Welcome to the May/June 2021 issue of BIC Magazine, the Business & Industry Connection, America's largest multi-industry, multi-job-title publication.
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It feels like we have made it through the worst of the economic effects of the pandemic. And with face-to-face meetings, lunch and learns, and conferences all being stifled, BIC Magazine's subscription fulfillment department has risen to the occasion, handling a record number of address changes (e.g., "Can I get the magazine sent to my house?"), and our website is seeing new, increased traffic each month. Just recently, BICMagazine.com garnered over 62,000 unique readers in one month.
While the pandemic has driven some of our readership gains, I know that without the right content, BIC wouldn't be the engaging asset our readers have come to rely upon. I am particularly proud of the breadth of useful and industry-friendly editorials, which sets us apart from other publications. Typical of the comments I receive, a business manager told me this week that when he hears news about a new project or issue, it almost always comes from someone who said they read it in BIC. At another meeting this week, a gentleman I had never met before, who had his laptop open to take notes, showed me that BIC was at the top of his bookmarks; he stated that he referred to it daily for industry news. Similarly, the head of workforce development from BASF recently sent us an email that said, "the array of subject matter continually published by BIC Magazine helps him keep abreast of hot topics that are need-to-know" (see sidebar on page 150).
I must thank you for your participation in the content of our newsletter. Many groups and individuals participate in our publication to share news, opinions and best practices. For many years, BIC has carried editorial on behalf of various associations. The TCC/ ACIT EHS Seminar committee has provided safety and environmental-related editorial to BIC for over a decade, and TCC/ACIT President Hector Rivero has utilized BIC by publishing TCC/ACIT updates for 16 years.
Russell Hamley and David Helveston of ABC have continued ABC's Construction Industry Update in BIC, started by former Chairman Tom Musser over 20 years ago. Their use of BIC as a communications tool to reach ABC membership and other key industry decision makers has served as a fine example of how BIC is being utilized in a positive fashion by industry.
In this issue alone, we are publishing contributions and guest articles by the American Petroleum Institute, the Marcellus Shale Coalition, the Polypropylene Recycling Coalition, the PVF Roundtable, the Iron Workers, the Fuel Cell & Hydrogen Energy Association, and the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Association. We are also featuring leadership insights from Demetri Zervoudis, senior vice president and site manager of Covestro's Baytown site; Tim Harris, site manager of Eastman St. Gabriel; Mike Cox, president, CEO and executive president - North America of Bilfinger Inc.; Michael Arrigo, president of Bluewater Energy Inc.; and Branden Ewertz, Gulf Coast sales manager of RedGuard.
In this issue, we are also including contributions and news from Dow, Shintech, Occidental, Citgo, Phillips 66, Enbridge, LyondellBasell, ConocoPhillips and more.
It's important to know the participation in BIC isn't limited to the written word. Recent video subject matter interviews and webinars produced by BIC include contributions by AFPM, the Texas Oil & Gas Association, Covestro, Kinder Morgan, the International Liquid Terminals Association, ExxonMobil, BASF, Lubrizol, the Association of Oil Pipe Lines, ACIT, LCA, Flint Hills Resources and more.
Furthermore, many professionals within manufacturing and service companies make the extra effort to share their vast knowledge and experience with you by submitting guest articles on myriad topics, such as safety, environmental issues, maintenance, purchasing, turnarounds and technologies.
At BIC, we are fortunate that so many qualified individuals, companies and associations recognize our publication as the right tool for communicating with one another; it has been critical to our success. Thank you for your participation, for all of your incredible efforts to network and share information and insights with your peers, contributing to the greater good of our industry and, ultimately, our country.
BIC has been blessed with steady growth for 37 years, particularly during the past 10 years. We have never hesitated in reinvesting to make our communication products better and our service even stronger. We have increased the frequency of our e-newsletter from monthly to weekly, and have hired another web editor to help with the workload of updating our website and social media channels several times per day. Since the last issue of BIC was published, we have also invested in a re-design of the events portion of our website. With meeting restrictions being lifted, many conferences and meetings are being rescheduled for face-to-face events, particularly this fall. The new events page at BICMagazine.com has several customized views for a great user experience. Furthermore, the print publication has remained rock-solid, carrying information on best practices and topics that are less time sensitive.
Many of you also receive our e-newsletter and have told me that you read the magazine online for convenience but still like receiving the hard copy by mail. Thank you for your feedback and participation in our electronic formats. If you are not getting our e-newsletter with a summary of top stories and a link to the entire publication, but would like to, please visit BICMagazine.com and register. We are always glad to help.
In the same vein of helping you, if you or your organization would be interested in having news or an article published, or if you are interested in submitting a recurring subject matter column, please give me or BIC's Managing Editor Andrew White a call or send an email. We hope to hear from or see you at a conference soon.
Blessings.
