FreightWaves virtual 3PL Summit focus: efficiency and profitability

FreightWaves LIVE @Home, the industry’s premier virtual freight conference, was such a smashing success among attendees that we are doing it again – this time the focus will be on third-party logistics (3PL) providers.

The inaugural 3PL Summit virtual event will take place on July 21 live on computers and television screens through the FreightWaves TV network.

“COVID-19 has changed the landscape for industry events – virtual events have replaced in-person events. Duplicating that experience is impossible, but we believe our 3PL Summit will provide attendees with an unrivaled experience for a virtual event that will keep them engaged and provide useful and interesting information and value,” said Craig Fuller, founder and CEO of FreightWaves. “We’ve taken some of the best components of our FreightWaves LIVE @Home experience and tailored them to a 3PL audience. With an outstanding lineup of speakers, our interactive Slack communications channel, and an agenda that offers must-have content, data and analysis of the 3PL marketplace, FreightWaves’ 3PL Summit is the one virtual event those in the 3PL market can’t miss this year.”

Bradley Jacobs, chairman and CEO of XPO Logistics (NYSE: XPO), will deliver a keynote address and lead a live town hall with many well-known experts in the freight space.

“I’m looking forward to a no-holds-barred town hall discussion with nothing off the table. I hope people bring their tough questions and challenge preconceived ideas about the future of our industry,” said Jacobs.

Scheduled to appear with Jacobs on the Town Hall are:

  • Dr. Matthew Waller, dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas 
  • Ben Gordon, founder of Cambridge Capital 
  • Lori Heino-Royer, CEO of CEOX 
  • Kevin Nolan, founder of Nolan Transportation Group 
  • Karl M. Kirkeby, senior vice president of Jefferies 
  • Frank Nash, CEO of ATL Associates 
  • John Larkin, operating partner of Clarendon Capital 
  • Lidia Yan, co-founder and CEO of NEXT Trucking
  • Anthony Smith, economist of FreightWaves
  • George Abernathy, president of FreightWaves 
  • Craig Fuller, founder and CEO of FreightWaves

Hubtek is the headline sponsor and TriumphPay is the universal sponsor. Regional sponsors include Lean Staffing Solutions, Loadsure and Truckstop.com.

The event, which begins at 9 a.m. EDT, is available for free with no pre-registration is required. The entire 3PL Summit will be streamed on freightwaves.com or through FreightWavesTV, available on the internet as well as on Roku and Apple TV devices.

Fuller will present SONAR 7.0, the latest iteration of FreightWaves’ game-changing data platform. Later in the day, George Abernathy, FreightWaves president, will be joined by Todd Davis, program manager for the Truckload Carriers Association Profitability Program (TPP) to discuss the importance of broker benchmarking and how SONAR can help brokers stay on top of their game.

Like all FreightWaves events, the 3PL Summit will feature the ever-popular rapid-fire demos. The 7-minute demos feature the latest in cutting-edge 3PL technology. Among the companies scheduled to present are Hubtek, J.B. Hunt 360, Northstar Venture Technologies, TriumphPay and Trucker Tools.

The 3PL Summit brings back a popular feature first introduced at FreightWaves LIVE @Home – a real-time Slack channel for interaction during the sessions.

“We received tremendously positive feedback about our Slack community channel at FreightWaves LIVE @Home and we want to replicate that experience at the 3PL Summit,” said Emily Szink, executive vice president of content for FreightWaves. “The experience of being able to communicate with fellow attendees during a session is something that can’t be replicated at an in-person event, and is something that many attendees told us provided them a unique opportunity to engage with and learn from other attendees in real-time.”

There will be two special Icebreaker Networking Sessions, presented by Loadsure, giving attendees another opportunity to talk about the day’s events and exchange contact information.

The day will feature a number of sessions offering insight into the world of freight movement and specifically the 3PL ecosystem. Scheduled sessions will include:

  • Leading in a remote world
  • The importance of leadership in a crisis
  • Evolution of intermediation in transportation
  • Carrier vetting and safety
  • How to attach value to your 3PL?
  • Food supply chain: What food shippers want
  • Put it on the rail: Intermodal in 2020
  • The current and future state of the freight market

The entire agenda can be seen here: https://www.freightwaves.com/summit/3pl-agenda

Matt Pyatt, CEO of Arrive Logistics, and Andrew Silver, CEO of MoLo Solutions, will host a session entitled, “Metrics that matter.” It is a topic that Pyatt said he frequently discusses with Silver, and one that should matter to organizations that want to lead their space.

“Cultivating a culture of service and accountability through times of growth and disruption means having your finger on the pulse of external metrics as well as your own performance,” he said. “Andrew and I discuss the ‘metrics that matter’ to our organizations both in the market and internally. These have been refined over the years to keep us in a position to service our transportation partners and hold ourselves accountable.”

Just before lunch, Fuller will be joined by FreightWaves’ Zach Strickland and Michael Vincent in The Great Debate. Each previous FreightWaves event has featured a Great Debate discussing a hot-button freight topic and this one will be no different. The debates have become must-watched events and talked about for weeks afterward. 

There will also be a special edition of Put the Coffee Down, the popular midday FreightWaves television program and podcast hosted by Kevin Hill and Tim Dooner, and sponsored by Lean Staffing. In addition, Dooner and co-host Michael Vincent will host two special episodes of What the Truck?!?, sponsored by Truckstop.com.

In addition, Eric McGee, executive vice president of highway services for J.B. Hunt, will host a special  Waves Talk.

Speakers scheduled to participate include: Doug Clark, interim president and CEO of the Transportation Intermediaries Association; Doug Potvin, CFO of Trinity Logistics; Hope White, CEO of H.D. White Logistics; Dr. Jason Miller, associate professor in the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University; Joel McGinely, managing director of Hubtek; Johnny McCord, founder and CEO of Loadsure; Kenny Lund, executive vice president of the Allen Lund Company; Lorin Seeks, director of quality and compliance for Convoy; Prasad Gollapalli, CEO and founder of Trucker Tools; Ramona Hood, president and CEO of FedEx Custom Critical; Russ Felker, chief technology officer of GlobalTranz; and Sarah Ruffcorn, president of Trinity Logistics.

The entire list of speakers can be found here: https://www.freightwaves.com/summit/3pl-speakers