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Rob Turner, target Lotus Workplace user
Rob works as an event planner for the National Booksellers Association (NBA), a nonprofit organization similar to http://www.bookweb.org. NBA supports the publishing industry. Its members include over 4,500 bookstores and over 7,000 book publishers. NBA itself has 1,000 employees.

Rob occasionally travels for work to visit possible event venues and to sign contracts. He likes to personally inspect the venue before the event takes place, but that isn't always possible. He works at home a couple days each month.

Rob's current primary work assignment is planning the 2004 BookExpo America in Los Angeles, CA. This annual event attracts around 750 booksellers, publishers, and trade suppliers. The Expo is scheduled for May 30 to June 1, 2004. Rob's most pressing issue is arranging for high-level speakers. Rob's other planning assignments include: an evening meeting of the local children's book selling group; a half-day off-site for his division; and a one-day seminar that will be offered in multiple locations on the topic of "Technology for Small Booksellers."

Because the National Booksellers Association is a nonprofit with a limited IT budget, it tends to lag behind the latest hardware and software upgrades. Rob uses the following technology in his work:

• Dell Latitude C610 laptop with Windows 2000
• Domino Web Access (Domino 5.0.9) for email (Rob subscribes to a booksellers forum, which he receives in digest form at the end of each day.)
• Microsoft PowerPoint for presentations (Rob is an expert with this tool and knows all sorts of tricks to make flashy presentations.)
• Microsoft Word for drafting brochures (Rob is proficient with the layout tools and styles, but knows nothing about cross referencing, indexing or building tables of contents.)
• Internet Explorer 5.5 to access the Web (Rob is comfortable surfing the Web and understands the difference between local files on his hard disk and files stored on a server or on the Web. He visits various publishing sites on a daily basis to look for new information pertinent to his job.)

Rob's supervisor is Tammy Jackson, head of operations. Some of Rob's primary colleagues include Randy Meyers, PR; Andy Skobel, Webmaster; and Sara Beckwith, office manager.

Rob's work goals:

• To see the National Booksellers Association succeed as a nonprofit. To do this, he must make sure that the events he plans please the largest number of booksellers while staying within budget.
• To help independent booksellers stay in business.
• To enjoy his work, so that it doesn’t feel like work.

Education
BA in Communication (1995) from DePaul University, Chicago, IL

Work history
After graduating from DePaul, Rob worked for a trade magazine in Chicago as a copy editor and at one point, helped to organize a trade show. That experience made him decide that he wanted to do event planning as a career. He tried working for an event-planning consultancy, also in Chicago, but decided he preferred working in-house.

Personal data
Rob is 28 years old (his birthday is May 22). He is originally from Warwick, Rhode Island, where his parents still live. He moved to Chicago for college because he had visited his uncle there and liked the city. He has one sister, Tracy, who lives in Baltimore. He’s organized, responsible, and friendly.

Rob met his wife, Patricia (not Pat) Ramirez, five years ago through mutual friends in Chicago. They have been married two years. Patricia works for Intech Associates as a senior customer trainer. She travels 50 percent of the time.

Rob and Patricia bought an old house a year ago in Lincolnwood, IL, moving from their apartment in Wicker Park. They are currently renovating (putting in sprinklers, paving driveway) and also plan to repaint it.

They have one pet, a beagle puppy named Shorty.



Rob drives a dark red, 1997 Ford Taurus LX.

Hobbies
Bicycling, movies, plays, playing softball for the company team

Personal Goals

• He and Patricia plan on starting a family someday.
• Rob loves movies. He’s a good writer and hopes to have one of his screen plays produced as a movie or even as a play on Broadway.
• He wants to spruce up his house to make it a really good-looking place to come home to each day.