* New ownership brings new energy and services
Technology conferences thrill thousands of attendees flocking to New York, San Francisco, Orlando, or Las Vegas. However, those attendees fly on expense accounts, put their hotel bar tabs on expense accounts, and don’t worry about spending a nickel of their own money. Small businesspeople don’t have expense accounts paid for by some distant accounting department. We must use our own money, which rarely totals enough to rationalize an expensive trip to a distant conference, no matter how wonderful it may be.
Luckily, at least one regional technology conference still focuses on small and midsized businesses: ITEC. Better than that, the conferences come to you, rather than asking you to fly across the country. More than 95% of ITEC attendees drive themselves to local shows in Houston, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, Kansas City, Philadelphia, and Portland.
My traveling schedule kicks in seriously with the five regional ITEC conferences starting in May (16-17) and running through June. If you’re near Houston, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, or Seattle (the spring/summer tour), please come and say hello. The other five cities start in October (in Chicago on Oct. 17-18) and run through Portland on Dec. 5-6.
One of the many improvements added by the new conference owners this year includes access to the keynote speeches for attendees that have free exhibits-only passes. In other words, you can come and heckle me without buying a ticket. Even better for me, last year you could come on Thursday and miss my speech on Wednesday. This year, I’m harder to avoid since I’m speaking both days.
Each conference runs Wednesday and Thursday. My keynote speeches kick off each day at 9:00 A.M. Wednesday is the “official” keynote speech, and I got to pick the title: Technology Is Broken: How to Fix IT in Your Business. Topics include network security, data backup, collaboration and communication, connecting with customers, and Microsoft. Aimed at people needing answers, you’ll get tips and resources and all of it will be in English, not techno-speak. Get more details here.
Thursday’s speech continues that theme, but I moderate a panel of experts of my choosing from the presenters and vendors. The ITEC Town Hall Roundtable: Fix IT Panel Of Experts will take questions from the audience and dish out answers in a live, unrehearsed format. But since ITEC added brand new Solutions Workshops to the exhibit floor, along with Test Drive Pavilions, you can check the advice given in the Town Hall meeting immediately. I’ll be there holding the microphone so this won’t turn into one vendor pitch after another. Panelists will give honest answers or I’ll take their microphone away. Other attendees will be welcome to offers suggestions as well. It may turn into some type of weird group therapy for techies, but that’s not all bad, is it? Don’t we deserve some help now and then?
Exhibitors tend to be resellers and service companies working in the area around the conference location, not bored junior sales reps you’ll never see again from huge vendors. Often the exhibitors include one company person (like a regional sales or support person) helping local sales people working in the area. I consider this the best of both worlds: you get information from the manufacturer, and get information about local sales and service. Essentially, most of the exhibitors are your neighbors. I’ve seen deals go down between two local companies in adjoining booths, so this is a friendly conference.
The new owners of ITEC (CrossTechMedia bought them early this year) doubled the number of conference sessions. Available only to paying attendees, the new conference subjects cover all areas of small business technology: e-mail, wireless, storage, VoIP, and more. One area, security, gets a fancy name, Digital Self-Defense: Security and Data Protection in 2007. Another area new this year is the Small Business PurePlay: A Technology Blueprint for your Small Office/Home Based Office. If your company includes 10 or fewer employees, this track is for you.
Best of all, I get to go out and meet hundreds of technical people struggling to support SMBs. Last fall I met people starting a Web based city guide, one-man technical support companies, department managers for large government agencies, and those fighting the good fight to improve technology for our children in public schools. I can hardly wait to see who I get to meet this year.
