PACK EXPO 2026: What to Know Before You Go (with the Manufacturing Millennial & Meaghan Ziemba)

But I guess to pivot a little

bit, you've attended the shows, you've been an attendee of Pack Expo.

I guess I'm just curious what you think has changed the most about Pack who it is that's walking the floor at Pack Expo, who the talent is, what levels of experience, the veterans, stuff like that.

What have you seen that's different?

Yeah, so I think it's a much broader audience.

So you're not only getting like the traditional people who are the engineers who work on the equipment or actually designing the equipment, but you're also getting younger professionals who might be interested in what sort of opportunities are available in packaging and procurement.

You're getting students walking through the doors.

You're getting women.

You're getting content creators like myself and Jake.

you're also getting people from different parts of the organization.

So it's not just one department over the other.

It's basically everyone that's involved in the complete organization.

And I think you guys as an association are tracking that as well, because you had your young professionals networking reception that I heard was a big hit back at Pack Expo East.

And then you also have your Emerging Leaders Network alongside the Packaging and Processing Women's Leadership Network, which I always get excited about.

So it's not like these are side conversations that you're having.

You're actually designing them as part of the show.

So they're not just side conversations like side conferences and You're designing it to be part of the bigger conversation that you want people to start having at the show.

And I think that changes from conversations just around the equipment and the processing and the operations.

You're also talking about what does this mean for labor, training, data, maintenance, sustainability, cybersecurity, and the people who will actually have to work within your facility today.

handling all those processes and operations.

So I think that diversity of perspective really makes the floor way more interesting and it just makes the conversations all that much more fun.

Yeah, absolutely.

Is that something you think you've seen as well, Jake, where the floor is more diverse, whether it's by age, by demographic?

Yeah, and as well, I think it's what people are looking at on the floor is for a much broader aspect of the entire packaging and manufacturing process in the industry as well.

The process within packaging has switched not just from the physical process of handling goods.