Editorial: Welcome to MCE
This Editorial appears in the Oct. 3 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
For those readers perusing this in Las Vegas at American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition, we urge you to make the most of the opportunity before you this week.
It can be easy to ridicule conventions, especially when they’re in Vegas, but there’s really an abundance of worthwhile activities on display and, no, that’s not a euphemism for the Nevada city’s touristy pursuits.
If you’re a fleet executive who thinks government is bearing down on your company unreasonably, get the details from a policy committee.
With the help of ATA staff, the leadership of which is new, federation members can examine policies concerning hazardous materials, highways, hours of service, litigation, security, taxation and intermodal operations.
One of the policymakers who affects trucking most directly will speak to attendees, Administrator Scott Darling of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
If you’re not yet saturated with politics after following presidential, gubernatorial and congressional campaigns, there’s more available here.
Pollsters Neil Newhouse, a Republican, and Peter Hart, a Democrat, will dissect the general election that’s now only five weeks away.
Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) will speak at an advocacy and government affairs event.
If all of the talk persuades you to become a man or woman in the arena, the industry’s Truck PAC is meeting at MCE.
Looking for tips on how to run a carrier profitably? There are educational sessions and presentations from two ATA councils: Information Technology & Logistics and the National Accounting & Finance.
Call us self-centered, but we also recommend Autonomous and Platooning Trucks: How Soon? How Disruptive?
This Transport Topics panel brings together executives from Peloton Technology and Otto, and Daimler Trucks North America, as well as analyst Michael Roeth and an official with Nevada’s Department of Motor Vehicles to talk about what’s possible with the most advanced driver-assistance systems and when interested fleets might be able to buy them.
If you’re not in Las Vegas, follow the events on TTNews.com or in our next print issue.
There’s also shopping because the E in MCE stands for Exhibition. Nearly 200 industry vendors will be gathered in one place to show off products, services and technologies directly related to trucking.
After all of this if you need a break, treat yourself to former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty and/or some of the touristy pursuits to which we referred.
Always split aces and eights, but never draw to fill an inside straight.
