During the 45 years of being involved with the electronics service business, I have witnessed many changes in technology and in the way business is conducted. Change in the early stages of our industry required years to take effect and as the years have passed the rate of change has gained speed exponentially. With our current global economy and with communication being instant through the Internet, technology changes occur within months and new products are placed in the market just as fast.

With these technology changes, NESDA has also had to change very fast. One of the main goals in the 5 years that I have been Executive Director NESDA has been to keep up with these fast moving technologies and provide the necessary tools to help our members stay informed and abreast of methods required to remain efficient and profitable in the electronics service business. The staff and the officers of NESDA are continually looking for ways to provide the needed programs to make this happen.

In the past year NESDA has improved our website to make it more user friendly and provide more and more connectivity to our manufacturers and resources needed by our membership. We released a new version of TechMate called Techmate2 which continues to grow with technical tips for your use. Members who contribute to the new Techmate2 are recognized on the opening page and in the near future we are planning a reward program for to those who provide the most contributions. Our online servicer locator where consumers are requesting service calls on a daily basis from our members, has been enhanced to synchronize automatically every 30 minutes during the business day with any changes we enter into our in-house membership database.

NESDAnet has proven its usefulness over and over by providing technical assistance between members, as a place where important industry news is announced, and as a forum where members may discuss industry issues. With the increase in email spam on the Internet, it has become more difficult to keep the email flowing smoothly. We continue to work with the few email providers who are throttling back on the flow of email to our subscribers. The web interface is always available to any members who may be experiencing delivery issues. In fact after the small learning curve is mastered, the web interface is the best and fastest method to monitor NESDAnet mail. The archives may be searched in a matter of seconds for any model, chassis, or word contained in the nearly two years of archived email.

NESDA membership remains strong and continues to grow. As of December 1^st, our membership has increased by 37 over this time last year. Although we have some attrition through retirement and business closings, new members are joining every week. Most new members who use our programs and especially those who attend NPSC become members for life. The Industry Angel Program led by Fay Wood, chairman of the Marketing and Membership Committee, has been instrumental in helping us grow our membership and promote our annual convention.

The move to San Francisco for NPSC 2006 turned out to be an outstanding opportunity for us. This is a location we normally would not be able to afford, but thanks to Hyatt National, who worked with us to find a new location after hurricane Katrina ravaged the Hyatt in New Orleans, the convention proved to be a huge success with attendance very close to what we had in Orlando, FL in 2005. Our upcoming convention for NPSC 2007 in Denver Colorado provides another new area of the country for us to visit and enjoy. Many have already pre-registered for this event, so please make your plans to attend and register early. Buffalo, New York within 20 minutes of Niagara Falls and Canada will be our location for NPSC 2008.

Mack Blakely, TEA/NESDA Executive Director