Mar 21, 2018If I had legally obtained information that would tell you which stocks would go up tomorrow or during the next five trading days, how much would you be willing to pay for it? Probably a lot. The most successful investing newsletters charge tens of thousands of dollars a year for this service. Likewise, if your company was thinking of investing in expanding to a new location, or in new technology, and I could predict with great accuracy the additional value the investment would bring, what would that be worth? Again, probably a lot.
Unfortunately, it's not always clear what the value of information is—and even when people get information that saves them time or money, they don't always realize it. You are probably grateful when your GPS app steers you around a traffic jam, but how thankful is your boss when you learn, at a conference, to avoid doing something that could delay your project or double the cost?
I think about such things a lot, because the information presented at our RFID Journal LIVE! conference and exhibition is extremely valuable, yet many companies don't see it that way. They'd rather save $2,000 in travel expenses and deploy an RFID solution based on the advice of a local company that may or may not know what it is doing.
Non-financial business information has been devalued. This is partly the fault of media companies that saw a way to make money by giving away trade publications and selling ads. There were two fundamental problems with this business model. First, media companies couldn't afford to invest in good content because they didn't have subscription revenue, and second, no one valued the information since it was free. The internet exacerbated the problem. There is so much information online, much of it of very low quality, that some companies see no need to pay for information.
As someone who has spent his entire career providing information to companies, I strongly believe that there is a lot of value in good information. RFID Journal provides high-quality news daily, and this has helped many businesses to deploy RFID solutions that have saved them money or helped them in other ways.
We have taken the same editorial-driven approach at our conferences. We could bring in a lot of vendors and consultants to speak, which would save us time and money, but we work very hard to have end users come and tell their stories. Why? Because companies can learn from what other businesses did right, and perhaps what they did wrong. There is value in learning from others in your industry, and even in other industries—and the information is objective and hype-free.
Among the companies that will be sharing their RFID knowledge at this year's LIVE! event (which will take place on Apr. 10-12, in Orlando, Fla.) are American Woodmark, AUM Cardiovascular, BAE Systems, Blue Bird Corp., Boeing, Bonita Springs Fire Control and Rescue District, Daimler, Ellie Tahari, General Motors, Gramercy Extremity Orthopedics, Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co., Marks & Spencer, NASA/AS&D, St. James Hospital, Target, the U.S. Air Force and many others.
You can view the full list of speakers, which includes a lawyer advising on new FCC RF regulations, academics discussing research they've conducted, and some solution providers explaining how their products might benefit your company.
Is it worth investing in the information these speakers will provide? I have no doubt, because I hear from attendees after each event that it was well worth the money their companies invested. I hope you will join us at LIVE! 2018 and benefit from the valuable information that will be presented across eight preconference seminars, five keynote addresses, eight conference tracks and two post-conferences. If you are considering investing in an RFID system, you won't be sorry you did.
Mark Roberti is the founder and editor of RFID Journal. If you would like to comment on this article, click on the link below. To read more of Mark's opinions, visit the RFID Journal Blog or the Editor's Note archive.
