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Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening wherever you may be. Scott Luton here with you with the always special guest, Mike Griswold here with you on Supply Chain Now. Welcome to today's show. Mike, how are you doing today?

Doing great, thanks. Always good to be here. Thanks everyone for joining us. Wherever you might be. These are always a good time, I think, to spend time with you, Scott, and talk about issues that are top of mind for probably many people in this supply chain.

I completely agree. I get like a degree every time I leave a conversation with you, Mike. So we're going to continue that because it's backed by popular demand, one of our longest running and most popular series, Supply Chain Today and Tomorrow with Mike Griswold with Gartner. Mike is of course serves as vice president analyst with Gartner. And folks, it's almost Halloween right today. With that theme in mind, we're gonna be diving into a couple of news stories and industry developments that somehow tie back into a Halloween theme. We'll try not to scare you, scare your, knock your socks off or anything scared of Dickens out of you. Although there's plenty, there's plenty of fright, I think for plenty of folks across global supply chain. But folks, stay tuned for a wonderful, intriguing conversation with the one and only Mike Griswold. Okay, so Mike, you know, we got to start with a little fun, one question, break the ice a little bit. And today it's a simple question. It's Todd. Right back to our theme. So what is one of your favorite all time Halloween memories?

It's a great question, Scott, because you think about, you know, as, as old as I am, I have a lot of memories I could, I could draw from. I, I think is that as I reflect now on, on Halloween as a kid, Halloween as a young adult, Halloween as an adult, and now Halloween, you know, as a grandparent. I think the last couple of years in general have been where some of my fondest memories come from in terms of handing out the candy and just seeing the different level of costumes that kids now go through, whether it's my own grandkids or just watching the kids when they come to the door, the excitement they have, if there was ever a phrase that has stood the test of time it is trick or treat, right? We haven't seen the need to try to modify that. I mean, when I was a kid, I can remember trick or treat for UNICEF when you had the little square box that you would take with you to hopefully get some pennies, some dimes and some quarters from the houses when you went and got your candy. Then you'd bring your UNICEF box back to school. But just, and it's interesting because you can clearly see, probably happens, you know, in your neighborhood. You can see the, the, the, the two ends of the extreme kids that have put, and maybe their parents have put a lot of work into their costume. And then you've got the other end of the spectrum where there was literally no thought. It's just a mask with a couple of screens. So.

That's right.

It's just the reaction of the kids now that I'm older that I find so interesting when it comes now to.

Halloween, as you're describing that it's not skew rationalization, it's costume rationalization. And some folks, just to your point, on your latter part of your response, some folks just grab a bag and go because they know they're gonna knock on door and you know, so I gotta share mine. This, I love yours. I love yours. And I, if I, if I'm keeping it real though. Halloween is not one of my favorite holidays, in fact is probably my least favorite. Doesn't mean I don't have fun. We got three kids. That's been fun. But perhaps it stems from one of my memories. So for me, you know, growing up, my folks, I didn't watch many R rated movies or horror movies or I mean it was like a, A G, maybe a PG movie at all times, right? So I go over, I'm. I think I'm probably in third or fourth grade, maybe younger. I go over to my Aunt Pam's house in Aiken, South Carolina. She's got a big Halloween party, a bunch of kids, right? Well, once it gets dark, she turns on this movie that I had never seen called Night of the Living Dead, the good old black and white iconic version, right? And I was sitting there with my folks, you know, kind of getting in the Halloween mood. And then that first graveyard scene happens where that couple gets attacked. And I had seen enough. I had to beg my mom to take us home. And I was, I had a fear that was in my gut, you know, that. And it all stemmed from that movie. But that, you know, all in good fun. Halloween is such a unique holiday and I love that you called out that phrase, trick or treat. It's still timeless. It's still used once a year, all with the same purpose, regardless if you've got a million dollar costume or. Or you don't. And we'll be giving out plenty of candy here pretty soon. But Mike, you had one more thing I think you were going to add. Yeah.

Real quick. I've also noticed maybe you see it in your place, guy, an evolution of the device that people collect their candy in. Right. It used to be a little bag, maybe this big. It used to be the pumpkin thing. Now kids are coming with pillowcases and they haul them over their shoulder like Santa Claus. So.

