TOCA President Ed Hiscock

By Ed Hiscock, TOCA President

As most of you know, the 20th annual TOCA meeting will be held May 13-14 at the Wyndham Rio Mar Beach Resort & Spa, Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. This special anniversary meeting celebrates two decades of TOCA service to editors and marketing communications experts in the Green Industry.

And as you also know, times are tough. I talked in this space last time about how the companies and people in the industry we serve need TOCA members on both the PR and editorial sides to not only help them through hard times, but to actually help them grow their business by gaining market share.

The same rationale applies to us individually as TOCA members, and also to our respective employers, who, in most cases, foot the bill for our TOCA memberships and travel. In hard times it’s up to us as members to help our employers understand the profound benefits that accrue to our companies from TOCA membership and attendance at the annual meeting. I can’t remember a single TOCA meeting when I didn’t come back with ideas, tips or market intelligence that made me a more valuable employee or that saved my company time and money.

In budget-slashing periods like the one we’re now experiencing, we all know that travel can be discouraged, or simply prohibited. If your company is one that has axed all professional development travel for this downturn’s duration, we understand. However, if attendance hasn’t been ruled out by fiat at your company, I urge you to consider that just as you have a responsibility to help advertisers and clients climb higher in these times, you also have a responsibility to help yourself and your employer do the same. You do that by attending TOCA’s annual meeting.

Most TOCA members begin making their annual meeting plans about the time you receive this newsletter. This year, we’ll provide you with some informational bullet points that will help your employer understand that travel, food and accommodations in Puerto Rico are not out of line with many of the annual meeting’s host cities. For some of you, airfare and other costs may be less than those of past meetings. (See Den Gardner’s article in this issue.)

The Green Industry is really the Green Business. And the Green Business is like any other business – challenging times are also times of opportunity. Puerto Rico in May is a business opportunity for you and your employer. Take advantage of it.