Spark Sched­ule

We are excit­ed to share the 2021 Spark 1.0 vir­tu­al pro­gram dates, tim­ing, focus, learn­ing objec­tives, and con­tent for each week­ly session. 

The Spark 1.0 4‑hour week­ly ses­sions will begin April 20, 2021 and con­clude May 18, 2021. Each ses­sion will include pre­sen­ta­tions from the same indus­try experts found at the in-per­son pro­gram. Par­tic­i­pants will learn about their own strengths and con­nect with exter­nal con­sul­tants to ana­lyze assess­ment results, iden­ti­fy gaps, and cre­ate per­son­al devel­op­ment strate­gies that align with their career goals.

Par­tic­i­pants will have oppor­tu­ni­ties, both struc­tured and unstruc­tured, through­out the pro­gram to net­work with peers, indus­try experts, and lead­er­ship from all chan­nels of the industry. 

The Spark 1.0 pro­gram will be deliv­ered via Zoom.

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Week 1: April 20 ∕ 21, 2021 9 AM – 1 PM, CST

Elec­tron­ic Com­po­nents Industry

Par­tic­i­pants increase their under­stand­ing and clar­i­ty of the elec­tron­ic com­po­nent indus­try’s his­to­ry, sales chan­nels, cur­rent trends, emerg­ing mar­kets and challenges.

9:00 – 10:00 AM

Wel­come & Introductions

Jen­nifer Smith (JMS Synergy)

• Wel­come to Spark 1.0
• Spark pro­gram vision
• What to expect as a vir­tu­al Spark attendee
• Cohort intro­duc­tions

10:00 – 11:00 AM

Pre­sen­ta­tion: The Elec­tron­ic Com­po­nent Industry

Dave Nor­ris (Nor­ris & Associates)

Pre­sen­ters will share knowl­edge and expe­ri­ence on the roles and core com­pe­ten­cies of each of the indus­try’s three chan­nels (Man­u­fac­tur­ers, Dis­trib­u­tors and Man­u­fac­tur­ers Rep­re­sen­ta­tives) and how they work togeth­er to sup­port the customer.

11:00 – 11:15 AM

Break

11:15 AM – 12:15 PM

Pre­sen­ta­tion: Emerg­ing Markets

Dale Ford (ECIA)

Review of new and up-and-com­ing mar­kets enter­ing the elec­tron­ic com­po­nents industry.

12:15 – 1:00 PM

Group Dis­cus­sion: Debrief

Jen­nifer Smith (JMS Synergy)

Inter­ac­tive group dis­cus­sion to iden­ti­fy key take-aways and relevance.

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Week 2: April 27 ∕ 28, 2021 9 AM – 1 PM, CST

Net­work­ing, Lever­ag­ing Per­son­al Brand Awareness

Per­son­al brand aware­ness is height­ened as par­tic­i­pants real­ize the pow­er of per­cep­tion and the val­ue of brand recog­ni­tion car­ri­ers in man­ag­ing social media plat­forms and increas­ing net­work­ing opportunities.

9:00 – 11:00 AM

Work­shop: Build Your Brand

Jen­nifer Smith (JMS Synergy)

• What is brand recognition? 
• Net­work­ing and Per­son­al Brand 
• The ben­e­fits and risks asso­ci­at­ed with brand perception 

11:00 – 11:15 AM

Break

11:15 AM – 12:15 PM

Pre­sen­ta­tion: Social Media Brand

Heather Fulara (Newark)

• How per­son­al brand recog­ni­tion will impact your social media presence
• How to lever­age the strengths of your brand on social media platforms

12:15 – 1:00 PM

Work­shop: Perceptions

Jen­nifer Smith (JMS Synergy)

Review indi­vid­ual per­cep­tion results and dis­cuss self-assess­ments to be com­plet­ed for ses­sion four activ­i­ty Strengths Find­er and Emo­tion­al Intelligence

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Week 3: May 4 ∕ 5, 2021 9 AM – 1 PM, CST

Per­son­al Devel­op­ment, Leadership

Par­tic­i­pants rec­og­nize lead­er­ship char­ac­ter­is­tics, styles and behav­iors impact­ing orga­ni­za­tion strat­e­gy and cul­ture. Par­tic­i­pants real­ize the ben­e­fits of com­mu­ni­cat­ing value.

