> ERA Quick Connections – April 2026, Vol. 2
April 2026, Vol. 2
MONTHLY POS REPORTS
February 2026 POS activity far exceeded expectations, actually running ahead of January numbers by 3 percent and last February’s POS number by nearly 20 percent. February was the largest POS month since April of last year. February is generally a lower number due to the shortened month, however this activity was significantly above expectations.
INDUSTRY NEWS
> Finance and banking leaders from around the globe raise concerns with Anthropic’s new Mythos AI model. Read more.
> Being a leader is harder than ever. Here are 5 common pressure points for leaders and how to handle them. Read more.
> A 2024 study found that readers preferred content labeled as “human-generated” by 30 percent over content labeled as created by AI. Here are four ways your writing sounds “too AI” and how to fix it — read more.
INDUSTRY SURVEY RESULTS
The April 2026 ERA Electronic Components Industry Trend Survey is now closed.
ERA NEWS
> The EDS Summit will be here in less than 4 weeks.
Download the EDS 2026 app for EDS info on the go — The app is available for both Android and iOS and has the complete public EDS schedule, the Matchmaking utility and more. To download, search “EDS 2026” in your phone’s app store.
New this year — EDS After Dark on Tuesday night from 9 p.m. – midnight in Perdana Gardens. This is a great opportunity to continue dinner conversations or meet up with colleagues after your evening events in an exclusive EDS space. Mark your calendars!
> ERA’s SearchLink.ai has a fresh new look and powerful upgrades designed to streamline your workflow and bring more value to your daily sales operations. We’ve integrated several new tools to help you work smarter:
- ERA GPT: Think ChatGPT, but specifically tailored for ERA members.
- The Prompt Writer: A great prompt is the key to a great result.
- Contract Analyzer: Review documents faster than ever.
- Enhanced Search: Our Key Contacts search now features Export functionality, Relevance Score ratings and Find Email buttons directly on the results page.
- Company Search: Now includes full export capabilities.
— Watch the New Tutorial Video
— Access SearchLink.ai and try it for yourself!
> The new ERA Career Center Hub is an online resource for companies, early-career professionals and students exploring the world of manufacturers’ reps and the electronics components sales industry. You’ll find internship information; recruiting tips: where to find new hires; resources to understand the landscape (for early-career folks and students, what does a manufacturers’ rep do?) a job board…and more! We’ll be updating and adding new content regularly.
CHAPTER EVENTS & NEWS
Indiana-Kentucky ERA — Day at the Track — Thurs., May 14
New England ERA — Young Professionals Networking Event — Thurs., May 28
Northern California ERA — 3rd Annual Golf Event Benefiting Special Olympics — Wed., June 10
Minnesota ERA — Networking Event feat. Speakers Dave Doherty & Eddie Smith — Wed., June 17
Metro NY ERA — Steve Alford Memorial Golf Outing – Mon., June 22
Chicagoland-Wisconsin ERA — Summerfest Outing — Thurs., June 25
Pacific-Northwest ERA — Save the Date: Golf Tournament – Fri., Aug. 21
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The Electronics Representatives Association (ERA) announces that Tobi Cornell, CPMR, President of Kruvand Associates, has joined the ERA Executive Committee as the Senior Vice President of Membership.
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> Congratulations to all the award winners from the 2026 ERA Conference!
> ERA is proud to announce the 2025 Cameron English Chapters of the Year award recipients! The awards were based on four categories: Education, Networking, Membership and Special Projects.
> We’ll see many of you in Austin in a few days for the 2026 ERA Conference!
> The 
> The next ERA LIVE will take place Tues., Jan. 13 at 4:00 pm ET, featuring Dennis Reed, senior analyst at Edgewater Research. Reed will give a recap of 2025 and present his outlook for 2026, based on electronics components market data and ERA member survey results from 2025. No registration required. See you there! 
INDUSTRY SURVEY RESULTS
> ERA debuts its 2026 Media Kit, offering companies multiple digital and print advertising opportunities. Showcase your company’s message in front of 4,000+ industry professionals! Non-members are encouraged to advertise. ERA members receive advertising discounts! 
‘Tis the season for chapter events! Our active regional chapters around the U.S. host many wonderful networking/charity events over the holiday season. We encourage you to attend a local ERA chapter event soon! 
ERA Announces New CEO Edward Smith
> Scaling up at ERA
Ed Smith, CEO of ERA
I would like to thank you all in advance for attending the annual 2026 ERA Conference, and for Conference Chair Perry Thornton and Conference Vice Chair Julie Carr and all the committee members who have worked many hours to make this an industry-leading event.
We will have more than 650 attendees and a new home at the Hilton Austin in downtown Austin. This is a record crowd, and this shows that people find value in the three days in Austin. Our goal is to have speakers and breakout sessions that help and guide you in your day-today duties. I appreciate the support of all our sponsors which enables us to have a world-class event in a world-class venue. This was my first year putting this event together and I was impressed by the ERA staff of Kate, Karin, Clare, Ama, Natalie and Susan and the work they do to organize this great event.
The main stage will have fantastic speakers talking about reaching the unreachable and about human connection in a digital world. They will speak about the fast pace of a supply chain in the new world politics (just keeping up with the tariffs last year was dizzying). We will have someone speak about how to collaborate when we live in a world where AI is being used to a greater degree. I could not be more excited to see how the main stage inspires and motivates Conference attendees.
The breakout sessions will dig deeper into topics of importance to reps, manufacturers and distributors and will be geared towards tactical and practical actions and takeaways. AI will be featured in multiple sessions, which will highlight some available tools and how to use them in practical applications. We will have sessions on relationships and some deeper discussions on communication. We will have some conversations about CMMC and how to comply with the flow downs. We will have a market trend update that will feature new data on lead times and sales, and I will also give an ERA update.
There are many other things that ERA is working on that will be rolled out later this year. We are working to provide our members a new data resource that reports all parts shipped in Mexico, Canada and the U.S. sorted by HTS code. We are also working on some data about the value of rep firms with real-life examples and numbers to support our position.
We are busy at ERA, but never too busy to help support local chapter efforts and events. If you need our help, just reach out to me or one of the ERA staff. I have attended quite a few chapter events and have been impressed with the enthusiasm and work put into each of the events. Thank you and keep up the great work!
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