Sunday September 27, 9:40 AM

Well, I’m back from four days in deepest Colorado, and it’s time to take stock.

One of the more frustrating things I’m asked when traveling is “so what are you getting out of this meeting?”  Just occasionally, it’s tempting to answer “sleep deprivation, a bad back and a divorce.”  But that would be gratuitously boorish – even if the question’s not that appropriate, it’s always asked with sincerity.

Over the past two years, I’ve traveled to over 80 work-related meetings, and in nearly every case it’s been at the organizers’ request.  Usually I’m invited to speak because someone thinks I have have something worthwhile to say.  Whether or not this is the case (and I’m sure some would question it), it’s usually the meeting organizers and attendees that benefit from me being there.  The best I can hope for is a paid-for flight, the occasional honorarium, and enough stamina to get me back home reasonably intact.

So why do I do it?  I certainly don’t have to.  I could probably accept less than six invitations a year, and still do my current job well.  It’s not the money – I usually speak for free.  I don’t think it’s an ego thing, although it’s always nice to be asked to speak.  And it’s certainly not the lure of visiting exotic places and meeting interesting people (I’m afraid the novelty soon wears off).

This latest trip to Colorado seemed a perfect opportunity to burst the travel-glamor bubble, or at least dent it – a long haul to some remote place at a time when I could ill afford to be away.  As it turned out though, this was not a typical trip. And where I had hoped to play the sympathy card, I suspect readers were simply left thinking “lucky sod!”

In a strange way though, this exceptional trip has helped me understand better why, despite the hardships, I still accept invitations to participate in meetings that on the face of it don’t offer me much in return…

It’s worth dwelling for a second on those hardships, although as whinging is not an attractive trait, I’ll try and be brief. When I’m traveling I can’t sleep properly; I eat unhealthily; I spend long hours in cramped airplane seats; I work double time – catching up with the work I should be doing at the end of each day, often not getting to bed ’till after midnight; I miss my family; my kids  have to manage without me; and my wife has to fill in for me at home.  And when I get back, I’m usually so exhausted that it takes several days to reach equilibrium again (up to three weeks for international travel).  And this doesn’t even touch on how long it takes to prepare for some meetings (a completely new presentation will take me 20 – 30 hours to prepare)

So what’s on the positive side of the scales?  My presence at meetings helps maintain the authority and presence of the outfit I work for, although I sometimes think this is a marginal benefit.  There’s occasionally the chance to develop new contacts, partnerships and collaborations.  Sometimes I get to catch up with old friends and colleagues.  And now and then I get to go to exotic placed that I wouldn’t usually visit.

But the most significant benefit is that, if I do my job right, people leave these meetings with a better sense of how to understand and address a specific challenge.  Sometimes, amidst the hardships, I loose sight of this.  But it’s important, and probably the biggest reason why I accept many of the invitations to speak at meetings that come across my desk.

Most of my time I’m asked to speak about nanotechnology – what it is, its potential, and how hurdles to reaching that potential can be overcome.  It’s a subject I know a lot about, having worked on scientific, policy and social aspects of the technology for many years.  It’s also something I feel strongly about, along with other emerging technologies – here we have the potential to create a better world for future generations, but only if we work out how to develop and handle these technologies wisely.  Accepting invitations to speak to groups as diverse as educators to politicians and business leaders to environmental activists, gives me the chance to help people approach emerging technologies like nanotech from a position of understanding rather than uncertainty.

At the end of the day, this is worth more than the stress of travel and the occasional twinge of feeling under-valued and over-exploited!

To my surprise, the meeting at Kessler Canyon brought this home to me.  This was a group with a clear purpose that I could contribute to.  The value to them was being able to tap into my knowledge and experience. The value to me was seeing progress being made towards the safer handling of nanomaterials in the workplace.  And even though the toll on my family and me was substantial, I think it was worth it.

There was also the added value.  I got to visit a beautiful place.  I had the chance to do things I haven’t done before.  I was reminded that it’s good to be untethered from the internet sometimes.  And I spent time getting to know a great group of people better and forging bonds that will last well into the future.

