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I regularly hear from friends and business acquaintances asking if I could recommend a business meeting or local event to attend or, "Do I know what's happening with so-and-so group?"

It's not that I'm a walking calendar or almanac of what's happening in our area, but I do always seem to know more than most about local events.

So how do I do it? What's my secret?

I regularly read the newspaper, especially the business sections. Also, on a monthly basis, I check the Web sites of the key groups I like to stay in touch with. There are over 300 professional associations and business organizations in our area, so I focus on only those groups which are relevant to my work, beginning with the local marketing associations:

American Marketing Association, New Mexico chapter: www.nmama.org

Association for Media Industries of New Mexico: www.altmedianm.org

New Mexico Advertising Federation: www.nmadfed.org

New Mexico Press Women: www.newmexicopresswomen.org

Public Relations Society of America, New Mexico chapter: www.nmprsa.com

New Mexico Society for Healthcare Strategy and Marketing Development: www.shsmd-nm.org

Society for Marketing Professional Services, New Mexico chapter: www.smpsnm.org

New Mexico Kachina Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication: www.stc-nm-kachina.org

Women in Communications: www.nmawc.org

Then there are the larger business groups like the Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau (www.itsatrip.org), Albuquerque Economic Development (www.abq.org), and the local chambers of commerce. The city of Albuquerque (www.cabq.gov/calendar) and Expo New Mexico (www.exponm.com) also publish calendars worth checking into.

Of course, the most efficient approach is to get on a group's mailing list so they send you their information. Many also now report their group's calendars via a monthly e-bulletin. Some of the better ones I subscribe to include:

The Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau, which publishes a free e-newsletter with news of major conventions and cultural events (www.abqcvb.org/media/enewsmedia).

Next Generation Economy (www.nextgenclusters.net), which publishes "Next!," a free monthly e-mail newsletter of everything "technology business" and more.

The New Mexico State University College of Business Administration and Economics, which publishes a monthly e-newsletter called the New Mexico Business Outlook with informative articles on business topics and economic trends (bbrs.nmsu.edu/nmbizoutlook/aboutus.php).

Other excellent e-resources include The Tribune's Web site (www.abqtrib.com), which includes podcasts and its own online calendar of local events.

And we can't forget the growing number of local bloggers who comment on various business issues and provide links to events. The most popular, Duke City Fix (www.dukecityfix.com), provides links to more than 50 other blogs in our area that you'll want to check out.

And finally, you might want to sign up for Google's new alert service to get the latest on an industry event, keep current on a competitor's activities or monitor a developing news story. Once you've defined what topic you want to monitor, Google will search for relevant news items on the Web, blogs or on newsgroups on your behalf, and then send you "alerts" either as they happen, once a day or once a week. Visit www.google.com/alerts to enter a search item and get on your way.

So, now that you know what I know, I might be calling you to get the latest on what's happening in our area.

Sacco is vice president of marketing at Kirtland Federal Credit Union, and an adjunct professor at University of New Mexico Anderson Schools of Management and at Webster University.