Experts in the room

There’s no statute of limitations on how long someone can be useful to you. I may have lost the details of contacts I worked with or interviewed decades ago, but it’s never been easier to find people, thanks to social media.

Last week I had to look up one of my first ever editors, because I knew she was the person with real insights for a feature I wanted to commission. We have seen each other since those [ahem] late 80s office days but never worked together since. Good to know that a few clicks later we’re reconnected and could discuss a mutually interesting story.

Even more significant – and of interest to you, I think – is the story of a conversation I had once at a press lunch with a technical director of an electrical appliance company. I mean, this was more than a decade ago, but something he said stayed with me.

He explained that the way we store food in our fridges is all wrong and that salad in the salad drawer is a mistake! His words have always stayed with me (although I forget his explanation for why there’s a lettuce etched on the front of that drawer!) 

Cut to last week, when there was a news story about storing potatoes in fridges – at morning conference I mentioned this long-ago conversation and how, ever since, I’ve stored my food according to this expert’s advice and it led to a front-page feature. 

The point of this story? It’s always worthwhile to have experts in the room at press events, ones that are comfortable and confident expressing their knowledge, even if the pay-off isn’t immediate. You never know when we’ll come calling…