Why ITEXPO — An LA Summary (A Reseller Educational Series)

TMC follows up each ITEXPO (News - Alert) Conference with feedback forms. The surveys determine the level of satisfaction of the event attendees and exhibitors. ITEXPO West in LA scored very high in all categories. The next ITEXPO is scheduled for February 2-4, 2009, at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Florida. Therefore, this is a good time for me to remind resellers the value of attending ITEXPO and review the top reseller selections from Los Angeles.

The biggest reason to attend ITEXPO is knowledge. Fortunately, I moderated one of the most popular reseller sessions at ITEXPO LA-Reseller Live. The session encompassed two segments 1) How to Sell Into This Difficult Market 2) Best Business Practices for Resellers. Although the sessions continued for over 2 hours, the audience stayed until we had to vacate the room to attend the Keynote presentation. Post-session feedback was excellent. Reseller Live was also a top session at ITEXPO Miami 2008 and returns for Miami 2009. An added bonus is this session is free for resellers. Bob Nicols (News - Alert), of AXIOM SSP and Jeanne Leckie of The Leckie Group will return to spin their magic in Miami so register NOW. Go to www.tmcnet.com/voip/conference/ for more information.

Another top reseller selection was the SIPconnect Compliance Workshop (a BIG hit) held in conjunction with the Ingate SIP Trunking Workshop. It should not be a mystery why these sessions were so popular with resellers since SIP is so critical to the VoIP, FoIP and converged IP marketplace. The SIP Forum (News - Alert) (www.sipforum.org) had an exhibit booth and also conducted their Board of Directors meeting in LA the same week so the group was well represented.

SIP Forum’s mission is to advance the adoption of products and services based on SIP and to function as a meeting place for organizations involved in SIP solutions. The Forum offers a choice of memberships. The Full Membership is fee-based and offers the most benefits. The Participant Membership and the new Academic/Institutional membership category are free to individuals and academic institutions but members are expected to participate. Actually, participating in the SIPForum-discussion group is good starting point for new members and an excellent method for seeking advice from other members on SIP issues. The technical working groups are where the rubber really meets the road in terms of moving the interoperability needle so there is something for every level of SIP expertise.

In today’s challenging business environment, resellers need every competitive advantage possible. Certainly honing one’s selling skills and adding to one’s technical knowledge are paramount to success. IT

Max Schroeder (News - Alert) is the Senior Vice President of FaxCore, Inc. (www.faxcore.com)

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