This was exceptional as far as trips go.  But it brought back to me why I accept so many invitations to speak with so little apparent return.  And it reminded me that, just occasionally, there’s unexpected value in these meetings that I should  recognize and appreciate.

It also reminded me that I have a family that also needs me.  Despite the success of this meeting, I really need to learn how to say “no” just a little more frequently than I currently do.  After all, important as emerging technologies are, there are other things that are more important.

Something to chew over next time I hit the road… which I think is in about 8 days’ time!

Postscript

While I’m obviously writing from my own perspective here, I’m not alone on the pro bono invited talk circuit.  On the nanotech circuit alone, there are many others who freely give up their time to talk to others about the opportunities and challenges of nanotechnology.  And like me, they are faced with juggling family, work, and meeting organizers with little idea of what it takes to accept these invitations.  Please don’t take them for granted as they wend their weary way around the world.  And never assume that because they do this for free, that’s all they’re worth!

Follow the whole “On The Road” saga at http://2020science.org/category/on-the-road-again/

]]> http://2020science.org/2009/09/27/on-the-road-again-epilogue/feed/ 2 http://2020science.org/2009/09/26/hello-denver-again/ http://2020science.org/2009/09/26/hello-denver-again/#comments Sat, 26 Sep 2009 23:44:03 +0000 Andrew Maynard http://2020science.org/?p=2265

Saturday September 26, 5:40 PM (Mountain Time)

Back at Denver Airport.

Knackered (a good British phrase – look it up!)

Just landed from Grand Junction, and boarding in 20 minutes.  Time for something to eat? Only if I wrap this blog up fast.

Get back home around 1:00 AM Sunday morning.

No matter how enjoyable and useful, travel takes it’s toll.  At least I have the weekend to recover.

Oops – this is the weekend.

Darn!

Follow the whole “On The Road” saga at http://2020science.org/category/on-the-road-again/

September 26, 12:45 PM (Mountain Time)

Well, I’m sitting here at lunchtime on my last day at Kessler Canyon, and I must confess I’m somewhat conflicted.  On one hand, this was a trip I was not looking forward to.  I’m tired.  I’m traveled-out.  I miss my family.  They miss me.  And to cap it all, today is my 22^nd wedding anniversary!

On the other hand, this is was an unusually successful meeting in an unbelievable place, and I have to grudgingly admit that I’m glad I came.

It’s still been tough on my family and me.  When I phoned Clare this morning to wish her a happy wedding anniversary, she was in the thick of doing my part of the Saturday cleaning routine around the house.  This probably tells you something about why we’re still together after 22 years and happier than ever.  But no wife should have to celebrate her wedding anniversary with a duster!

However, these difficulties aside, I did want to say something about this place I’ve been sequestered in for the past few days.  Because it truly has been an unforgettable experience.

I’ve stayed in a few five star hotels in my time.  But Kessler Canyon makes them look like flea-pits by comparison.  The place isn’t what I would call opulent.  But the attention to detail is truly impressive.

Just take my bedroom.

To start with, there’s original artwork on the walls – and it’s good!  Apparently, Mr. Kessler – the owner – has invested over $1 million in art around the place.

Then there’s the furniture.  It’s of a rustic style that could be tacky in the wrong hands. But it’s been executed with such artistry that it reaches the heights of the finest craftwork.  Everything has the touch of expert artisans, from the beds to the lamp stands to the mirror frames.

Strange as it might seem, the second most impressive objects in the room are the doors.  At home, we have a custom made Shaker dresser, expertly crafted out of cherry wood.  It’s beautiful.  But I think the doors in my room here at the Kessler Canyon lodge are even more impressive. I have never come across artisan solid wood doors before – and every door in the place is of the same quality.  This is doors as art – strange, but impressive.

But the most impressive object in the room must be the pneumatically damped toilet lid.

I ask you, what sort of place plays such attention to detail that even the toilet seat is engineered not to make a nose when closed?  You put the lid down, and it gently sighs into place.

Classy!

And this is just the bedroom.  The lodge, the food, the staff, and everything in the 23,000 acres surrounding the lodge, all reflect the same attention to detail.  Rumor has it that this is where Mr. Kessler hangs out when he wants to relax – I can believe it.

