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 By Dave Ferrara, HRTS Executive Director
What a crazy year this has been in our little industry. The December newsletter is normally where I look back on the past year and we pat ourselves on the back for a job well done, etc. but this year was definitely a little different. For the first time in my memory, HRTS had to postpone not one, but two of our fall luncheons due to the industry's ongoing labor issues. (Don't worry, we're planning a very busy spring HRTS season to make up for it!) Since there are a lot of folks much smarter than I dealing with that, and since I tend to get bored easily, with the industry in it's current wait and see mode I've had a bit of free time to think about what kinds of things we could do with HRTS to make it a better, more valuable organization in the coming years. The old "Life gives you lemons, make lemonade" metaphor comes to mind! And btw...you can blame Al Gore and his slideshow for a lot of this...
First off, I'm excited to announce that after years of generating enough paper to claim an entire rainforest as our own, (ie: invoices, announcements, flyers, newsletters, etc) as well as the tremendous cost and carbon footprint all of that mail created, HRTS is transitioning to an almost completely electronic system of membership application, renewal, ticket/table sales, and membership communications with the rollout in February of our new HRTS Association Management System. You'll be able to go online and join HRTS or renew your existing membership via our secure online server (that's right...no more of those ugly invoices to track down and send in with a check!) You will also be able to purchase tickets and tables right online as well, bill'em to your credit card and get your receipt right then and there. In addition, our entire HRTS membership roster will also be available online (for members only) and will be searchable and updateable for our members convenience. Oh...and the HRTS Annual, our "yearbook" for the past season and hard copy roster, will be printed on recycled "post-consumer waste" paper as well!!!
All of the above new functionality will be embedded in our newly re-designed HRTS.ORG website. This complete re-do (call it HRTS 2.1....2.0 is so 2007....) will be your main connection to everything HRTS. After a lot of conversations with HRTS members, in addition to the above practical applications, the site will also feature a rich and robust blog and discussion functionality that will enable HRTS members to have an exclusive place to go (other than Nikki Finke's...) to maintain dialogues on issues important to the day and stay in communications with colleagues.
It will also have embedded our HRTS TV broadband video site, allowing members to go online and view (at no charge!!!) the entire library of HRTS Newsmaker Luncheon videos. And as said above, our complete membership roster will now live on-line and in real time with the abilility of members to access and update their own infomation at their convenience. Members will stay connected as well as the roster is searchable by many different criteria allowing you to create your own connections within the greater membership of HRTS.
But wait, there's more!!! A little farther down the road we will be rolling out the new HRTS Job Bank, a feature rich jobs board that will be focused specifically on the unique employment needs of HRTS members and the companies with which they work. It's exclusive to HRTS individual and corporate members, so no more wading through thousands of unqualified applicants and/or job postings in search of that next great position. Of course, our rapidly expanding HRTS E-Newsletter, Society Views, will still go out every month featuring news and notes about HRTS and its members. The Society Views newsletter will also feature in-depth profiles of industry leaders and feature articles from partners PWC and more. Email SocietyViews@hrts.org to be considered for a profile.
And lastly, we still owe you a couple of luncheons so look for a jam-packed spring season of HRTS Newsmaker Luncheons beginning in February as we will convene some of our favorite HRTS panels (Cable Chiefs, State of the Industry) as well as a couple of very special panels focusing on New Media and more.
So. As the industry breaks for the holidays, we at HRTS will be busy renovating our entire house with the intention of providing all of our HRTS individual and corporate members the best possible member experience. Evolving, much like our industry does and focusing our efforts on achieving a successful outcome. Frankly, sometimes its painful, but its always neccessary, and we ultimately end up doing great things for the organization and its members.
Evolution is natural. But we, as an industry, know how to do it. We've been doing it since Hollywood began. When you think about it, it takes an army of extremely talented people to work together and create a Seinfeld or a Schindler's List. That's a pretty cool thing that we do and is probably a good indicator of how we will ultimately perservere in our current challenges. At the end of the day, we are all in this together...both as an industry and as HRTS Members! Be well and happy new year to all!
Dave
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