That's right.

They have different expectations now around. And I think to some degree kids maybe have more latitude to roam the neighborhood than maybe we had or even as a kid wanted to roam, especially after watching that movie. Right. You would want to roam very far. No.

Be home under the seats. Oh, gosh. And of course, it goes without saying many of our listeners and viewers will recognize this once you get home, especially if you have several siblings. The negotiations begin. Yes, lots of supply chain lessons learned. All right, so Mike, good stuff there. We got a lot to get into. All focused on supply chain news stories, industry developments that have some sort of tie to Halloween. And yes, it is, as Amanda will attest, my least favorite holiday. Just trying to keep it real, folks. But our first story, she can learn from all, all the holidays, whether you like them or you don't. Our first story comes from market via our friends at Seeking Alpha and it focuses on what it calls the booming Halloween supply chain activity. So did you know Halloween supply chain activity and volumes hit a record high this year. Imports of related products for the holiday rose by 18.6% over last year to some 33,098 TEUs. Many of our listeners out there know those are 20 foot equivalent units. Now, the peak season for Halloween shipments tends to be May through August. But Mike, as we've covered here before, timeless. Especially in recent years, the smearing that's been taking place has really pushed shipping out as retailers are looking to spread out those Halloween purchases by consumers. Folks, if you walked in your retail stores, even last spring, you saw Halloween skeletons on certain aisles. So what are consumers spending on? Right. General decorations are up some 20% during the peak period this year over last year. Costumes are down just over 19%. That's a little bit surprising. Chocolate imports rose just over 20% more on chocolate and cocoa. Just a moment. And sugar candy imports fell about 6% in terms of volume making dentists happy everywhere. Or maybe not. I guess it might go against their business model. But regardless. Mike, when you kind of look at the overall Halloween supply chain activity, what are your thoughts?

Yeah, I had I think three when I read that article. I thought it was a great article, had some really good statistics. Yeah, I think one of the things that the article talked about is kind of this mixed shift between candy and let's call it decorations. And I think there, there's some, some pragmatic, pragmatic approach there in that the decorations. Let's use your skeleton example, Scott. If it doesn't sell, I can either mark it down or frankly I can pack it away and bring it back out next year. Right. Can't do that with candy, can't do that with sugar. So I think you might be seeing a little bit more of a pragmatic approach to the assortment. I think the other element here is there was a very interesting statistic around the four month window and how much more I think was almost 19% more volume in a four month window before Halloween this year versus last year. When I see stats like that, what that tells me is people are thinking ahead and how do we get ahead of any potential disruptions Now People may not have had the port strike that we're experiencing now kind of on their radar, but they could have because it's not like this just happened overnight. There's been discussions about the potential for this happening. So I think when you have product like Halloween any you could probably have the same discussion at Christmas time when you have those long lead time products, many of those from overseas, you do need to think about the potential for disruption and how are you going to mitigate that. So I think the, that volume that was brought in earlier was a great move to and I think it's probably turning out to be a better move given what we're having happen in the ports. And the last thing and it's, it's hard for you and I to have any of these sessions without at least talking about demand planning a little bit. Right. When you think about the, the article talks about, you know, some of the changes in the mix, clowns are out, zombies are in. Right. When you think about demand planning around those types of kind of what I'll call what's going to be hot that can be really challenging. And I think organizations that are investing in how do we kind of find that hot topic, how do we get our arms around that product and bring it in and as we mentioned, bring it in Early, I think are going to be the ones going to be more successful. It was interesting. They specifically called out the continued success of Frozen despite any, any new movies. And I think that that's a testament to, to the brand. And I think it's a testament to organizations that are able to pick up on some of those trends and those brands that will have longevity, you know, like Frozen, like the Marvel, I think they were referenced as well as costumes that are doing well. So it's that, you know, if you think about kind of. My last observation, Scott, would be we tend to think about Halloween as kind of that consumable kind of fast moving, consumer good product, which it is, right. The candy. But I think more and more that article, what illuminated to me was or illustrated to me was we're starting to see a fashion element in Halloween. When you get to things like costumes and those types of things and being able to have some skill sets in your organization that can think like fashion, I think is going to become more important.

