By David Drain, Executive Director, Self-Service & Kiosk Association
This article originally published in Self-Service World magazine, May/Jun 2006.
I am thrilled to be serving as the new executive director of the Self-Service & Kiosk Association. My first day on the job found me in Orlando at The Self-Service & Kiosk Show. What a great way to start! I was able to dive right in, meet people and begin to get my arms around this intriguing industry.Though I've only been with the organization a short time, I have many exciting things to share with you. First, there is the completely revamped Web site. Like a welcoming gift, the new site was finished upon my arrival. From its clean, fresh look to its ease of navigation and depth of content, you will find it a site to revisit often. One only has to look at the dates of the news items to appreciate the up-to-date reporting found on the new site.
The man behind writing the features and gathering case studies is Bryan Harris, our dedicated editor. If you were in Orlando, there is a good chance you met Bryan. He was out there in the trenches, meeting people and scoping out the good stories. Bryan brings a much-welcomed energy and enthusiasm to the Web site and newsletters. If you have any suggestions, comments or leads for articles, please contact Bryan at editor@selfservice.org.
The next big item on the list is the marketing campaign, headed up by marketing chair and Advisory Board member Alex Richardson. Dubbed "The Best Service is Self-Service," the promotion focuses on successful, brand-recognized deployments. The goal is to highlight the impact of self-service and the various ways it helps organizations from all market segments improve service and increase sales and customer satisfaction. Over the next 12-18 months, we will collect and create these "snapshots" and post a library of them on our Web site. You will see these promotions in print, e-mail and on the Web. If you have a project you think would make an excellent candidate for the campaign, please contact Alex at alex@sellingmachinepartners.com.
Why are the new Web site and marketing campaign so important? Our goal is to build more traffic, which in turn raises industry awareness and credibility, leading to interest in members and ultimately quality leads and requests for proposals.
Advisory Board elections
The recent elections for the Advisory Board have concluded and we have both incumbents and newcomers appointed to serve the association during the next year. We have a qualified group of people steering the ship. While we are sure to chart both familiar and unfamiliar waters, we will act always in a manner that is in the best interest of the membership at large and will ultimately move our industry forward.
If you would like to get more involved, we have several committees in place now, and I anticipate more being created in the near future. The current list of committees includes Best Practices, Membership and Marketing, Research and Statistics, and Standards. Please contact me at davidd@sska.org to learn more about how you can get plugged in.
Another major initiative of our organization is to develop strategic alliances and partnerships with other associations, trade shows and media that will further advance the awareness of SSKA. I am compiling a list of all the related entities out there. While I will be reporting on the progress of these efforts in future columns, I welcome any suggestions or insight you have in this area.
In closing, I would like to thank Dick Good and Alan Fryrear for giving me this opportunity and for their wise counsel. I also appreciate Greg Swistak, whom I met in Orlando and who served before me in this role. His willingness to support me is much appreciated. It's been great getting to know the other Advisory Board members and staff. Together I know we can achieve great things in the weeks and months to come.
