Chairman's Corner
Tech Award
Communication Awards
Fiscal Year & Dues Change
Media Tech - Electronic Distribution
Kolman's Korner
The Lighter Side
Chairman's Corner
By TWNA Board Chairman, Denise Rondini
First, I'd like to start by welcoming David Kolman, Associate
Director of the Tire Retread Information Bureau and (former)
TWNA president for life, to the TWNA board of directors, replacing
Harvey Brodsky who has retired. I am sure we all look forward
to being able to tap into David's enthusiasm. On a more personal
note, I look forward to having someone louder than me on the
board!
On another note,
I'd like to encourage each of you to get involved in TWNA on
a more direct basis. It is great to see all of you at TWNA meetings
and to hear your suggestions on what the organization should
be doing and ways to improve it. But we need to hear your input
on a more frequent and on-going basis. The purpose of the board
is to guide the organization, but we can't do that without input
from you.
I really am a good
listener despite the fact that people think I talk all the time.
I'd love to hear from you via the phone 847-498-3180, or denise@konacommunications.com
via e-mail.
We have been talking
about establishing scholarships for a long time, usually during
the business meetings. I am asking anyone who has thoughts on
TWNA scholarships to contact me with his/her idea. Then we can
get a committee together to review the proposals and make a
presentation at the TWNA meeting and follow that up with a vote
so we can get the ball rolling.
In addition, we are
working on rewriting TWNA's by-laws and are open to input on
changes you would like to see in the by-laws.
I know we all are
busy, but I urge you to take a few minutes to put in your two
cents!
They Did What?
Tech Award Nominations Due Soon - New Top 5 Format
By Eric Berard, TWNA Tech Award Co-Chairman
Let's all admit it. When it comes to truck technology in action,
we are just like kids watching a magic show. We enjoy the mystery
part of it… yet we can't help ask questions to get to understand
what the "trick" is. When Editors and other actors
of the trucking industry can't help asking the question "They
did what?" about their product, engineers know they did
something right.
So, what was the
last time you asked yourself that question? What product, component
or piece of software got enough of your attention so you would
consider it as the most interesting technology breakthrough
of the year?
Please let us know
by submitting nominations for the 2004 TWNA Technical Achievement
Award today. Volunteers are also needed for the jury. Each year,
this prestigious award recognizes the new product that best
exemplifies engineering excellence and broad practicality for
use in the trucking industry. While complete vehicles are not
eligible, specific vehicle components and systems are.
Since the program's
founding in 1991, the TWNA Technical Achievement Award trophy
has been sponsored by Grote Industries, whose LED marker lamp
was the first product to win the award. Recent winners of the
award include the XM Satellite Radio in 2001, Bendix XVision
in 2002 and Meritor-WABCO's anti-rollover system in 2003.
To be eligible for
this year's award, a product must have been widely deployed
for the first time during 2004. Nominations can be submitted
to either Tech Award co-chairmen Tom Berg (tberg@truckinginfo.com)
or Eric Berard (eberard@bomartgroup.com)
via e-mail, by no later than 12/15/04.
New Top 5 Format
New for 2004, instead of declaring a sole winner, the TWNA Tech
Award jury will unveil a Top 5 finalists list after examining
the submitted entries. The final award winner will be unveiled
at the TMC meeting by Paul Abelson. The reason we are changing
the format is that, many times in the past, the jury was thorn
apart in the final decision-making process because choosing
the winner also meant putting aside other great realizations
that were certainly worth a mention. We feel this new format
will provide the people behind very good projects a well-deserved
recognition, even though they are not the year's winners.
Cast
your votes now!
Communication Awards - Call For Entries
Reminder
As a reminder, the entry deadline for the 2004 TWNA Communication
Awards program is December 1, 2004. The entries must be produced
for first use/distribution between 12/1/03 and 10/31/04. Winning
entries will be announced at the TWNA Industry Awards Banquet
at the 2005 Mid-America Trucking Show.
The TWNA Communication
Awards are open to entries from both the press and marketing/PR
sides of the trucking industry. There are categories for writing,
graphics, broadcast, websites, and internal communications,
just to name a few. Virtually everything from feature articles,
to press kits, to marketing brochures, to magazine redesigns,
are all included in the scope of the program. Nearly everything
except advertising is eligible for entry.
Publishers are encouraged
to submit entries on behalf of their staff and freelance writers,
photographers, and graphic artists. Freelancers can submit their
own work if not submitted by the publisher.