Well said folks telling you the best of the business to get that kind of observations off Halloween supply chain activity. Good stuff there, Mike, and I'm so glad you called out the movie brands, for lack of a better phrase, you talked about demand planning. So you've got some intuitive connections and an article folks, check it out. From Seeking Alpha you've got where there wasn't a Star wars movie released for a couple of years. So naturally they tied less demand for Star wars costumes on that. But then out of the blue you got Frozen, who has, hasn't had a release in years and it takes off. So those organizations that can sense that, that sense that kind of under the surface demand patterns and are in a position to deliver on that, it's amazing how the art of demand planning has evolved. Hey, just one more thought too about Frozen. My favorite Disney memory probably ever was a few years ago when my daughters were a little bit younger and they loved Frozen. Like millions of millions of people around the globe, we attended one of those live performances and oh my gosh, they beamed for days. That was the highlight of their whole year. And I tell you that, that there's a reason why folks keep calling, keep going back to the experiences at Disney, they tend to nail it, that kind of stuff. So. All right, good stuff. So Mike, that was a great overview, kind of overarching view of Halloween supply chain activity, demand, all sorts of different patterns this year. So in the next story we're going to talk about a little more serious note about what some are calling the Global chocolate crisis. Now this is interesting. I'm unpack this article. I can't wait to get your thoughts here. So as reported here by Food Chain magazine, the cost and supply of cocoa tends to be relatively stable in recent decades at least. But in early 2024, big shortages of cocoa beans caused cocoa prices to surge some three times higher than average since we've seen in the 1980s. Right. Over 11,000 bucks per metric ton is what it rose to. Now it has since dropped to about as of today, about almost $8,000 per metric ton here in October 2024. But some forecasts see future increases maybe going up to a whopping 20,000 bucks per petric ton down the road. Now what's caused it? Well, a couple of short list factors have contributed. In particular, aging cocoa trees in West Africa that aren't producing as much yield diseases like black pod disease, evolving weather patterns, especially in Ivory coast and Ghana, which combine for about half of the global cocoa supply. Even speculator and hedge fund actors are getting involved and adding to the equation who saw an opportunity to make some big profits. All of that and other things, quite the perfect storm. So what's being done to improve conditions? Well, you got more and more modern farming technologies are being experimented with. You've got reforms in how prices are set and how farmers are paid, trying to provide a better living to farmers and then finally new regulations when it comes especially to environmental sustainability, which would also be aimed at protecting and improving and optimizing crop yields. So Mike, this is a story that impacts the world all the way around. Your thoughts on what some are calling this global chocolate crisis?

Yeah, Scott, I mean this, this was again because of my age, I'm trying to eat less chocolate. But was super. I don't know if discouraged is the right word, but super concerned. When I read that article for, for lots of different reasons. I mean I think you did a great job of, of articulating kind of the short list of root causes. But one of the root causes that you highlighted is really a financial manipulation might be too strong of a word, but a financial play here that is disturbing from the standpoint of the impact it's causing to world supply chains in an effort to really make a lot of money very quickly. Now I don't want anyone to confuse me as being non capitalist because I am not. But when it gets to the point where this hedge fund speculation type of activity is driving prices for the raw material to an obscene level and having the knock on effect that it's having across everyone's supply chain. That's troubling. Now having said all that, this is a great example of how supply chains need to be keeping an eye on sustainability. If you read the back half of that article, there are tons of activities that are now being brought to the forefront that are all around sustainability. Whether it's improving the conditions of the farmers and how they plant and how they water. Using technology to understand how the crop is growing, understanding as more plants become older and their yield starts to decline. What can we do around that? I think it's imperative that a couple of things happen. One, I think early in the process, organizations need to be looking at this through the lens of product development and where is chocolate being utilized in the design element of our products? Can we find alternatives for that that still bring the same type of taste configuration that people are used to? But it's that product development piece that I think people are really going to have to look at in the short to medium term because when they read that article, I don't get the sense that this is going to go away anytime soon for a couple of reasons. One, I think the ability to make money fairly quickly through speculation. Speculation and hedge fund people aren't going to wake up some morning and say I have enough money, let's stop doing this. Right? That that's not going to happen. And I'm not a botanist, so I'm not familiar with the life cycle of a cocoa plant. But I'm assuming it's not planned today, get chocolate tomorrow, right. So there's, you know, some, some long term plans that have to be looked at. I would encourage people that are in this type of situation to look at other similar commodities and stories. So for example, Starbucks has done a fantastic job with the coffee industry in understanding and working with local growers and providing tools and even funding in many ways to keep them as viable operations. But also a great job around just the agricultural requirements to grow sustainable coffee. Look at someone like Diageo and what they do around agave plants for tequila. Right. That's another kind of resource that needs to be nurtured and cultivated and has a life cycle. So people that are in the coffee business I think can also be looking at other similar product types and what have people done in those areas. But it does to me, right when I got past the kind of the financial aspect of this, there's a lot of sustainability activities that people need to be thinking about right now because it takes time. Takes time for the plants to grow. Takes time. If you need to bolster capabilities of a cocoa farmer. All of those things take time and if you don't get started you'll never get finished. So the sooner you get started the sooner you can start to realize some of these. But to me that was a great article that shows the convergence of some, some very impactful external factors that you really can't control but a really good description of the things you can control around sustainability.

