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!"
