A couple of weeks ago at The Cannata Dinner I was speaking with someone who’s been around the document imaging industry for something like 40 years working in various capacities. He’s now with a wholesaler. I’ve accumulated nearly 30 years and afterwards it got me thinking about my earlier years as a journalist covering this industry.
Those were the days when thermal fax was the in thing, DOS was the operating system of choice, and there were more copier and fax companies than you could shake at stick at. I remember going to conferences, most notably the NOMDA conference, visiting the OEMs and attending press conferences. Not being a technical guy or particularly interested in office technology, admittedly I was somewhat overwhelmed with information about speeds and feeds and whatever else they were talking about at the time.
I barely knew what questions to ask outside of “So, when it’s going to be available?” or “Do you have a price yet?”
Honestly, when I initially started in this business I thought I’d be one and done after a yearand then off to another editorial position at an entertainment magazine like the one I worked for before getting into this industry.
Time sure does fly when you’re having fun, and for the most part, I was having fun. I enjoyed traveling to new places (I had no idea back then how many trips to Las Vegas the future had in store for me.), the press conferences, the press dinners, and overall the red carpet that vendors used to roll out for the press back in the day.
If you do something long enough eventually it starts to sink in and without even realizing it, I found that I knew a lot more about this industry than I was giving myself credit for. Although I’ll never be confused with one of my industry analyst buddies who I value as trusted sources, I’m perfectly happy in my role as the lone office technology industry journalist still standing from 1986.
However, if I’d know that I’d be sticking around this long I’d have paid much closer attention at the beginning.
Thanks for reading.