I have to admit here that the hunting and killing theme of the place does disturb me a bit.  But the experience has been worth-while.  And without a doubt, the surroundings have led to the productivity and success of the workshop.

To wrap this blog up, I can’t resist posting this picture from the six-mile run up the canyon to the lodge.  The line of six larger than life mustang sculptures fashioned out of copper provide just a hint of the spirit of this place.

Mustang statues in Kessler Canyon

And finally, I must mention the man-spa.  Did I check it out?  You betcha

Follow the whole “On The Road” saga at http://2020science.org/category/on-the-road-again/

September 25, 11:00 PM (Mountain Time)

Update, Sept 26, 12:25 PM.  One of the advantages of not being able to publish blog posts as I write them is the option of reviewing them before they finally hit the net.  I finally have internet access for the first time since Wednesday evening.  But in re-reading this post before publishing it, I realize that it is a little dry.  So here are the highlights for anyone who can’t be faffed with reading the whole thing:

1.  I’m at a workshop at Kessler Canyon with a handful of other experts, working out how to get a better handle on measuring workplace exposures to engineered nanomaterials.

2.  We’ve made pretty good progress over the past two days, helped along by gourmet food, stunning surroundings, and the occasional Country and Western song.

3.  Despite my reservations and earlier gripes, this has been a good meeting.  And

4. I’m only here because I made the mistake of becoming something of an expert in nanomaterial exposure assessment.

If you want more of the gory details, read on…

This time last night I was writing about the difficulties of being away from my family on this trip.  One of the questions I raised was whether I should have even come on this little jaunt to Kessler Canyon.  To provide some context to my answer, I thought I should say a little more about the meeting itself.

This particular workshop has its roots in conversations that have been going on for some time now.  Over the past few years, concerns have been growing about how best to handle safely the products of nanotechnology in the workplace.  In particular, people have wanted to know how best to measure exposure to airborne engineered nanomaterials.  Questions have been swirling around whether current measurement techniques will work, if new instruments are needed, what should be measured, and how low an exposure is low enough.  But answers have been few and far between.

Despite a rather obvious lack of progress here, there’s been a feeling in some quarters that there are a few low hanging fruit here which could be dealt with, if only we got the right people together in the same room and didn’t let them go until some answers had emerged – or at the very least a clear path forward.

One of these low hanging fruit is practical advice on exposure measurement.

Even though there’s not a lot known about the potential toxicity of some nanomaterials, people are already handling them in workplaces and possibly breathing them in – and occupational hygiene professionals are desperate for instruments and guidance that will help ensure these people aren’t put at undue risk.  So some months ago, a small group of people got together to see what could be done about the situation.

The result was this week’s workshop.  With the generous support of TSI Incorporated – a leading aerosol instrument manufacturer – and their parent company, Churchill Industries, a handful of leading experts on aerosols, nanomaterials and industrial hygiene were sequestered away in the beautiful yet remote Kessler Canyon lodge to hash out a plan for how to overcome the current impasse on workplace airborne nanoscale material sampling.

Despite how difficult attending this meeting has been for me, I must admit it has been hugely successful.  We are leaving Colorado with a solid plan to develop and release a series of four publications over the next twelve months that will help ensure current measurement methods and approaches are used effectively, and will point the way towards future developments in nanomaterial exposure measurement.

In other words, this was a meeting that addressed a very real and very significant challenge that affected people’s health and their livelihood, and came up with a concrete plan for addressing that challenge.  In short, there is a strong likelihood that it will make an important difference to some people’s lives.

This is probably why I didn’t bail out of it earlier on and why, despite the considerable downsides of traveling on this occasion (and there are more to come), I came anyway.

And why was I invited in the first place?  I guess I made the silly mistake of becoming something of an expert in airborne nanomaterial exposure.  That and making some rather public comments about what needs to be done to develop safer workplaces over the years.

If only I’d kept my mouth shut!

p.s. I should note here that working at 11:00 PM at night is not unusual while I’m in the road.  Usually there’s the day’s email to be sifted through, which often takes me well past midnight.  I guess on this occasion I should be thankful for a complete lack of email at the lodge – isolation does have its advantages!