Although changes
from the 2003 program are minimal, please review the 2004 rules
and entry for thoroughly to avoid any potential confusion. The
rules and entry form are available as a downloadable PDF file
found at http://www.twna.org/04comm-awards.pdf
on the web.
Fiscal Year & Dues Change
In order to coordinate our membership dues year with our IRS
fiscal year, and to provide for a more timely receipt of renewals/directory
updates, we'll be moving our renewal period away from the busy
year-end holiday season.
The annual renewal
period will now begin at the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS),
since that is when many folks wanted to pay their dues anyway,
and the renewals must be paid by May 20th of each year for a
member's data to be included in the annual directory.
For those members
who want to get their renewal payment recorded as a 2004 expense,
we will accept early renewals beginning now. Please print and
use a copy of the member form located at http://www.twna.org/twna-join.pdf
to process your renewal. As a reminder, the credit card payment
option is no longer available.
Press dues of US$35.00
cover one individual, and are non-transferable. Associate Individual
dues of US$50.00 are for non-business use (Non-Profit, Gov't,
Retired). Associate Business dues of US$100.00 cover a single
member, and are transferable. Corporate dues (Press or Associate)
of US$500.00 cover an entire staff. Checks must be in U.S. funds
drawn on a U.S. bank.
Media Tech - Electronic Distribution
By TWNA Executive Director Tom Kelley
As you have undoubtedly already noticed, the e-mail version
of this issue of the Dispatch is arriving in a plain text format.
When virus and security concerns that arose earlier this year,
many network administrators at both the ISP and corporate level
decided to "throw the baby out with the bath water"
by blocking HTML e-mails, and/or e-mails sent to a large group
of recipients. This resulted in an excessive percentage of e-mail
bounces from the last few issues of the Dispatch.
Although we had considered
going back to a paper and snail-mail system for the Dispatch,
we believe we may have found a means to not only handle the
e-mailing problem, but also improve the Dispatch and add some
long asked-for features to the TWNA.ORG website.
While we're still
a few months away from debuting the change, the basic concept
will employ "weblog" or "blogging" software
to allow several of our directors and committee chairs to post
items directly to the Dispatch on an irregular schedule. The
web version of the Dispatch will always show the latest item
in each topic section, with previous items archived. Readers
will be able to "subscribe" to receive e-mail updates
by topic/section.
More importantly,
the change will enable users of "newsreader" software
to add the various TWNA feeds to the sources that the software
allows them to follow on a schedule determined by the individual
user. Rather than the user going the TWNA.ORG website with a
web browser to check for new content, the newsreader software
checks the TWNA feeds and only displays newly posted TWNA articles.
In addition to its
use on the Dispatch, we believe that the blogging software and
RSS syndication feeds may have serious potential for user-friendly
distribution of press releases.
We ask that any member
who has any experience with blogging and/or RSS syndication
please contact admin@twna.org
to share any experiences, thoughts, comments or suggestions
you may have regarding the concept of using the blogging/RSS
software to publish the Dispatch, or the pros/cons of particular
software or formats used.
Kolman's
Korner
By Former TWNA President David A. Kolman
How well do you know trucking history and trivia? Test your
knowledge by answering the following questions.
The correct answers
will appear in the next issue of the TWNA Dispatch.
1. Caterpillar
introduced its 3406 diesel engine in what year?
2. What is most
important to truckers in their choice of a truckstop?
3. What California
city claims the title of The Center of the World?
4. Should tires
be stored vertically or horizontally?
5. In what year
did cities begin switching from horse-drawn to motorized refuse
collection?
The
Lighter Side . . . Of Hunting
A father and son
went hunting together for the first time.
The father said,
"Stay here and be very QUIET. I'll be across the field."
A few minutes later,
the father heard a bloodcurdling scream and ran back to his
son.
"What's wrong?"
the father asked. "I told you to be quiet."
The son answered:
"Look, I was quiet when the snake slithered across my
feet. I was quiet when the bear breathed down my neck. I didn't
move a muscle when the skunk climbed over my shoulder. I closed
my eyes and held my breath when the wasp stung me. I didn't
cough when I swallowed the gnat. I didn't cuss or scratch
when the poison oak started itching. But when the two chipmunks
crawled up my pant legs and said, 'Should we eat them here,
or take them with us?' Well, I just panicked!"
