Talk to each other--it's a benefit of joining

Today, Jun 2000 by Bolita, Dan

With this issue, I'm pleased to assume the role of editor of TODAY Magazine. I appreciate the opportunity given by TAWPI, and thank my predecessor, Mark Young, for recommending me for the position.

While it is certainly not my intent to stray from a path that's been 30 years in the making, I do hope to extract more from the magazine's greatest resource-its members.

Let me tell a short story: I joined an investment club (that coincidentally, is also about 30 years old). The other night, I got a call from another member, Ken, asking if I'd heard anything about the proposed takeover of a small company in Maine that makes synthetic fabric. I told him I knew that a French firm was making an offer of $8 a share for stock that had previously been languishing around $5. 1 advised Ken to hang on to the stock in hopes of a better offer. For better or worse, he took my advice. We'll see what happens.

That's the nice thing about a group of people who join an organization because they have a shared interest-in this case, investing. They meet on a regular basis, but in the meantime, they can call one another and discuss business or trade advice. It's a benefit of membership.

It is my hope that TODAY can serve its subscribers best by facilitating the kind of discussion I had with my investment partner Ken. This publication is a place where members with problems can voice them and ask others for solutions. It's a place where those that have solved problems can explain how they did it. Vendors with new solutions can brag about them, while those who have actually used them can tell what really happened.

This is less about TAWPI talking to its members, less about vendors talking to subscribers; it's about all of us talking with each other.

If subscribers have questions about the players, or the technologies and industries they serve, our collective expertise should be able to answer them. Heck, why limit it to just the industry? Want to know a great bed & breakfast in Boston? Want to know where to buy live lobsters right off the docks? Want to know of a neat neighborhood bar in Baltimore? I can answer those questions; and will if you ask.

But don't just talk to me; talk to each other. Write your fellow member/subscribers (in care of this magazine, if you like) and we'll run your tips, tricks, queries and conundrums by our panel of experts (all of us). By sharing our collective expertise, we all benefit.

Thank you for giving me a chance to moderate your discussions.

Dan Bolita, editor

dbolita@tawpi.org