Follow the whole “On The Road” saga at http://2020science.org/category/on-the-road-again/

September 24, 11:15 PM (Mountain Time)

It’s the end of my first full day at the Kessler Canyon workshop and I have to admit, it’s been a good day.  However, the internet outage has completely thrown the carefully crafted blog schedule I had worked out for the next day or so, leading to a bit of an on the fly rethink.  Assuming that I won’t be able to post anything until Saturday afternoon at the earliest, I’m going to prepare a couple of posts over the next two days, and send them off as soon as I hit somewhere that’s actually connected to the rest of the world.  Wonderful as my wife Clare is for transcribing my last post over the phone and posting it on my behalf, I can’t really ask her to keep doing it.

Especially when I’m writing at 1:15 in the morning DC time!

What I was going to write about today was what this workshop in the middle of no-where is all about, and why I thought it worth dragging myself half way across the country for.  But I’ll leave that until tomorrow now.

Instead, let me tell you about one of the harder aspects of the trip.

Just under three weeks ago, my daughter started as a freshman at high school.  I missed the big event because, surprise surprise, I was off traveling somewhere.  In fact, since she started, I have only been at home for three school days days.  My son has also just started middle school, and with the changes, the family has had to work out and adapt to a tough new morning schedule.

In theory, I have a vital role in this new schedule to help things run smoothly.

In practice, Clare and the kids have been covering for me for the past three weeks – not something that makes me feel particularly good.

But to cap it all, today was the first chance for Clare and I to meet my daughter’s new teachers.  I really, really wanted to be there.  Instead, I found myself committed to being a long way off and, once again, leaving the important stuff to my wife.

This is a part of traveling that really sucks.

And comfortable as things are here – and I would say that the surroundings and amenities at this workshop are exceptional – it doesn’t make up for what I’m missing, and what the rest of the family are having to do without me.

Should I have bailed on the travel?

Probably not.

I have a job to do here, and I’m well qualified to do it.

But it does take the edge off a trip that on the surface might look like a lot of fun.

Long flights and yodeling cowboys at 3:00 AM are manageable.  Being away from family – not so much.

Follow the whole “On The Road” saga at http://2020science.org/category/on-the-road-again/

Thursday September 24, 3:15am (mountain time)

Well, I think I’ve hit my first real glitch in this trip. It’s 3:15 in the morning, and I can’t sleep. I’m being kept awake by music playing outside my room. It’s been going on forever, and I can’t find anyone to turn it off!

I’ve just got back from prowling round the lodge trying to find someone or some way to turn it off. The place is deserted … apart from the Country and Western song wafting through the corridors.

They are even piping the stuff on to the veranda outside the lodge.

Outside! At 3:00 in the morning!

Kessler Canyon, it turns out, is a home from home. It’s unbelievably comfortable and welcoming. The staff is like part of the family, but just like family, they seem to bugger off to bed with everyone else at night, leaving you to your own devices. It’s probably because I arrived last night, but I can’t find anything that tells me what to do in case of an emergency. And believe me, this is an emergency!

Given the quality of the place (and it really is something else), I suspect the folks here will be mortified when they discover my dilemma tomorrow. I’m sure cowboy yodeling (which is what we seem to have at the moment) is not part of the standard guest package.

But with a mere 3 hours before I need to be up, bright and bushy-tailed to take a lead in the day’s discussions, I could do with a little less yodeling, and a little more of that good mountain silence!

And the worst of it – you won’t even be reading this until well after the crisis is over: the lodge’s wireless internet system isn’t working. And I can’t find anyone to fix it …

Update, 4:35am. Still being serenaded. This is a hunting lodge, right? They must have guns somewhere. All I need to do is find one, and then shoot the speakers out … one by one. And they say sleep deprivation clouds the judgement!

Update, 5:25am. Bliss! Got up 20 minutes or so ago with the early morning hunting parties, and found a wonderfully helpful member of staff who managed to find the off switch. It still took him 20 minutes or so to work out how to kill the music. But it’s gone now.

