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Why Do People Attend Conferences And Exhibitions?
During the last quarter century, I have learned that people come to shows for the following reasons:
1. To learn what is new;
2. To learn about cutting-edge technologies because savvy management knows that if a company does not keep up with advanced technologies, that company could face obsolescence, which of course leads to going out of business;
3. To gain greater knowledge about the industry from qualified industry leaders;
4. To learn from truly informative, NON-COMMERICAL SEMINARS AND CONFERENCES PRESENTED BY TRUE INDUSTRY EXPERTS;
5. To actually compare and buy new technologies in the exhibit hall;
6. To find out what the competition is up to;
7. Last but not least, to meet and network with industry leaders and decision makers to exchange views and learn from each other’s experiences.
The One-Third Rule
1. Long ago, I learned that, at a trade show, one third of knowledge is gained by attending the seminars and conferences, provided they are presented by TRUE industry leaders.
2. The next third comes from visiting every relevant exhibitor and discussing your needs and problems and seeking solutions from exhibitors. In this manner, you can also compare different solutions from different exhibitors prior to purchasing the appropriate technology.
If you are serious about taking your call center, CRM and teleservices center to the next level, Call Center 2.0 is the only show you need to attend!
3. The final third of information comes from networking with leading industry experts and colleagues and conferring with them to verify the proper decisions in purchasing the appropriate technology.
Let us remember that the information obtained from each of the above three cases is totally different, but the knowledge they yield is very complementary.
Unfortunately, gaining this important information is currently NOT possible by attending the presently existing call center trade shows, particularly when it comes to learning about and acquiring cutting-edge technology in the call center and CRM industries.
Here are some specifics:
Elementary Level Of Conferences
1. It is common knowledge that a low level of conference presentation by unqualified or partially qualified speakers does not merit attendance by senior management. Consequently, in existing shows, you will find very little, if any, decision makers. In addition, at such shows, you will rarely find industry leaders or industry experts with whom to confer about your needs and requirements.
2. The coverage of advanced technology is practically non-existent in currently existing call center conferences. The reason: none of the organizers and/or producers of currently existing call center trade shows have in-depth knowledge of advanced technology or the industry; none have industry leadership in print publications; and, if they exist online, they have extremely poor Alexa rankings, which means they hardly have any Web site traffic due to inadequate content.
3. In addition to such sub-par content, presently existing conferences are not marketed properly and, therefore, hardly any attendees are found in the exhibit hall which, by itself, is wasting the time and money of the exhibitors.
At one recent show, the attendance was so low in the exhibit hall that the exhibitors of Argentine companies were actually playing soccer and tennis in the middle of the exhibit hall, surrounded only by other exhibitors during exhibit hours. This low attendance, in my opinion, is the greatest disgrace I have ever witnessed in any conference in our industry.
4. As I tour the hall and meet the exhibitors at such shows, unfortunately, I hear a barrage of complaints from exhibitors that, “There is no traffic here, and we can’t wait to find a better convention to exhibit at.”
As I was walking through such a poorly organized and marketed trade show, I asked myself, “What have they done to my industry? Did the organizers really give a damn about the industry, attendees and exhibitors or are they in it just to make some money and run the show into the ground?” I was truly disappointed and came to the conclusion that this comedy of errors must stop.
Those of you who have been in the industry for more than 20 years, I am sure, recall that TMC once sponsored the industry’s leading call center trade show, called TBT (Telemarketing and Business Telecommunications) Conference and Exhibition. We have decided that the time has arrived for us to come in with a truly cutting-edge, technology-focused convention for the call center/CRM industry.
Differentiation
I asked Greg Galitzine, an Editorial Director of TMC who actually designed and engineered the conference program for Call Center 2.0, to explain how he would differentiate Call Center 2.0 with existing conferences? Here are his comments:
“What sets Call Center 2.0 apart from the competition? Quite simply, there is no other venue that offers such an in-depth education on the very subjects you need to know if your job is to select the technology that makes your contact center run effectively and PROFITABILITY.
IP technologies have taken telecommunications by storm. As such, if you are tasked with making telecom purchasing decisions for your contact center, you need to be up to speed on the latest developments and the latest tools available to help you deploy and manage agents in the most efficient, cost-effective way possible.
Call Center 2.0 is the leading event for call center management to learn about using IP communications to improve efficiency, reduce costs and increase the level of customer service. Attendees will learn about IP call centers and VoIP, deploying IP-based home agents, speech technologies, CRM, workforce optimization and all other technologies that improve call center effectiveness and efficiency.
The Call Center 2.0 conference program will also feature specialized content from the Telework Coalition, so if you’re looking to learn about the latest developments surrounding [email protected] technologies, policies, procedures and processes, there’s only one event to turn to: Call Center 2.0.”
The Real Needs Of The Industry
Because of the above reasons, we decided we would develop Call Center 2.0, a trade show that addresses THE REAL NEEDS OF OUR INDUSTRY as presented by TRUE INDUSTRY LEADERS.
Unsurpassed Global Marketing Brings 9,000 Decision Makers From Around The World Every Time
Call Center 2.0 will be collocated with TMC’s world-renowned INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO, which traditionally brings 8,000 to 10,000 senior management attendees from around the globe.
This global audience represents conferees from an average of 115 countries at every show!! Obviously, this verifiable number of global attendees is unmatched by any other existing, related conference.
