Could Zoom be used as a platform to facilitate interaction and discussion between students and industry leaders to generate understanding of issue commonalities and differences throughout the beef industry? Initial inquiries, sent to industry executives, asking if they would participate were received with a resounding “yes”! In 2023 and 2024, seventeen different breed or state association executives agreed to virtually interact with students. In advance, students generated questions to promote discussion. Upon conclusion, students and industry participants completed quantitative surveys, using a 5-pt likert scale (5 = strongly agree; 1 = strongly disagree), to determine level of agreement with various statements related to the educational activity. All industry participants agreed that participation was a valuable usage of time (4.89/5.00). Zoom allowed multiple industry leaders to simultaneously engage students with minimal expense and time commitment. Industry participants agreed this format provided students an opportunity to simultaneously hear from multiple leaders with similar responsibilities in different states or organizations (4.78/5.00). However, too many panelists stifled depth of conversation. One industry participant commented that students can garner “different perspectives from like organizations”, but the “time allotted (1 hour) makes it difficult to get into much depth”. Students indicated that zoom connections were educationally valuable (97%; 4.44/5.00) and helped characterize qualities of effective leaders in the beef industry (92%; 4.12/5.00). What did we learn? First, industry leaders were overwhelmingly willing to participate; we simply need to ask. Second, both students and industry participants suggested limiting the panel to 2-3 industry leaders, enough to showcase differences that exist but provide for greater in-depth discussion. Thirdly, industry leaders like to talk. Because of time constraints, one industry participant suggested panelists be directed to provide brief and precise answers, which may be accomplished if questions are provided to speakers in advance of the zoom connection.