Turning up at the Fairfax Business Media office for my first day on Reseller News was a little like high school - what would my co-workers be like? Would they welcome the new guy? When they found out I was from Gisborne would they assume I could surf (waves, not the internet)?
As it turned out many people seemed to know I was the new guy and came and said hi. I probably made a good start by turning up at 8am. Officially people are meant to start at 8:30am - unofficially, well that would be telling....
I should explain that I had come from a magazine job writing mainly about food and beverage issues so this was a return to newspapers after a long absence.
From day one I was in the thick of it, writing stories and harassing people with messages on landlines and cellphones. Nearly everyone I called in the IT industry or their P.R. agencies congratulated me on the new job (such friendly people!).
The first event I got along to was Enterprise IT's second birthday. Industry people seem to love socialising - and there's always plenty of alcohol. I think the booze is laid on so the media turn up (only joking). I shook hands and temporarily blinded some poor souls with the searing sun like flash of the Sony digital camera as I moved around taking social photos.
The crowning achievement in my first week was to get the front page lead on Acer moving up to second in PC vendor ranking. That was a frantic story as country manager Rod Bassi had been away all week - but a quick phone interview got the results.
After meeting a number of resellers I can sense that people like having their own industry paper and many are happy to take time out from their busy days to talk and share gossip. Thank you to all who have done so.
I've only had two requests to see a story before it goes to print. I'd like to put on my Media 101 hat for a moment and remind the industry that we are not Reseller PR - you may not always like what is printed but getting both sides of the story must prevail for the paper to have credibility. Here ends the lesson.
I look forward to meeting more of you as I do the rounds in the industry.
