You will be assailed over the next couple months with endless trucking media articles on exciting developments at this year’s major truck conventions, including Work Truck, TMC, ACT Expo, etc.
Endless opinion pieces will appear in social media. The tireless trucking magazine editors attending these events will have so much to write about, that it may take months for all the articles to make it into publication.
Many conference attendees and non-attendees quite frankly have no appreciation of the endurance of the media people during the conference season. As industry readers we rely on these editors to publish all the nitty gritty details we demand, to fill the vast void of knowledge, or to reaffirm what we each have already discovered. Those magazine editors rarely seem to get celebrated for all they do for the industry, for the endless travel, for their effort to bring light to the information darkness.
The day before most of these conferences, there typically is a full day of back-to-back-to-back press conferences, tightly crammed into intervals of 30 minutes or less.
The trucking magazine editors are obligated to show up and attentively listen to each of these sessions, often needing to issue a blog about them, or make full-fledged articles on what they learned. They feel obligated to show up whether or not a company or a group has anything new or meaningful to present. Part of this is the necessity to maintain viable information networks with key sources.
Part of it is paying dues because sometimes these companies have special events where these editors are given access to new product releases. Part of it is because all their competitors are also showing up and the possibility they might miss a big story. Whatever the reason, the editors usually participate in all of the press events.
Sometimes the presenting companies rehash known information, as they too often feel obligated to hold a press conference even when they have nothing new to add. I expect the editors realize this quickly and multi-task during the session, half-listening while working on other things with deadlines.
Sometimes, the sessions are callously canceled at the last minute because the presenters realize they have nothing new, or all the corporate approvals to present were not obtained, or other uncontrollable factors intervene making the presentation non-value added. Still, the editors are already committed to being in the building. They take that respite from a required, canceled presentation as an opportunity to make progress on writing the many pieces they must produce.
If they are lucky, some OEM or supplier has catered in a lunch.
Once in a great while, a press conference is actually on something new, unique and interesting, requiring the full attention of the attendees. Pictures are taken for later publication. Notes are typed.
The conference organizers often provide a press room, a spare conference room filled with tables, chairs, electrical power strips and refreshments so the magazine editors can work when not in meetings.
I expect each writer feels they are competing against the others in the editorial herd. Each has some visceral need to have some unique angle to write about. This makes the question and answer portions of the press conferences sometimes quiet enough to hear crickets. Each editor is unwilling to ask key questions for fear of tipping their hands to their competing authors.
Sometimes stock softball questions get asked hoping speakers will reveal something unusual, something only each editor alone can glean. Rarely is the topic so interesting and rich, that the editors get caught up and ask critical questions, competitors be damned. Those sessions inevitably run up against the meeting time limit, and the session ends abruptly as editors race to the next meeting room and topic.
I figure the press conference day before an event sees these editors clocking in 14 hours work days or more. I expect there are no hours of service limits for editors.
But then comes the actual conference, where in addition to attending meetings and relentless floor events such as new product reveals, they have to conduct interviews with key people. Sometimes these interviews are also on camera.
The latest technologies probably are helping the editors. I’m sure AI tools that can translate voice to text and summarize interviews help reduce the editors work load, but collecting the raw information still takes time and stamina.
I expect that each editor has a string of responsibilities. They may be writing for multiple organizations in different venues. They may have daily, weekly and monthly outlets to support. They definitely also have to attend to social media. On top of all that, they have endless follow-ups with key industry people to confirm information or get unique quotes that their competitors will not have.
Writing about technology is an endless search for more information. Each source tends to kick over rocks exposing potentially new topics or angles. One call rarely closes the loop, rather it opens up five more.
It’s demanding work, I’m sure. Not celebrated or recognized often enough. But what the truck editors do is instrumental to helping us all understand the industry and where it is going.
The next time you are at conference, take a moment to thank these editors for doing what they do.
