It’s been a couple of years since I last attended a Cannata Dinner. Always an enjoyable time and always for a good cause, Frank’s dinner remains one of the must-attend industry events and one of the few functions that bring together all the major players from the industry in the same room. It’s a schmooze fest for sure and with the awards turning into a roast more often than not, it’s a good time even though manufacturers had better show up with a thick skin and a sense of humor. I had the good fortune to be invited by Frank to present The Week in Imaging’s Elite Dealer of the Year Award. It’s no secret who the winner is and I’ll be profiling them within the next couple of weeks in The Week in Imaging along with all the other 2012 Elite Dealers. It’s a distinguished group and be sure and check in over the next five weeks to find out who is being honored.

Going back to having a sense of humor about this business, I don’t care if you’re writing about office technology and solutions/services (copiers) or selling office technology and solutions/services (copiers), or dispensing advice on how to more effectively sell office technology and solutions/services (copiers), I find it funny when I describe myself as a journalist or a writer and people ask me what I write about and when I say “the copier industry” it’s obvious that this is the conversation killer to end all conversation killers. I imagine even the most successful dealers out there aren’t regaling friends, families, and strangers about copiers either.

Granted, it’s about more than just copiers, but if it weren’t for copiers, no matter where the industry is shifting today, we wouldn’t be here and we wouldn’t all be gathering together at Frank’s dinner.

New content this week includes: