I remember when I was a teenager the adults around me would always marvel at how fast time flies. I always thought they were crazy and vowed never to utter that silly idiom. Fast forward 20+ years and I finally get it.
It seems like just last month I was in the beginning phases of planning projects for 2009. Now it’s the end of 2009 and many of the projects are complete and it's on to next year's wish list.
[pullquote] ChemicalProcessing.com benefited from a long list of improvements in 2009. At the very beginning of the year we launched the Chemical Processing 50 – CP 50 for short. This is a roster of 50 chemical processing companies that we think are worth watching and learning from. Throughout the year we have been updating the profile pages of these companies. In line with this, we launched Insights From The CP 50, an eNewsletter dedicated to covering the developments, trends and lessons learned from the CP 50.
Also at the beginning of the year we redesigned the Web site. The revamped site includes more related content, social media options and enhanced-text functionality, as well as a "Recommend this?" button so you can see what articles your peers think are worthy of reading and recommend ones yourself. And just recently we put a fresh coat of paint on the site. We went from purple and green to burgundy and beige.
Speaking of social media, we also put our flag in the ground at Twitter and Facebook.
On the lighter side, we added the Comical Processing cartoon caption feature.
This year also saw the launch of our first blog called Chemical Reaction, which offers you a chance to voice your opinion, to argue or agree with your peers, to question the who, what, when, where, why and how, to get answers or give advice or to simply vent about your day at the office.
And for those of you looking for a new job or seeking to hire more employees, we introduced our online job board Chem Connection.
With all of these things under our belts, what else could we possibly do? Plenty.
For 2010 we’re planning to host Web-based panel discussions that will cover myriad topics including condition monitoring, energy efficiency, and dealing with dust just to name a few. We also plan on unveiling a podcast series dedicated to leadership within the chemical processing industry. A sneak peek at those topics: anti-terrorism, cyber security, mixing success and more.
And of course we also plan on inserting more fun features into the site. We are currently toying with the idea of a trivia contest, which will test your knowledge in the field.
There’s certainly a lot of work to do in the coming year. This short to-do list will continue to grow until we are looking at yet another new year. And once again, I will be scratching my head and marveling at how fast time flies.
Traci Purdum is senior digital editor for Chemical Processing. You can e-mail her at [email protected].
