Monday, March 7th
The ITEX 2016 National Conference and Expo opens in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It concludes on Wednesday.
Reader ROI: It says something about increasing convergence in the SMB channel that what bills itself as “the office equipment and imaging channel’s premier event” has plenty of managed IT services content on its agenda, as well as plenty of familiar names in its expo hall. Representatives of ConnectWise, CompTIA, Epson, GreatAmerica Financial Services, HP Inc., Oki Data Americas, and SYNNEX will all be presenting at this year’s show.
Tuesday, March 8th
HP Inc. unveils some intriguing new print innovations.
Reader ROI: We’ve said as much as we can for the moment, but come back Tuesday for complete coverage.
- Partner community and software maker Spiceworks publishes interesting new cloud-related survey data.
Reader ROI: Once more, our lips are sealed on the specifics for the moment, but tune in tomorrow for a rundown of the findings.
Wednesday, March 9th
SMB Nation’s third 2016 Office 365 and Windows 10 Road Show event takes place in Atlanta.
Reader ROI: Part of a nine-city tour, the one-day event includes sessions on deploying Windows 10, delivering line of business applications via Microsoft Azure, and using Azure Active Directory with Office 365, as well as sponsor presentations by AppRiver, Cirius, SkyKick, and Webroot.
Thursday, March 10th
D&H Distributing hosts its 2016 West Coast Technology Show, in City of Industry, California.
Reader ROI: The distributor’s first trade show of the year, the one-day conference includes a special exhibit of K-12 offerings in support of D&H’s ongoing education industry sales campaign and training sessions on profiting from Intel 6th Generation Core processors and Microsoft Windows 10 in support of the company’s next-generation computing campaign. Attendees also get special show-floor-only pricing on merchandise purchased during the conference.
Friday, March 11th
The South by Southwest conference, which runs through March 20th, kicks off in Austin, Texas.
Reader ROI: Now in its thirtieth year, SXSW is a magnet for some of the tech industry’s top innovators, not to mention a motley parade of bigwigs, hipsters, badge sniffers, music lovers, and people watchers. Speakers this year include President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield, and Google vice president of engineering Dr. Regina Dugan, sharing insights on (we kid you not) “Making Epic Sh*t.” Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams, professional foodie Anthony Bourdain, documentarian Ken Burns, and actress Kerry Washington will all be speaking this year as well.
- The fourth 2016 SMB Nation Office 365 and Windows 10 Road Show event takes place in Chicago.
Reader ROI: Today’s event gives a fresh set of channel pros access to the same content presented in Atlanta two days earlier, and features the same mile-logging, frequent-flying speakers and sponsors too.
Selection Sunday is just 48 hours away.
Reader ROI: That’s right, America’s annual college hoops obsession (which by some estimates cost employers $1.9 billion in lost productivity last year) gets rolling in earnest this weekend as the NCAA’s selection committee announces the brackets for this year’s men’s basketball tournament. And while many of us will be pondering our own selections shortly thereafter, barring a miracle none of us will choose flawlessly: Depending on who you believe, the odds of constructing a perfect bracket are somewhere between 1 in 128 billion and 1 in 9.2 quintillion.