Yeah, I agree and I'm so glad early in your response you called out these farmers in these different industries, not just cocoa and coffee is another great example. They've been taking advantage in many places for a long time. And I love this movement that we've seen especially you're talking about a couple of different examples of it in recent years where it's we, we have very intentionally some organizations have moved it in the other direction to make it sustainable in all facets of that definition to include economic viability for the farmers so they can actually make a, a good living, a really good living, a much better living than than traditionally. Mike, I just purchased some coffee from our friends at Thrive Farmers and what I love that they do and we've seen this in the places it's not unique to them but I love companies do this they put right there on the website where you buy the coffee they put a picture of the farmers and even a little bit about their story. You know that is really cool and it's not quite as cool as their mission which is they're looking to create more effective mutually beneficial relationships with these farmers. And I'm like you that I'm not a botanist, I'm not an economist. I couldn't tell you what hedge fund folks do every day. But that element that leads to perhaps price, that helps the price fluctuation, that's we need to rein that in somehow. At least it makes sense to me. So anyway Mike, a lot of good stuff. We'll keep our finger on the pulse of this, this developing story and hopefully it doesn't interrupt our supply chain for Twix Kit Kats. Yes, and many other delicious items for Halloween and otherwise other parts of the year. All right, moving right along I want to touch on this third story here. This is be an interesting one. This is kind of more dot right into especially retail supply chain. So this story features a couple of perennial gardener supply chain top 25 organizations including one retail powerhouse that does big business during Halloween and probably every other holiday. So as reported here by Consumer Goods Technology Unilever and Walmart are enhancing their collaboration to improve on Shelf availability and overall supply chain visibility and replenishment outcomes. So Unilever launched a proprietary model that integrates forecasts and sales data in real time, point of sale data and inventory management data and other inputs. All of that more so it can generate a single, more accurate forecast for each store. Now, early testing at a Walmart Mexico pilot showed on shelf availability, OSA, another acronym for all of us out there. OSA rates over 98%. So exceptional OSA rates can help protect and grow market share and of course revenue. It can help drive customer loyalty. It can help take some of the friction out of supply chain management cycles. Plus, as we all know, avoiding those stockouts is critical. It's been estimated that stock outs lead to some $1 trillion of lost revenue each year for the retail industry. And those are buying opportunities that companies never get back. So, Mike, the right data at the right time and doing the right thing with it, which is critical, all that tends to work out pretty well for business leaders, huh?

