means that a person is over in another room actually seeing through the robot with things in their hand, actually making the robot do everything.
(23:21)
And so I think that there is online, there's this big disconnect of like a future dream and where we want the technology to be, with the reality of like right now they can pretty much take bids and turn and move them and put them somewhere. And that's great because that's what we need them to do right now. And that's an incredible advancement in technology. Um, and so we're still kind of in the process of just trying to share the truth about where automation is and how exciting it really is.
Dylan McIntyre (23:55)
Awesome. Last question for you.
Jana Martin (23:57)
Great!
Dylan McIntyre (24:00)
So, this will be an easy one, don't worry. But if you could issue a challenge or a call to action for audience members who want to power progress and automation, what would it be?
Jana Martin (24:10)
Number one. People should come to The Automate Show. It's going to be in Chicago at McCormack Place from June 22nd to the 25th, and we invite everyone. It's a free show to attend. All you have to do is go to automatehow.com and sign up, and register there.
We'll even have students coming to the event. So make sure that all attendees are 12 years and older, but we'd love to see you there, and just exploring all those new exciting technologies.
Jana Martin (24:36)
But when you get there, you're not just going to see cool stuff. You're going to meet other people who are also interested and excited about these technologies. And hopefully you'll stay connected with them. And that will kind of be really what keeps you excited and and get into automation itself, is once you make those connections at an A3 event.
And of course, yeah, go online, connect with us on social media, um, you know, send us a message, ask us questions. We're here, and we're ready to connect!
Dylan McIntyre (25:11)
You crushed it.
