Before Covid-19, when I was flying 120,000 miles a year just on United, I would fill up two to three little black books with notes on the various conferences and meetings.
And then Covid grounded us all.
And Zoom saved us all.
Today, I don’t fly; I zoom. I don’t use my little black book so much. In fact, the one I am using is a hand-me-down that I started in June 2022, and it still has 15 or more empty pages.
Now, I get real-time transcripts, which save me the time of transcribing my notes, which are sometimes too difficult to decode. I also don’t need all the storage space for those books. I used to think they’d have some historical significance, and I should keep them in case I ever got called to a trial as an expert witness. That happened just twice in 20 years— not a big demand for my little black books.
I’ve thrown out all those books, opening up new storage space in the garage. But it’s hard to break old habits, and so I still carry one to the meetings that I attend in person. Everyone else carries a notebook computer, but I’m a terrible speller and a worst typist, so that doesn’t work for me.
I’ve tried recording meetings, but then I’d have to sit through them again for an even longer period of time while I transcribed the discussion, and forget about any illustrations.
Also, there is proven empirical data that the act of writing reinforces one’s memory of an event. Heaven knows I need all the reinforcement I can get. So, it’s still me and my little black book you’ll see at meetings and conference‑if you even go to them anymore.