How I Made It: Peter Eelman

Peter Eelman’s business career has always been centered around IMTS. Eelman, the Chief Experience Officer at AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology, entered the manufacturing technology industry in 1980, working for an exhibitor. Over time his role evolved to heading up all-things-IMTS, including IMTS.com and the IMTS Network. With this year’s IMTS shaping up to be Eelman’s last as the show’s chief coordinator, we sat down to talk about his long and storied career.

A piece of advice that made a difference in my career is very much a cliché, but I’ve found it to be true: Love what you do and make it your passion. When I first got into this industry — after college I took a job with Warner & Swasey, which was a legendary manufacturer of machine tools — I was told that I would probably never leave because it is a place where you can see what few do: products from when they are raw all the way to being a finished part. That’s exciting for me.

Early in my career I was in a world where you didn’t mess with success. It took me a while to realize that you do mess with success. I evolved a theory that everything is unique, everything is different and you’ve got to guide it —but let it happen. Organizations and people who try to maintain the status quo while everything else is changing around them will likely go down the drain. So even if you’re successful, you’ve got to change maintain that success.

When you’re working with people you need to empower them. You have

Peter Eelman is Chief Experience Officer at AMT. He has been responsible for orchestrating IMTS since 1996. Photo Credit: AMT

to tell them that you want to hear what they think — and you’ve got to listen to them. This doesn’t mean that you automatically go with whatever they say, that you abdicate your responsibilities. But you’ve got to respect what people tell you. And if you disagree, you’ve got to explain to them why you don’t think that it will work. Explaining decisions is a way to help people learn and grow.

If you have people on your team who don’t want to engage, who don’t want to participate, you’ve got to recognize that you’re not running a day-care operation. You have to be clear that while you have a responsibility to that person, they have one to you, as well. So if they are not willing to be passionate about what they’re doing — passion for work is something I think is essential — then perhaps they’re not a fit.

Try to see yourself from others’ points of view. Everyone knows how they feel when looking outwards. But try to turn that telescope around and understand how people might be seeing you. This doesn’t mean that you have to agree with what they think, but it does help you understand them.

In putting on a major event like IMTS I deal with plenty of vendors and contractors. I’ve found the best way to work with them is by not thinking of them as “contractors” or “vendors” — words that indicate there is merely a transactional relationships — but partners. Make them part of what you are doing. They can then feel like part of what you’re doing, and if that happens, it really changes the game.

Anything you can do to combat drudgery in your job is key. One of the things that people in this industry may have to do is travel a lot. I’ve been around the world many times, and I can tell you it would be easy to get into the “I’m tired” frame of mind and spend your time moping around the hotel. I’ve learned to embrace it, to find new things to do. Keep it fresh.