20 August 2024

By Dawn Zoldi

Brews & Crews: Cheers to Building an Industry Together 

This year marks the fourth anniversary of what has become a Commercial UAV Expo (CUAV Expo) staple side-event, the annual Labor Day networking happy hour. We’ll also be interviewing a string of industry professionals live from the floor again as part of our Full Crew live event series. Whether you join us in person or check us out “on the line,” these brews and Crews help you to grow personal and professional relationships and obtain valuable expert industry insights. The Droning Company asked me to tell you how these traditions came about and what you can expect at this year’s Expo and beyond, so here you go!

A Sip In Time

In 2021, right after the COVID-19 pandemic (and for industry events, 2020 or “the year that wasn’t), many of us gathered for the first time—in a long time —at the Mirage Hotel & Casino for that year’s CUAV Expo.

Just two years into my business (P3 Tech Consulting), and a few months after jumping into it full time, like almost everyone, I hungered for connection. I remember arriving in Vegas on Sunday and throwing out a LinkedIn post along the lines of, “Anyone in Vegas for Commercial UAV, flash mob in the Mirage lobby bar tomorrow at 6pm,” (or words to that effect). The response was overwhelming!

I made so many industry connections at that first “Flash Mob Networking Event" with whom I've since collaborated on a project or two (or three). More importantly, everyone there made their own business connections, too.

Given that initial success, in year two, we moved the mob over to country western-themed Gilleys at T.I. (a casino formerly known as Treasure Island). And even more people came! That year, folks showed up fresh off of international flights including our friends from Hover UAV (Australia), Elsight (Israel) and for their first U.S expo appearance, IdeaForge (India). And no bull, our fearless Producer, Mike Pehel (UpStreem) actually rode the mechanical bull that night.

CUAV 2022 Mob!

Mike Pehel braves the bull.

Also in 2022, the “flash mob” idea expanded into socials for other events and shows. We held an awesome gathering the night before our first-ever Law-Tech Connect (LTC) educational workshop at AUVSI’s XPONENTIAL in Orlando. Now an integral part of LTC, we have held similar socials in Denver and San Diego. Each year, these grow.

Speaking of growing and last year, along with some friends, we fomented the first (now annual) “no host social” at the Hilton lobby bar at FAA Drone & AAM Symposium in Baltimore. (We just held our 2nd annual last month).

Third Annual LTC Social 2024

Also in 2023, our annual CUAV Expo social marked an all time high in terms of friends and fun. Thanks to our partner and sponsor, Carahsoft, our mob converged on Harrahs’ Carnival Court for hours on end. We rocked out to the Spandex Nation 80s hair band well into the late hours of the night.

This year, again due to the generous support of Carahsoft, we’ll be clinking glasses and getting to know each other better on Monday, September 2, 2024, at the Vista Cocktail Lounge in Caesar’s Palace, from 5-7pm. Sign up with this link to reserve your spot.

Not Quite So Motley

After having a blast Monday night, walking the expo floor for a day or so, kicking off “OEM, System & Software Leaders” Month on our Dawn of Autonomy podcast with Sagetech Avionics on Wednesday morning and moderating the “Case Studies in Energy & Utilities” panel that afternoon, we’ll be once again filming our Full Crew live from the floor.

Much like the Flash Mob Networking Happy Hour, Full Crew, as an umbrella brand, and the related live streams, started organically. In 2022, we were working closely with DroneLife on our legacy podcast, “The Dawn of Drones” (btw The Droning Company’s Best Podcast of 2023). That year, we had booked out the year quickly, but people continued coming to us for more podcasts. We created two technology-focused podcasts, The Full Crew and spin-off Full TILT (Tech Industry Leadership Talks), to fill this gap.

The Full Crew podcast features the leading voices in tech who discuss the hottest topics in the media for the industry and provide candid first impressions of those stories. The Full TILT podcast focuses on perspectives from tech sector leaders who give viewers an intimate look at the influences in their lives that helped to inform the leadership strategies they currently use to build the products, teams and cultures that shape their companies.

Our Full Crew live from event show floors also arose in 2022 and at Comm UAV. At that show, on the fly, a rep for IdeaForge asked us to interview the team’s leaders from their booth. This first foray into live event streams spun off an entirely new line of effort (“Full Crew Live”) which continues, like our social hours, to snowball. These event streams are of our most watched shows. For example, our recent stream from the FAA Drone & AAM Symposium, sponsored by Airspace Link, has garnered almost 600 views just on my LinkedIn and keeps growing.

At CUAV Expo, expect to find us propped up somewhere on the show floor, with laptop and halo light, interviewing a slew of industry stalwarts and newcomers including: Leica Geospatial, Airspace Link, Sagetech Avionics, Black Swift Technologies, VOTIX, USI, M&R Environmental, Grand Sky and likely some surprise guests. Our stream sponsors, UAS Strategic (Zev Nadler) and Clarify Consulting (Dan Fuller) have made this particular stream possible.

Over the Horizon

What’s next after CUAV Expo? Beyond September, check out our upcoming monthly newscasts (September is EV Month) and event streams (next up: IAM Madrid thanks to TruWeather Solutions and then UAS Summit in Grand Forks with Grand Sky).

As for 2025, not only will this be a huge year for the industry (my prediction), it also marks “Year 5” for my company. To celebrate this milestone and continue adding value, we plan to launch a new digital media platform, “Autonomy Global” (AG) on January 1st (The Droning Company will be a Media Partner of AG).

Also stay tuned for more ways to become part of our Crew, experience our “flash mobs, join us on our Dawn of Autonomy podcast and plan to attend our 4th Annual Law-Tech Connect Workshop colocated with XPONENTIAL in Houston on Monday May 19th (with a social on Sunday night). Sign up for my P3 Tech Newsletter (which becomes AG News next year) to get the latest industry updates and to plug into all of these efforts.

In the meantime, I hope to see you soon all in Vegas! Viva!