It does. Another Scott, you picked three really good articles, I think that are linked to Halloween, but also I think have at their heart some core supply chain tenets. I think if people get a chance to read the article and we run into this all the time at Gartner when we publish our supply chain top 25 research companies look at that and say, well, Walmart can do this because they're Walmart or Unilever can do that because they're Unilever. And just. And then they dismiss kind of the rest of the insights that are potentially available. And I'll be the first to say that yeah, Walmart can do things because they're Walmart that no one else can do. And you can say the same thing for Unilever, but at its essence, what both of those companies have gotten really, really good at is basic blocking and tackling, which everyone can get really good at. If you look at that article, it talks about this move to real time or near real time data and you use the word visibility, which is key, right? Anyone can create that environment within their organization. The challenge, I think for many organizations, and I think what Walmart and Unilever have done really well is articulated when we have real time data and when we have visibility. This is what we're going to do, right? This is the problem we can solve. This article is specifically focused on on shelf availability. Walmart and Unilever together agreed that was a huge problem for them and they agreed together how we're going to solve for it. The message to people that aren't Walmart Unilever is the same. Utilize real time data to fix whatever problem you have and do some due diligence around what that problem might be. It may not be on shelf availability, it could be delivery reliability.

Right?

The truck is supposed to be here at 10, it shows up at 9:00 or it shows up at 11:00, which has huge ramifications to labor, just as one example. So organizations need to take advantage of the technology around real time or neo real time and figure out for themselves what problem can we solve with that? Because I think Unilever Walmart did a really good job of doing that. I think the other thing the article mentions, and we're seeing this more and more and we'll get to a little bit later. Scott, kind of our eureka moment discussion is the article also mentions not super specifically, but does touch on the use of AI. And I think as we get more data, as we get more visibility to our data, we have an opportunity to use AI to help us solve some of these problems and help us make some of these decisions. What's interesting, and this is going to be a hypothesis on my part, Scott, because I'm kind of reading between the lines in this article, right? The only way that you can do some of the things that are alluded to in the article is making an underlying commitment to the integrity of your data. So getting real time data having visibility to that is critical. But the data has to be good, right? Real time visibility to bad data is not helpful. Real time data visibility to high quality data is what you're going to need to make decisions. So I'm going to kind of infer behind the scenes Unilever and Walmart have done a lot of work to make sure that that data that's presented in real time and it's got end to end visibility is of high quality. And the last thing, sorry, that the last thing is, is that article talks a lot about it from an end to end perspective. Right. The Unilever and the Walmart working together. I think oftentimes in the retail environment we don't think broad enough in terms of that end to end type of approach where we think very, not necessarily myopically, we think very locally around my own data. What do I need to do to fix my own house? And we tend to lose sight of the opportunities that are presented to us if we think a little bit more broadly, a little bit more. Ed, I love that.

And going back to something you said there about, you know, everybody, there's there's ways we can gain visibility that we've been after forever in today's in 2024 and some exciting, innovative and practical and effective ways. But to your point, it's kind of like the dog chasing the car. Once you catch that car, what are you going to do with it? And kind of to your point, you know, once we have real time visibility and those insights, what are you going to do with it? Right? And clearly Unilever and Walmart have got those answers. And to your also to your other point you made on the beginning of your response folks, if you don't have few organizations have the resources that Walmart does, right? But to Mike's point, all of us can invest and dedicate ourselves to getting so much better at blocking and tackling and leveraging the incredible democratize technology platforms insights, you name it that are out there and reach all new heights by focusing on the things that have always been important. So I love this example. What a great store. We'll keep our finger on the pulse. I'm assuming that since the pilot went well, we're going to see this approach scaled out through other many other stores. And you know one last thing folks, if you've tuned into these conversations and many others, I've used this example a lot. But Mike, I was at the headquarters of an iconic beverage brand in Atlanta 15 years ago. Right. You can make your own assumptions there. But the one of the supply chain leaders that stood up talked about how when customers going to ABC store to get their favorite version of that beverage and they happen not to have, you know, caffeine free cherry flavored cola style the shelf so the customer turns around maybe gets a competitor product or doesn't buy anything at all. That opportunity in a vacuum is a lost cell that never gets back. That's just it evaporates. And that's why keeping that's why this OSA movement is so important because you want to capture that right then and there and never lose it. And that you know that list will always be with me with you know, at that iconic product that we all know love and enjoy. Mike, you're going to add.

