Confessions of a tech geek

It’s confession time…the first Motorola car/cellphone on our sales staff, costing over $800 -- and 45 cents a minute to use -- was installed in my car. The first laptop, the first Palm Pilot, you get the idea. Technology has been a fascination of mine for as long as I can remember.

Diffusion of Innovations, by Everett Rogers, popularized The Diffusion of Innovation Curve. It identifies the type of behavior I exhibited as an “early adopter.” In my experience being an early adopter is fun, albeit expensive. If you’re an early adopter, you know that people come to you for tech advice and help. That can be good and bad. Next is Early Majority, Late Majority, and Laggards. Laggards are the people that would still be using rotary dialed phones if they could.

To maintain your ability to serve your clients and customers, it’s important to at least be in the Early Majority, ahead of the curve. There you can be a source of advantageous business information and a true resource to your clients.

This year at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, RAB President/CEO Erica Farber will be leading a panel discussion on Tuesday, April 25 from 10:15-11:15, called Technology’s Impact on Radio’s Role, Reach & Revenue. There is no denying the impact technology is having on our industry, but consider these questions:

· What is the impact?
· How should we respond?
· How can we prepare?

To get the answers, join us in Las Vegas for the panel session, as a number of industry leaders share their insights.

Admittedly it’s cliché, but I can’t help but be reminded of the statement: Lead, follow, or get out of the way. Which will you do? For more details on the NAB Show click here.

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development. You can reach him at jschmidt@rab.com. You can also connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.