If you’re saying “Man I sure could have used that last year,” I can assure you you’re not alone. The new Great American Trucking Show app for various smartphone platforms, put together by the show’s owners (Randall-Reilly Business Media & Information, publishers of Overdrive) with Core Apps and sponsored the Cummins Engine Corp., puts an interactive, searchable map of the show floor at the Dallas convention center at your fingertips, as well as offering one-touch access to showgoer information and news breaking there. An in-app scheduler will help you plan your time there, and a Twitter button enables easy integration of your show-related tweets (I’ll be using the app for that purpose: follow @channel19todd to keep up with my goings on there Wednesday through Friday next week).
You can get the app via http://CumminsGatsApp.com or just scan the QR code here with your phone.
As for what exactly to schedule, stay tuned to the Channel 19 blog for more in the coming weeks. For now, check out just a few of the happenings in the Roadside Attractions front section of this month’s issue of Overdrive. Among the high-profile haps are American Trucker television show host Robb Mariani‘s participation in the judging — and filming a special episode of the Speed Channel show — at the Custom Rigs Pride & Polish truck beauty competition on-site. Likewise, the Big Rig Run 5K (I won’t be tweeting during that one, folks — or, hey, maybe it is possible to run and tweet…though I wouldn’t advise trying it at home) on Friday morning will bring together health-conscious drivers and others from around the nation in a walk/run 5K to benefit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and raise health consciousness among highway haulers. Find more information and register (free) here.
Get a free copy of the Overdrive / ATBS coproduction in the 2011-12 Partners in Business manual for owner-operators at the Friday seminar, held from 2-4 p.m. in the convention center. And finally, don’t miss Jamey Johnson at the Friday concert. Not familiar with his stuff? A YouTube vid for a tune from his latest record, Guitar Song, follows. Enjoy!
For full info on the Great American Trucking Show, held open next week Aug. 25-27, visit the GATS website.
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