Yeah, I mean I think Scott, we could probably do a whole show on on shelf availability. I did a lot of research in that area before I became a team manager and just a couple things stood out to me as we did this research. One is you have to know your product portfolio from a substitution perspective. You know, in your example if I'm going in for a specific flavor or brand and it's not there. What's the likelihood I'm going to substitute. Right. And you see that across all categories. Right. You know, for me, you know, for me, if they don't have my toothpaste, I'll just buy another toothpaste. My wife, they don't have her toothpaste. She's not buying a different brand.

Right.

So that understanding that substitution nature has huge ramifications when you think about forecasting and replenishment. The other element, I think that's also important is just recognizing this from kind of the perspective of how many chances do you get? We did some research, and I've seen corresponding research that suggests you have about three opportunities, and after that third opportunity, they're going to go someplace else. So while three might sound like a lot, if you think about the average replenishment cycle, you know, if you're only getting replenished once a week and I come in Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday looking for that product, and you don't have it, guess what? I'm going someplace else. And you'll never have the chance, even when you get replenished. So there's this idea of substitution, there's this idea of frequency that people really have to get into understanding around their products.

There's so much. I'm so glad you added that. We could have a whole show, maybe a whole series dedicated to your research there. Yeah. And it's such a fascinating element of the retail world supply chain, the whole whole nine yards. One last thing, what you're talking about there, there's three opportunities. Well, you know, of course, that drives that. Customer loyalty, customer experience. Right. And brand trust, for that matter. So I love that example. One last thing, since we're talking about beverages and then we're going to move to your Eureka moment. My. One of my favorite restaurants eat in is Zaxby's. Right. Love their really spicy nuclear. I think it's nuclear sauce. Chicken fingers. Wow. Oh, gosh. Makes me hungry right now. But, Mike, they recently moved the Freestyle machine, right? It's Coca Cola Freestyle machine. It's been in there for over a decade. And I love going in there because I could get a very specific type of Coke. Right. My kids loved it, too. What they've recently leased in our neck of the wood. Swap that out to more of a standard, maybe a Henry Ford dispenser. You got Coke, Sprite, and you a third option. So I'm curious. I'm about to look up the story of the Freestyle machine because, man, you had choices galore. You ever come across the Freestyle.

I have. And it's interesting, Scott, because when they first came out, I guess, Sorry, I'll preface this by saying I am a fan because like you, I love the variety and the ability to customize. And I know from things that I've read, Coke gets a lot of great data back from those machines. I think though, part of the challenge is if you look at this operationally in a semi fast food or a fast food environment, I could easily see a queue building up. Right. With people wanting to get a drink. The machine for first time users isn't necessarily super intuitive and even for people that have used it frequently. Right. If you wanted to do a little bit of experimentation and try a different flavor, kind of finding it at lunchtime too, right? At lunchtime when the person behind you is kind of stomping their feet saying, hey, look, I just want my Coke. I don't, well, just get a Coke buddy so I can get my drink right. So, you know, part of me, I think if you do some research, you might find this, some of this is like operational decisions where it just takes too long for people to get their beverage. Now, the flip side of me would say put in a second unit.

Right?

I mean, if that's where you want to go, just put in a second unit. But I am a fan of those.

Yes. Weighing the pros and cons as you walked us through there. And what you're also implying is I might have gone to Zaxby's one or a hundred times too often because I've got it dialed in, ready to go. Anyway, good stuff there, folks. There's a lot of good stuff here over the last three articles that we just covered. Appreciate your insight. So, Mike, we're going to wrap on a fast and furious finish here. We're going to talk about Eureka moment. We're going to talk about a couple of really neat events coming up in partner and then we're going to make sure folks and I connect with the one and only Mike Griswold. So, Mike, you work with some of the smartest folks across global supply chain, some of the brightest leaders there around the world. What's been a recent sidebar conversation that's offered maybe a eureka moment or so?

Yeah, I think, Scott, we've talked about this in the past, but it's just continuing to gain momentum and it's around generative AI and that whole topic. And we're definitely in the conversations we're having. We're moving from the, you know, should I just be thinking about it to let's talk about some specific use cases and where are we seeing in areas like planning as an example, where are we seeing the use of that in a very productive way? So my message to folks is to continue to think about how you use that technology and where to use it and the value that it can bring to you and your organization.

