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Ihave a confession to make. Las Vegas isn't for me. If I'm being honest, it kind of felt as if an entire city were one giant Applebee’s. Why would I bring that up in May? Well, this is the first issue of the magazine since I went to "Sin City" for my very first CONEXPO. What I did enjoy was meeting, face-to-face, so many of you out on the tradeshow floor. I want to shout-out Rick Rahn from Joliet Asphalt who came by the AC Business Media booth to shake my hand and talk with me!

One of the very first articles that I wrote here as editor was covering a union strike in the Chicago area, and Rick emailed me, critiquing my perspective on the story. He left his phone number at the bottom of the email, and I couldn't dial it fast enough. I was genuinely curious about how he could enlighten me more on the situation. To make a long story short, I learned quite a bit from our chat, and it was a little surreal to finally meet him in person at the show. That interaction and several others that I had during the week-long excursion to the desert, were the real highlights of my experiences. There's truly no substitute for that level of personal interaction. In addition to meeting lots of contractors, I was able to see some of the most cutting-edge tools and products that are either on the market already, or soon to be, and the next generation is shaping up to be something very different, but seemingly very special.

Of all the "buzz" words you might have heard while traversing the 2-million-plus square footage of show space, it was the words "sustainable," "electric," and "efficient" that were on the lips of every OEM. Now, some are cautious in their approach to all this new technology, and for good reason. The first generations of these kinds of advancements might still have a few kinks or bugs to work out, but, if this is the "start," then your confidence should be high in what is to come.

The latest machines you can buy, traditionally fueled, electric or otherwise, are doing more with less. That is something every business owner and contractor is struggling to accomplish these days. The manufacturers are trying to adapt to that reality, and, moving forward, it's safe to say that things will continue to improve.

IN THIS MONTH'S ISSUE

Speaking of the latest and greatest products, we have our annual Top 30 Editor’s Choice Awards! I say, “latest and greatest,” because while this list does feature a number of the newest products, we also take into consideration products that have stood the test of time, showing their longevity to be a vote of confidence among contractors.

In our cover story, we follow up on last issue’s EPD explainer, by interviewing five different companies that have filed their first EPDs already. After the previous story was published, what felt most important to me was finding some voices from the front lines of all these changes. It’s great talking to organizations and their experts, but asking a business, “how did this work for you?” and getting their feedback, to me, seems incredibly valuable.

In fact, I’d like to make my way out to a few plants this season and see first-hand the work you all do every day, and write about it for the magazine. If that sounds interesting to you, shoot me an email at bnoel@acbusinessmedia.com

EDITORIAL Editor Brandon Noel bnoel@acbusinessmedia.com

Contributing Editor Jessica Lombardo Jlombardo@acbusinessmedia.com

Digital Content Director, IRONPROS Wayne Grayson wgrayson@acbusinessmedia.com

Managing Editor Gigi Wood gwood@acbusinessmedia.com

Technology Editor Charles Rathmann crathmann@acbusinessmedia.com

Workwear and Product Editor Michael Cheng mcheng@acbusinessmedia.com

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