Just enough time to get 30 minutes kip before the alarm goes off …

Update, 5:20pm. Still no internet access. I’m having to relay this blog over the phone to my wife to post on my behalf. At least her spelling is better than mine!

More updates from Kessler Canyon if and when I eventually get connected to the rest of the world.

Follow the whole “On The Road” saga at http://2020science.org/category/on-the-road-again/

Wednesday September 23, 7:50 PM (Mountain time)

Having just landed at Denver and made the commute along concourse B to my next flight (just how long is that concourse?  Forget being mile high – mile long is more like it), I have just enough time for a shot of caffeine, a quick blog and a restroom stop before the next leg of my journey (not necessarily in that order).

So far this has been been a fairly typical trip – no time to eat a decent meal, sardine tin-like seating on the plane, and a pile of work to get through on the way.

Actually, despite the griping, I must confess that I secretly enjoy traveling.  Okay so it usually leaves me drained and dysfunctional.  But on the other hand, it does give me the chance to chill out for a few hours with a good book and some decent music.  For today’s little jaunt, and I’m a little ashamed to admit this, I’m reading Dan Brown’s new book The Lost Symbol – absolute tosh, but enjoyable absolute tosh!  Okay, so maybe I used the word “good” rather liberally, but several hours on a plane/waiting for a plane is an opportunity to catch up with a long reading list of books I’d like to read.

Unfortunately though – and this is a little sad – Dan Brown is the reward part of this trip: it’s what I get to indulge in when the work’s done.  Yes, just because I’m not in the office doesn’t mean that the day job goes away!  On this last leg, I was reviewing a draft book chapter on nanotechnology cosmetics regulation.  After a couple of hours of that, Dan Brown’s books are positively attractive!

The easy read is part of a travel survival kit I’ve amassed over the years – my life support systems in a backpack.  This includes the laptop of course.  Then there’s a Sony eBook – containing the books I feel I should read, alongside the ones that I want to.  And for those times when electronics when I can’t use electronic devices on the plane, a paperback backup (which, frustratingly, I forgot on this trip).

The kit also includes a decent personal sound system.  Forget those nasty MP3-players with tinny earphones – this is an area where compromise is a no-no.  So I carry a compact pair of Etymotic Research ER4 headphones (small, light, cut out background noise, and provide studio quality sound), together with a separate audiophile headphone amplifier from the company Headroom.  These are all fed by  lossless music files on my iPhone.

A geek, moi?  Noooo.  (And I haven’t even got to the camera I carry with me – the final part of the survival kit!).

Obsessive as it seems, these are the small comforts that make travel bearable at times.

But less of these ramblings.  I have a plane to catch to Grand Junction – my next stop of the day.

Follow the whole “On The Road” saga at http://2020science.org/category/on-the-road-again/

Wednesday September 23, 11:15 AM

Having a few minutes free before this lunchtime’s event at the Wilson Center, I thought it was about time I revealed where I’m heading this afternoon.  To be honest, I was a little unsure about doing this in case someone got the idea that this was going to be a fun trip.  But I gather that authenticity and honesty are big these days, so here goes…

For the next couple of days, I’ll be holed up at Kessler Canyon in the Colorado Rockies.  From the website the place looks stunning – impressive scenery, gourmet meals, top notch accommodation.  There’s even a whole bunch of activities laid on for residents who aren’t otherwise engaged.  Admittedly, most of these seem to involve killing things.  But there does seem to be the odd less violent option – the Spa Services for instance.

I’m not sure how much riding, shooting and preening I’ll be doing here – the workshop has a pretty intensive schedule (more of that in a later blog).  But at least I have the comfort of knowing that I’m going to be somewhere where I could be killing, eating and relaxing…

Apart from the fact that I’m not a great fan of fishing or shooting.  Or horseback riding.  Or ATV safaris for that matter.  I did think about indulging in the Spa.  But looking through the menu of “signature therapies” I see there is a very definite outdoor presence here as well.  I could have a “Peaceful Warrior” massage, for men returning from the “hunt or battle.”  Or maybe a “Paws and Claws” treatment, where “hands are then vigorously exfoliated, deeply hydrated and left shotgun ready!”