Well said. And break out those project charters as business cases.

Right.

To really quantify and quantify and quantify because, you know, we still, I don't know if you see it, Mike. I still see it from time to time, different conversations we're having. Everybody is seeing that golden age of AI and they all want to figure out how to kind of get something out of it. But some visions are more, much more accurate and planned and targeted than others. And that's, I think that's a threat. It can lead to some burnout, some frustration and plenty of other things. And as you point out, Mike, the opportunity is too great to allow that to happen.

All right.

So Mike Griswold Gardner produces some great events we've talked about here. I've enjoyed Supply Chain Symposium a couple of times, including earlier this year. And the hits keep on coming. Y'all got a couple of supply chain planning summits coming up next, I think in Denver and and in London. Tell us what folks can expect about those events.

Yeah, they are kind of an offshoot. Think of them as kind of a spin off of our symposium where we have interest and we have content for very specific roles. So where our symposium is targeted at chief supply chain officers and their direct reports, our summits and in this case planning is targeted at a very specific role. So that event is targeted for people that everything from I run a planning organization and how can I do that more effectively? How can I align my planning organization, say maybe with the rest of the business to very tactical things for demand planners. So it is a deep dive into the role at both the strategic level as well as the very tactical level for planners. So we're seeing a lot of interest. Attendance is very high already in terms of pre registrations for London and for Denver. So if you have an interest in planning, if you have planning responsibilities or planning people that work for you, it's a great event for planning.

It sure is. In fact, our dear, our mutual friend and a fellow Sapachana co host Corinne Burson will be at the one in Denver.

Excellent.

That's going up December 3rd through the 4th, 2024, just around the corner in Denver. And folks, you can learn more atgartner.com and check it out. Let us know if you attend. I'd love to get your key takeaways from the Denver version or the London version. All right, Mike Griswold, what a great, another great show here today. I think we're on year four or five of these. I'm not sure how long we have to write a book about all these conversations we've had. Well, you need to write a book regardless of this series or not given all that you've done. Uh, but how can folks connect with the one and only Mike Griswold with.

Gartner email mike griswold, gartner.com LinkedIn is, is probably another way, but those are the two. Scott, I'm, those are probably the most, the easiest and where I'm probably the most responsive is email and LinkedIn.

Love it, love it. And folks, we're talking pre show. Make sure you connect with Mike. Make sure you check out gartner.com and the great upcoming events. But what's right around the corner, if you've tuned into any of these shows over the past few years is you know, Mike is a big passionate fan of basketball. Not just a game, but also coaching and helping others make the best versions of their game. And you got basketball season right around the corner. Is that right, Mike?

Yes, we have, right after Halloween we'll have tryouts and we have our first game around the 10th or 11th of of November. I, I was joking with the head coach. Our schedule looks a little bit like if, if anyone is a, is a fan of the San Antonio spurs, there's about a month where they're on the road because of the rodeo. Our, I think it's like five of our first six games are all on the road. So wow. Not nearly as bad as the spurs, but it's, it's a challenging start for us.

Well, I can't wait. I hope to take you one of those games in person. See in action. Good luck on the upcoming season. Thanks for being here, Mike. Always a pleasure. I've really enjoyed, as I shared a minute ago, I've got my 18 pages of notes from Mike Griswold's brilliance here today. All things Halloween, supply chain, retail and a whole bunch more. But folks, you have the homework. I'm going to give you some homework. You got to take one thing that Mike shared here today, right? Take it back to your teams, share it, do something with it, right? Going back to that earlier example. Now when you get retail, real time visibility or when you get this advantage with that advantage? What are you going to do with it? That's the challenge. So big thanks to Mike Rswald with Gartner. Big thanks for all of you all being here. Let us know what you think. We'd love to get your feedback. Most importantly, on behalf of the entire team here at Supply Chain Now, Scott Lun challenge. You do good, give forward, be the change that's best needed, and we'll see you next time right back here at Supply Chain Now. Thanks, everybody.

Thanks for being a part of our Supply Chain now community. Check out all of our programming@supplychainnow.com and make sure you subscribe to Supply Chain now anywhere you listen to podcasts and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. See you next time on Supply Chain Now.