9:00 – 10:00 AM

Pre­sen­ta­tion: Essen­tial Traits and Prin­ci­pals of Mod­ern Day Leaders

Jack­ie Mat­tox (Women in Electronics)

Lead­er­ship work­shop to advance cul­tur­al inno­va­tion in the industry.

10:00 – 11:00 AM

Pre­sen­ta­tion: Com­mu­ni­cat­ing Your Value

Gra­ham Kil­shaw (Lec­trix)

Bring prof­itabil­i­ty to com­pa­nies, impor­tance of strat­e­gy for change, busi­ness analy­sis. How to com­mu­ni­cate your value.

11:00 – 11:15 AM

Break

11:15 AM – 12:00 PM

Net­work­ing: Meet A Leader

Erin Boros (Molex), Kristi­na Cole (Mouser), Renee Mousavi-Dill (Molex), Dave Fos­ter (Ohmite), John O’Brien (Coak­ley, Boyd & Abbett), Ryan Price (Molex), Paula Ren­frow (TTI), Crys­tal Sensen­bren­ner (Lit­tel­fuse), Paul Starr (Newark), Steve Wag­n­er (Avnet), Car­o­line Wells (Omron)

Small group of 2 – 3 par­tic­i­pants will have an opp­prtu­ni­ty to vir­tul­ly meet Indus­try lead­ers to learn about their careers, chal­lenges faced, and insight in the industry’s future.

12:00 – 1:00 PM

Dis­cus­sion

Jen­nifer Smith (JMS Synergy)

Debrief the morn­ing lead­er­ship pre­sen­ta­tions and share insights from the Meet a Leader experience.

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Week 4: May 11 ∕ 12, 2021 9 AM – 1 PM, CST

Per­son­al Devel­op­ment, Devel­op Your Brand

Par­tic­i­pants gain insight to their innate strengths and abil­i­ty to rec­og­nize and man­age behav­iors. Par­tic­i­pants devel­op skills to suc­cess­ful­ly negotiate.

9:00 – 11:00 AM

Work­shop: Build Your Brand

Jen­nifer Smith (JMS Synergy)

Review assess­ments and per­cep­tions to begin devel­op­ing your per­son­al brand.

11:00 AM – 11:15 AM

Break

11:15 AM – 12:45 PM

Work­shop: Spark 2.0 Alum­ni Panel

Stephen Karpin­s­ki (Carl­ton-Bates), Clarence Sem­ple (Newark), Rachael Weaver (Mouser), Joe White (Omron), Steven Yong (QTB)

An inter­ac­tive alum­ni pan­el and break­out group ses­sion high­light­ing what alum’s are doing after Spark.

12:30 – 1:00 PM

Dis­cus­sion

Renee Dill (Molex), Kevin Hess (Mouser)

Debrief pan­el session.

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Week 5: May 18 ∕ 19, 2021 9 AM – 1 PM, CST

Indus­try, Future Trends

Par­tic­i­pants take part in dis­sect­ing future pre­dic­tions for indus­try growth, expan­sion and chal­lenges. Par­tic­i­pants begin to map their career goals and plan their learn­ing path.

9:00 – 10:00 AM

Pre­sen­ta­tion: Indus­try Asso­ci­a­tion Involvement

David Lof­tus (ECIA)

• The role of indus­try associations 
• The ben­e­fits the asso­ci­a­tions offer 
• How to get involved
• Show learn­ing and net­work­ing resources avail­able to members

10:00 – 11:00 AM

Pre­sen­ta­tion: Dig­i­tal Marketing

Renee Dill (Molex), Kevin Hess (Mouser)

Dis­cuss all aspects of dig­i­tal mar­ket­ing; the rapid trans­for­ma­tion over the last few years and intense focus with the onset of COVID. With focus on lever­ag­ing mul­ti­ple chan­nels with the same mes­sage themes yet using dif­fer­ent con­tent, pulling all levers to reach cus­tomers at dif­fer­ent points in their edu­ca­tion and buy­ing journey.

11:00 am – 12:00 PM

Pre­sen­ta­tion: Elec­tron­ic Indus­try Future

Michael Knight (TTI)

The future fore­casts, pre­dic­tions and poten­tial chal­lenges of the elec­tron­ic com­po­nents industry.

12:00 – 1:00 PM

Reflec­tions From Participants

Jen­nifer Smith (JMS Syn­er­gy), Heather Fulara (Newark)

Each par­tic­i­pant will share their reflec­tions from the pro­gram. All par­tic­i­pants’ man­age­ment will be invited.