The following is a cross-post from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Blog

By Mark Schmit, National Accounts Manager, Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP)

I was five years old in December of 1974, and thanks to the magic of the holiday season I was also in joyful possession of an Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle (with action figure). At the time, the Stunt Cycle set was manufactured by the Ideal Toy Company at its locations in in Hollis, Queens, New York, or Newark, New Jersey. It was the good ole’ US of A anyway. I couldn’t wait to get back to school and show off my sweet new ride. Back then, schools had an organized something called, “show and tell.” I couldn’t wait to both show and tell, because Evel Knievel was, to my mind, an absolute marvel. I wanted to be him. I wanted that red, white and blue uniform; this cannot be overlooked in terms of appeal to my younger self. My parents, however, are probably relieved to this day that I did not, in fact, springboard from my beloved Ideal Toys stunt cycle Christmas gift to a professional stunt career. I do, however, still work with organized show and tell, but now it’s called Manufacturing Day (MFG Day) and designed for big people.

This year’s MFG Day is on October 4, 2019, with over 2,000 events already registered on the MFG Day website. While every MFG Day event will be unique in some fashion, there are a few things that every host can do to make the most of this celebration of manufacturing.

Here are some tips that the members of the MEP National NetworkTM, participants in MFG Day since 2012, have found useful year after year.

Use the Resources on MfgDay.com

If you haven’t already, make sure to visit the mfgday.com blog. It’s full of articles that will help you think about key aspects of your MFG Day event, such as:

• “How to Start Planning Your Manufacturing Day Event”
• “7 Things Every Manufacturer Can Do to Make Their MFG Day Event a Success”
• “How to Get Students to Your MFG Day Event”

For more information, please see the full blog at https://www.nist.gov/blogs/manufacturing-innovation-blog/how-make-most-your-manufacturing-day-event