In FRA’s Northeast Region, we host a monthly dinner series, the FRA Forest Forum. Instead of a couple of large regional meetings each year, we gather on the first Thursday of the month for a social hour, dinner, and a speaker on an issue important to the forest products industry.  Over the past year, we’ve hosted speakers on topics including tribal forest management, wildfire preparedness and mitigation strategies, the basics of tariffs and how they work, forest information systems, and numerous other issues crucial to understanding and capitalizing on opportunities in the forest supply chain.

These presentations are, of course, important. They are the anchor of the evening, providing attendees with an opportunity to learn and ask questions. However, for me, the most rewarding and dynamic part of the evening takes place before a speaker approaches the podium, at the numerous social and business conversations that happen during the social hour and around the dinner table.

This past week, we had around 50 people come to hear about some of the cutting-edge work being done at the University of Maine to develop and refine the next generation of forest products. The speakers from the University’s Advanced Structures & Composites Center, Forest Bioproducts Research Institute, and the Process Development Center all shared how work done in labs and pilot facilities on campus is making its way to market.  These innovations are creating new ways to utilize wood in products that benefit landowners, loggers, mills, rural communities, and more. We got to watch a time-lapse video of a small house being 3-D printed using wood fiber, which was certainly unique.  

As good as those presentations were, that’s not what stood out about the evening. What struck me was watching dozens of social interactions unfold all over the room, as people wandered in and out of conversations, connecting with old friends and making new ones. A wood buyer from a mill that recently announced a month of downtime was there and able to have face-to-face conversations with nervous suppliers and landowners. Four forestry students from the University of Maine joined us and were welcomed into conversations that helped them make important connections for future internships, jobs, and reality checks. Equipment dealers, foresters, bankers, and mills are all interconnected and continue to build upon relationships that often span multiple decades and multiple employers.

At my dinner table, a forestry student sat next to a seasoned forest manager, and the conversation covered markets, operational challenges, optimism about the role technology can play in forestry, and an eye-opening (for the experienced forester) conversation about what forestry students think their first job will look like.

As good as the program can be (and they can be great), it is these interactions – both at the regional and national level – that add so much value to FRA meetings. There simply isn’t a substitute for connecting with others who work in the same industry ecosystem as you and building relationships that can withstand the inevitable ups and downs we face.

Next time you come to an FRA meeting – or any industry event – make sure to leave enough time before and after the main event to see friends, make connections, and learn from your peers.