Time of the year for lots of travel.
The Pundit or part of our staff will be at the following venues in the next two weeks:
Along with sister publication, PRODUCE BUSINESS, we are exhibiting at the New England Produce Council Produce & Floral Expo.
The Pundit has a conflict this year but, once again, along with sister publication, PRODUCE BUSINESS, we will be exhibiting at United’s FreshTech. This is the linear descendent of the old International Fresh-cut Produce Association show. Last year, the Pundit gave a joint keynote presentation with Bruce Peterson and next year, this show is going to co-locate with the main United show.
Then the Pundit will be at the United Fresh/FMI show in Chicago, where we will be exhibiting along with PRODUCE BUSINESS, as we will also be at the CPMA show, where the Pundit will also be visiting.
Simultaneous to all this, along with our sister publication, AMERICAN FOOD AND AG EXPORTER, we will be exhibiting at Seoul Food and Hotel in Korea, SIAL China in Shanghai and HOFEX in Hong Kong.
On top of this, we have several board meetings to attend this month, both in Mexico and domestically.
Having so many events so quickly, even just in North America, is a significant strain on employees. Whether they need to get back for work or family, there is a price paid for long trips away from home. The Pundit manages to handle a lot of work from wherever he is and truly believes that it is good for the Jr. Pundits to see their father handling his responsibilities. Yet you only have one life to love your spouse, and children only grow up once, so every day away from the family is a high price to pay.
On the other hand, we expect very good attendance at both United Fresh and CPMA this year, in part because we’ve heard from a number of non-U.S. visitors coming specifically because they can hit both shows at one time since they follow each other so closely.
There is no real answer. Some events are moving to weekends so that people can keep their work weeks free to handle needed business — PMA, for example, is doing this with its trade show and convention, moving from Sunday, Monday, Tuesday schedule to a Saturday, Sunday, Monday event.
In contrast PMA is moving its Leadership Symposium so that instead of spanning a long weekend, it will take place over the work week, thus letting the mostly younger attendees at the Leadership Symposium spend their weekends with their families and friends.
It is a battle and it means that everything that asks for people’s time is increasingly pressed to provide real value. Maybe that is why your readership of the Pundit means so very much to us.
