CompTIA’s Annual Member Meeting (AMM)†is being held March 24 to 26 at the Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort & Spa in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. AMM brings CompTIA’s member base together for two days of collaborative strategic planning and sharing among the CompTIA board of directors, community executive board, communities, and councils. More than 250 member volunteer leaders are meeting to discuss channel issues and develop actionable initiatives to help advance the industry.
On Monday evening, a Diversity Mixer featuring advancing women in technology and future leaders communities kicked off the Annual Member Meeting.
On Tuesday, members honored the latest inductees into the IT Hall of Fame at an awards dinner. This year’s honorees are Scott Cook, founder of Intuit, and Sam Palmisano, former CEO of IBM.
Also on Tuesday, in addition to committee meetings, there were a variety of community meetings: Advancing Women in IT, Future Leaders, IT Services and Support, and Managed Services.
Ron Paxton, principal analyst and vice president of training at Alinean Inc., gave the day’s Power Talk: “BO Is Not Bad When It Comes to Selling ‘Business Outcomes.'”
Today, marketing expert Scott Stratten, president of UnMarketing Inc., delivers the opening keynote, “UnSelling—The New Customer Experience,” based on his latest book of the same title, co-written with Alison Kramer.†The keynote will cover:
- Why UnSelling is about everything but the sell.
- Why one negative review can outweigh a thousand social media followers if it isn’t handled correctly.
- Why social media can be the wrong choice for your business.
- Why the people you hire matter more than the tasks you hire them to do.
Community meetings on Wednesday include: IT Security, Mobility, Cloud, and Managed Print Services.
The morning Power Talk is “What Does the 2015 Industry Outlook Really Mean for the Channel?” Attendees can choose from a “buffet” style presentation by Tim Herbert, vice president, research and market Intelligence, CompTIA; or a “chef’s tasting” that does a deeper dive. The latter includes a panel covering three key topics: millennials in the IT workforce;†business transformation—not an end point for the channel; and tech topic—making money from cloud, or was it something else? The presenter and moderator is Carolyn April, senior director, industry analysis, CompTIA. Panelists are: Steve Alexander, president, MSP-Ignite; Andrew Harper, CEO, Gaeltek LLC Technology; and Rob Rae, VP of business development, Datto. Inc.
Topic for the afternoon Power Talk is “Internet of Things—What’s the Channel Play?” The presenter/moderator is Charlene O’Hanlon, senior executive editor and director of content, The VAR Guy. Panelists are: CompTIA’s Tim Herbert; Frank Raimondi, worldwide channel alliance manager, Intel Reseller Channel Organization; and Dave Sobel, director of Partner Community, LogicNow.
New educational materials from CompTIA available at AMM include:
- Quick Start Guide to Managing a Managed Services Sales Organization
- Quick Start Guide to Business Agility
- Executive Certificate in Financial Management. The workshop can be booked as a face-to-face event or as a series of live webinars. For information, contact Blythe Girnus, CompTIA’s senior manager for member programs, events and conferences. Premier Members have the opportunity to take part in the pilot version of the new workshop.
“These pieces are unique because they’re separate from technology—they’re really about developing some of the soft skills that will make a solution provider successful,” says Stephanie Morgan, CompTIA’s director of member education. “This can be anything from being strategic about sales to being deliberate about accounting, to being conscientious about when and how you need to change.”
AMM closes with a networking Wedenesday night, followed by a board of directors meeting Thursday morning.
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