‘Science Bob’ May Be Blast at Arkansas Trucking Association Conference

"Science Bob" makes a fiery appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

You can’t say that the Arkansas Trucking Association isn’t willing to think outside of the box.

The organization is holding its annual conference May 16-17 at the Hot Springs Convention Center. Its featured speaker this year is Bob Pflugfelder, better known to “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” viewers as “Science Bob.”

(Note to readers: I’m going to call him Science Bob hereafter because Pflugfelder is just too dang hard to spell. I do not mean to imply that he and I are familiar; I’m a Trevor Noah man.)

Science Bob is a speaker who does science experiments — as I assume most of y’all assumed — usually on TV or at science fairs. This might be his first appearance at a trucking convention.

Which leads to the question: Why, exactly, did the Arkansas Trucking Association pick Science Bob? In the past few years, the organization has brought in trucking or business greats such as Johnelle Hunt and T. Boone Pickens or politicians such as Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Of course, none of them blew up things. Not that Johnelle Hunt didn’t try.

No, I kid.

Bethany May, the communications director for the trucking group, said Science Bob was chosen because the organization wanted its conference to be about the bright ideas in trucking. Last year’s conference was the 85th anniversary of the ATA, which is why Hunt, co-founder of J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. of Lowell, was featured.

“We started with the theme of the brightest ideas in trucking, just rallying around those ideas that seem innovative, and everybody agrees that’s where the future of trucking is going,” May said. “When we started to think about what the future is going to be, it is usually something fun and the building block of everything. The spectacle [Science Bob] does, the demonstrations and presentations where things blow up, where things are illuminated — we need to end the week with some pomp and circumstance like that.”

The handful of ATA conferences I have attended have been unquestionably well run and informative. But, yes, they could use a few things being blown up or illuminated by the time they finish.

“We haven’t seen him speak specifically on trucking, but he is willing to tailor his presentation to some things that happen in trucking,” May said. “He is going to talk about hyperloop, natural gas. I think there is going to be — not smoke but definitely some explosions. That’s exciting.”

Science Bob is a proponent of the maker movement, May said, which is all about technology and creativity. Trucking is still about hauling freight, of course, but it has become increasingly high tech in recent years.

“I think with any innovation there is some values we can share and look to,” May said. “Curiosity, creativity, not being afraid to take some risks and fail.”

One technical development that has had a big impact on the trucking industry is the mandated use of electronic logging devices. The Arkansas group and the national American Trucking Associations were big proponents of ELDs, which were adamantly opposed by independent owner-operators.

ELDs went into effect April 1 after a three-month-plus grace period. ELDs record truckers’ work hours and travel electronically rather than relying on paper records.

The ATA invited Bill Sullivan, the executive vice president of advocacy for the American Trucking Associations, to speak to the members about ELDs and other regulations.

“Within our membership, even the small trucking companies have come to find the ELDs are an investment that saves you money,” May said. “The enforcement date was April 1 so we are just now finding out what that looks like now that everybody is on the same page, and everybody is following the same rules. We are only now getting the chance to see what that looks like.”

American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear will give a State of the Industry address for the second consecutive year. He also spoke at the 2015 convention.