Maybe not.

Actually, I have a sneaking suspicion this is all a ploy to make sure we work harder than ever in the workshop.  If so, it’s a pretty good one!

Follow the whole “On The Road” saga at http://2020science.org/category/on-the-road-again/

Wednesday September 23, 6:35 AM

It’s 6:35 in the morning, the dog’s walked, I have the day’s first cup of tea in my hands, and it’s time to start getting ready for today’s travel.  Just to complicate things though, I have a full day’s work to get through first before heading for Reagan National Airport this afternoon…

I should have been heading out to the wilds of the Colorado Rockies this morning.  But as often seems the case, I have another meeting here in DC to deal with first.  After lunch, I’m chairing a very public panel on the future of nanotechnology regulation at the Wilson Center – I think people would notice if I sloped off early!  A consequence of my appallingly bad time management though is that I’m catching the first flight on a six and a half hour journey to Grand Junction Colorado at 5:35 this afternoon.

This is fine – after three weeks of traveling between Europe, DC and the West Coast, my body has no idea what the time is anyway, so it should be easy to fool it into thinking a long series of flights after a long day is nothing unusual.

The real downside is packing for the next few days, knowing that the “Washington Uniform” I’ll be wearing today would look slightly out of place at the glorified hunting lodge I’ll be arriving at tonight.  Actually, I think I can manage that – there’s enough time to change into casuals at work, and I can always retrieve the suit from my office when I get back.

It’s the shoes that are the problem!

Shoes, I’m sure, are the elephant in the room when it comes to modern day air travel.  I’m not talking about having to remove them when going through security at the airport, although that’s a pain in itself (and there’s a whole different blog to be written on the footwear passengers are forced to reveal during this process).  It’s the challenge of squeezing multiple pairs of shoes into a case small enough to pass as hand luggage.

I usually make the business person’s compromise of wearing dress shoes with everything.  But that doesn’t work if you are a runner, or walker, or – as is the case on this trip – are expected to participate in macho outdoor activities with your fellow workshop attendees.

So I have on my list my dress shoes, a pair of casual shoes so I don’t feel a complete dork on the “ranch,” a pair of walking boots, and my trusted sandals.

I have a horrible idea though that they are not all going to fit into my regular carry on bag.  Time for compromise – do I ditch some shoes, or do I go light on the underwear?

I think I may end up being the only person hiking the Rockies this week in a pair of black all-leather Ecco’s…

Follow the whole “On The Road” saga at http://2020science.org/category/on-the-road-again/

Tuesday September 22, 8:05 PM

There’s this myth that work travel is fun.

When I used to work for the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services, they treated it as a perk that was only grudgingly allowed – to the extent that tagging personal days onto work travel was considered “too much fun,” and subsequently banned! But like many others, I’ve learned over the years that traveling as part of your job is mostly a long hard slog, that puts a strain on your family, jeopardizes your physical and mental health, and kills your social life stone dead.

Yet I still do it.

Why?!

It’s a question I ask myself rather too often these days it seems.

So faced with four days of yet more grueling travel this week, I thought I’d share the experience with my loyal 2020 Science readers, in the hope of finding some answers – the blog equivalent of the psychiatrist’s couch I guess.

I leave tomorrow, and don’t get back until the wee hours of Sunday morning.  Between now and then, I’ll be posting brief but regular updates on the highs and the lows of the trip.  Hopefully it’ll either help me rationalize this crazy lifestyle, or encourage me to knock it on the head once and for all.  I’d like to think it will also be an entertaining journey for all you readers out there.  But I suspect that, deep down, I’m just doing this to spread the pain around – why suffer alone when you can share it?

I’ll fill you in on the details of where I’m heading and what I’m doing as I go along.   But just to tantalize you, this is a trip that will involve family tensions, tortuous flights, sleepless nights, stunning scenery, and possibly even some obscure male bonding rituals.

More of that later though.  Right now, I need to get prepped for the first leg of the journey – and remind myself where exactly it is I’m going, and what I’m supposed to be doing…

Follow the whole “On The Road” saga at http://2020science.org/category/on-the-road-again/