Onwards and Upwards

In this end-of-the-year note, MS&T and CAT publisher Andy Smith looks forward to the changes Halldale will bring come 2021.

We are at last nearing the end of 2020, an incredible, previously unbelievable, year.

I suspect everyone will welcome the brighter future that 2021 seems likely to offer. Wherever you are in the world, and however you have fared through the year, all of us at Halldale, MS&T and CAT magazines wish you a peaceful and enjoyable holiday season and a positive, happier and healthier New Year.

Simulation and training businesses contributed magnificently, and rapidly, to support their business partners as they transitioned to new training methods, while also supporting their local communities, switching their manufacturing to the production of ventilators or masks and by donating suitable equipment to hospitals and the public. Reporting on those actions in our “Simulation Leads the Way!” coverage was one of the few highlights of the year.

Like many of your businesses, Halldale has undergone a transformation in the way it conducts business and we have strengthened our editorial team and maintained global, impartial, independent and accurate coverage. The publishing business was already undergoing huge change but the pandemic accelerated those changes forcing them into being in weeks and months rather than the two to three years we had planned for. Halldale 2021 has more to offer than ever and in more formats than even we expected in January 2020.

Training has followed a similar path with the previously unthinkable now not only necessary but proven. The accelerated adoption of new technology led to a very different industry with new names and enterprises coming to the fore, and we look to a 2021 where the adoption of those technologies, remote learning, data, and a return to instructor-led training offers those responsible for ‘performance improvement’ new and powerful opportunities.

Thank you to all who supported and worked with us in 2020. It was the 30th year of CAT magazine's publication and the 37th of MS&T; we look forward to years 31 and 38 respectively!