The winter/spring work travel season is coming to a close. From News Editor Chris Sweeney attending the Medical Design & Manufacturing show in Anaheim, Calif., to when Washington-based reporter Miles Moore travels to the Tire & Rubber Summit outside Toronto on June 11-12, the Rubber & Plastics News editorial staff will have covered at least 10 separate events.
Those were as close as the ACS Rubber Division's Spring Technical Meeting in Independence, Ohio—just up the highway from our offices—to as far away as Hanover, Germany, for the Tire Technology Expo. And if conflicting schedules and budgetary concerns weren't a factor, we could have gone to several more.
I'm sure many of you share the sentiment that work travel can be a double-edged sword. From RPN's perspective, there is no better way to meet as many people face to face as we do when covering annual conventions, large-scale exhibitions and meetings of a wide variety of industry groups and associations. Talking to people about their business plans and hearing their thoughts about our publication helps our editorial staff keep tabs on the pulse of the wide varieties of areas the tire and rubber industry operates in.
On the negative side, travel takes a lot of time away from other job duties. And work travel is never as glamorous as many people may think.
When telling family and friends about my trip to Germany, they all said how exciting it sounded. The event itself was first rate and I made many new contacts for some interesting stories. But during the event itself, I was either at the hotel or the convention center—on the outskirts of Hanover—the entire time. I had one day to go into the city, and because of a large travel delay on the return, spent roughly 50 hours in total travel time.
The good definitely outweighs the bad. My last trip of the season had no such travel mishaps and has me ready for the fall season in just a few short months.