ERA begins preparations for EDS 2010
The 2010 Electronic Distribution Show and Conference is scheduled May 11-13 at the Paris and Bally's Hotels in Las Vegas. ERA member rep firm personnel can attend the event at no charge by registering in advance via the show's Web site at www.edsconnects.com.

The ERA Business Center will again be located in the tri-association area of the EDS exhibit floor. (ERA co-sponsors EDS with the National Electronic Distributors Association [NEDA] and the Electronic Components Association [ECA].) The Business Center is ERA members' show headquarters where they can hold small meetings, confer with ERA staff, relax during a coffee break and pick up current association guidelines and other publications, including an EDS special edition of Lines Available in which 100 or more manufacturers typically publish their product line listings.

ERA will also host two special events during EDS - the annual Keynote Breakfast on Wednesday, May 12, at 7 a.m., and a program sponsored by the Small Rep Firm Special Interest Group (SIG). The day and time of the SIG event are still to be finalized, and details of both programs will be announced to members shortly. Attendance at both events is open to all EDS registrants at no charge.

The Spring 2010 issue of The Representor will feature an EDS advertising supplement and other content focused on the show. The deadline for placing ads in the supplement is March 19.

NEDA publishes guidelines for product returns
The National Electronic Distributors Association (NEDA) recently published the NEDA Guidelines for Product Returns. The new publication outlines an industry standard for dealing with returns, providing clear-cut processes to ensure that product purchased through the authorized distribution channel is legitimate. NEDA says that, with the safeguards outlined in the document, authorized distribution remains an unlikely source of counterfeit parts. These new guidelines and others produced by NEDA are available for downloading at no charge from the association's Web site at www.nedassoc.org.

MRERF announces 2010 CSP course dates and locations
The Manufacturers' Representatives Educational Research Foundation (MRERF) has announced its schedule of Certified Sales Professional (CSP) courses for 2010. The multi-day certification course will run: April 20-23 in Raleigh, N.C.; May 11-14 in Denver, Colo.; Sept. 14-17 in Minneapolis, Minn.; and Oct. 12-15 in Phoenix, Ariz. The CSP program is designed for rep firm, manufacturer and distributor salespeople. For details and to register, go to www.mrerf.org. MRERF also offers private CSP courses that are conducted on-site at the sponsoring firm's facility or other location of choice. For details on that option, e-mail Susannah Hart or Karen Jefferson at MRERF at certify@mrerf.org, or call 303-463-1801.

Bloggers, beware!
You are not necessarily protected by the First Amendment. Howe & Hutton, the Chicago and Washington-based law firm that counsels many associations, published this caution in a recent newsletter.

Just because you are contributing to a blog does not make you a journalist or afford you the First Amendment protections given to journalists. A New Jersey state court recently ruled that a blogger does not necessarily qualify as a journalist for purposes of protecting the blogger's sources. Journalists are given general protection from being required to reveal their sources. In this case, a blogger was sued by a software company, Too Much Media, for the blogger's criticism of the company. The court ruled that Too Much Media could ask the blogger for the identity of the sources of the comments she made on the blog. The court noted that courts "are now being faced with the task of evaluating a virtually limitless number of people who claim to be 'reporting' on issues, but who are, many times, doing little more than shouting from a digital soap box."

Another point here is that organizations and individuals being mentioned in blogs should be aware of what is being said about them. They may have the right to challenge a blogger's message and require that sources be revealed if the blogger is not a bona fide journalist.

ERA 2010 teleforums and Webinars to run in alternate months
ERA has announced that its educational Webinars and free teleforums have been scheduled in alternate months throughout 2010. The first Webinar was conducted on Jan. 8, and additional programs will be slated in March, May, July, September and November. The Webinars cover a broad range of sales and management subject matter, and they are open to both member and non-member reps and manufacturers as well as distributor personnel. More than a dozen live Webinars have been broadcast to date, and the audio and PowerPoint files are available for purchase at www.era.org. Each program costs $20 (members) or $30 (non-members).

ERA's ongoing series of free one-hour teleforums for members are facilitated by sales consultant and professional coach Nicki Weiss of Saleswise in Toronto. Her co-facilitator for each presentation is an ERA member rep, and the topics are primarily sales-related. The first teleforum of the year was conducted on Feb. 12 and focused on using social media. Upcoming teleforum dates are April 23, June 4, Aug. 23 and Oct. 15, all at 11 a.m. Eastern time.

ERA Mourns ...

Jack Berman of Los Angeles, Cal., ERA Hall of Fame member and the association's long-time director of education, passed away on Dec. 4, 2009. He was 94. ERA CEO Tom Shanahan says: "It is extremely difficult to put into words the powerful legacy that Jack has left us. His commitment to educating salespeople and his love of the rep profession have influenced several generations of reps and the entire sales world." During his 'first' career, Berman was the national sales manager of Shure, operated a hugely successful rep firm in southern California, and was the only person to serve as president of the Electronic Distribution Show (EDS) twice - first as a manufacturer in 1947 and then again as a rep in 1969. His 80th birthday was celebrated at an ERA all-industry event at EDS in 1995, and he was ERA's special guest at EDS in 2008.
Berman began working on ERA conferences in the 1960s, developed the round table workshop format still in use today and was the conference workshop coordinator for decades. When he retired as a rep, he founded Berman Information Services and continued to teach, write and contribute to the rep community. He developed and wrote what many reps feel is the ultimate guide to their sales process, Synergistic Selling, and he created the Call Organizer that has been used by countless reps in all industries. He also served as ERA's director of education and wrote the Better Repping column for The Representor for 20+ years. In 1975, he was only the sixth member inducted into ERA's Hall of Fame. He earned many awards from ERA and other organizations, including election to the Audio Hall of Fame in 1981. When the Certified Professional Manufacturers' Representative (CPMR) program was introduced in the mid-1980s, he was one of the first faculty members and remained a beloved instructor in the CPMR course until 2006. Shanahan adds: "Jack was an inspiring, eloquent figure in our industry and a genuinely delightful person to know. He loved taking long morning walks, which were his time to conjure up ideas to explore and write about. He and his wife Pearl were also avid, talented ballroom dancers, and one of their most memorable experiences was being cast as dancing extras in the movie 'Out to Sea.' " ERA's retired CEO, Ray Hall, was one of Berman's closest friends for nearly 50 years. He notes, "Jack was a true coach rather than a professor or lecturer, and by far the most important 'mantra' he's left us is 'You don't sell things to people. You help them buy.' That's what Jack was all about." Memorial donations can be made to the Jack Berman Fund which he established some years ago at the Manufacturers' Representatives Educational Research Foundation (MRERF). Go to www.mrerf.org. Notes of condolence can be addressed to Pearl Berman at 10640 Somma Way, Los Angeles, CA 90077.