25 Years Of Excellence
On May 4, 2006, Mr. Steve Brubaker, Senior Vice President of InfoCision Management Corporation, a leading, high-quality teleservices outsourcing company, honored me on behalf of the contact center industry in New York City with a bronze plaque. On the plaque it reads:
“To Mr. Nadji Tehrani, for 25 years of excellence....teleservices industry founder, leader and visionary.” (See the June 2006 issue for coverage of the Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony). Of course, I was extremely humbled. Given the above background, it is my humble opinion that one needs to dominate ALL three vitally important components of integrated marketing in order to qualify to sponsor a cutting-edge, well attended global contact center trade show.
TMC Dominates The Three Vital Areas Of Integrated Marketing
1. Print Media Marketing
As you know, our flagship publication, Customer [email protected] Solutions, which recently celebrated its 25th year anniversary, has been the voice of the industry since 1982 and is still regarded worldwide as “THE ONLY CREDIBLE SOURCE OF INFORMATION ON THE INDUSTRY.” Therefore, TMC continues to dominate the printed media. This helps us bring savvy, targeted attendees and speakers to Call Center 2.0.
2. Online Supremacy
As you also know, TMC continues to dominate the online traffic by bringing in over one million unique visitors per month and 18 million page views per month to our Web site, www.tmcnet.com. No other technology medium that focuses on our industry and no other business publication even comes close to TMC’s Alexa rankings. For the information of our valued readers, Alexa.com is a highly respected Web site traffic auditing agency. As such, the lower the ranking number on Alexa.com, the higher the traffic. TMCnet.com, the Web site of TMC, ranks better than three quarters of the Fortune 500 companies and it is the world’s leading communications and technology Web site. Therefore, TMC’s Web domination, which is second to none in our industry, plays a unique and powerful role in the marketing of all TMC events.
3. Events Supremacy
Based on the marketing power of TMC’s highly respected, industry-leading publications such as INTERNET TELEPHONY® magazine, Customer [email protected] Solutions® magazine, IMS™ and SIP™ magazines, the quality and quantity of senior management attendance at INTERNET TELEPHONY® Conference and EXPO (which encompasses Call Center 2.0) is second to none.
TMC’s unquestioned supremacy in all three of the above vitally important areas will continue to differentiate Call Center 2.0 as well as the cutting-edge technology offerings in the IP contact center, workforce optimization, CRM and speech technology areas.
For all of the above reasons, we believe that any serious executive who is interested in learning about applications, implementations and cutting-edge technologies in the contact center, CRM and call center arenas must attend Call Center 2.0 (October 10th to 13th, 2006, located at one of the best venues in the world, San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center). I therefore enthusiastically welcome you to Call Center 2.0, the industry’s truly global and leading advanced technology event.
In Short
If you are serious about taking your call center, CRM and teleservices center to the next level, Call Center 2.0 is the only show you need to attend! (www.callcenter20.com).
As always, I welcome your valued comments. Please e-mail me at [email protected]
CIS
October 10-13, 2006 • San Diego, California
www.callcenter20.com
Special Collocated Events & Workshops
Thursday, October 12, 2006
(8:30 - 9:00) Keynote Presentation by Eli Borodow, Oracle (Former CEO, [email protected])
(9:15 - 10:15) INTERNET TELEPHONY Keynote Session Featuring AT&T and Lucent
(10:15 - 11:00) INTERNET TELEPHONY Keynote Presentation by Microsoft
(11:00 - 5:00) Visit the Exhibit Hall
(1:00 - 1:45) How to Calculate Your Brand Ambassador’s Bottom-Line Value Presented by Hitachi Consulting TDM-to-IP Migration Strategies Presented by Paraxip Technologies
Telework Coalition Workshop: Ask the Chiefs of Well Established [email protected] Programs
(2:00 - 2:45) Ethical Implications Benefits of IP in the Contact Center Presented by SOS, Eicon Networks - Americas
Telework Coalition Workshop: Why Home-Based Agents: "There's No Place Like Home"
(3:00 - 3:45) Designing the Next-Generation Distributed Call Center SIP in the Contact Center Presented by Genesys
Telework Coalition Workshop: Outsourcing to Call Centers with [email protected] Agents
(4:00 - 4:45) Managing Virtual Teams: Obstacles & Opportunities Presented by Spanlink Communications
Shift Your Contact Center from Reactive to Real Time Telework Coalition Workshop: Enabling Technologies and Telecommunications
(5:30 - 6:00) INTERNET TELEPHONY Keynote Presentation by Motorola
(6:00) Networking Reception
Friday, October 13, 2006
(8:45 - 9:15) Today's Advanced Workforce Optimization Solutions Presented by IEX Advanced Contact Center Solutions For Teleservices and Call Centers Presented by Neocase
Telework Coalition Workshop: Business Continuity with [email protected] Agents
(9:30 - 10:15) Keynote address by Prem Uppaluru, Transera
(10:15 - 11:00) Keynote addresses by Dr. Jon Anton, Benchmark Portal & Dr. Donald Brown, Interactive Intelligence
(11:00 - 3:00) Visit the Exhibit Hall
(12:15 - 1:00) Trends in the Next-Generation Contact Center Presented by LiveVox, SPIRIT, SoundBite Communications Best Practices & Processes/Metrics for Customer-Centric Operations Presented by Coastal Training Technologies
Telework Coalition Workshop: How to Make [email protected] Agents Happen
(1:15 - 2:00) Gaining the Competitive Edge Through Intelligent Communications Presented by Avaya
IP Contact Center Shootout Presented by Jacada, NEC, Five9, Inc., Witness Systems
Telework Coalition Workshop: Staffing, Training, and Supervising for [email protected] agents
(2:15 - 3:00) VoIP in the Contact Center – A Case Study Presented by FrontRange Solutions
IP Contact Center Shootout Presented by Jacada, NEC, Five9, Inc., Witness Systems Security: Policies, Procedures, and Processes
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