This thought crossed my mind as I watched another 8 inches of that fluffy, lovable precipitation fall on my slightly recognizable, half-buried car. It's a small car, but nonetheless, enough snow already!
It has wreaked havoc on our work schedules, our commutes, our product shipments, and our lives as we know it! Snow skiing aside, I am over it! I am ready to feel those warm rays of sunny Orlando, Fla., hitting my scaly, moisture-deprived hands and my sun-deprived, Vitamin D-seeking skin (yeah, turns out the body likes Vitamin D and the sun is a rich source of it).
You can almost feel those warm rays, eh?
It has been a long winter, and the same could be said of the time elapsed since the last NPE in 2012. It has been a long time since one could walk onto an exhibitor floor and see every plastics manufacturing machine worth seeing.
It has been a long time since one could sit down with every major player in the materials and resins space and hear the latest developments in material science and feedstock. It has been a long time since we came together, discussed issues, trends, ideas, and new business opportunities in plastics.
It has been a long time since we have seen our friends in the industry and met that new contact, or company, that you had no idea you would discover. NPE 2012 was a good show, and we believe catalyzed our industry which has evolved and experienced growth since 2012.
However, NPE 2012 is a distant memory and NPE 2015 provides a completely different economic backdrop and business dynamic to the year's most important plastics event. The world will be present at NPE 2015.
As for me, I have spent my career organizing large trade shows, and I haven't sensed this much energy leading up to an event since the dot-com era 14 years ago. I can't wait to see what happens March 23-27 (that's next week!) in Orlando when the industry's best and brightest congregate to collaborate, innovate, and educate. I urge you to book your flight, book your hotel, and get registered now (avoid the full registration lines on site). I guarantee your trip will be worth the investment and time away from the office. And if it's like my office, I guarantee you it will be much warmer. After a long 3-year winter of NPE, I think you deserve it.
Brad Williams is director of trade show marketing & sales at the Washington-based Society of the Plastics Industry Inc.
