General Consultant Discussion

I bet there's an opportunity for someone to create a Sage conference that falls between now and the August 2012 date of Summit 2012. This could be a working/educational event where it's less formal (no gift shirts) and fills the gap between conferences. I think Accpac has a similar type conference. I am not positive but think it's attracts around 150 people.

I had suggested a virtual conference in March / April but I would be up for a physical conference. The Accpac conference is TPAC and it's really only third-party add-on developers and resellers. No customers.

I think TPAC is what I was thinking of. Do you know how many attend? I bet there would be a huge demand if there was a conference and third party solution providers who wanted to target Sage partners were allowed to enroll. I have to believe the time is very ripe for most Sage partners to be looking at options for diversification. A virtual conference is good but I'd like to see an in-person gathering for people to meet and network.

TPAC has a small attendance. I think it's under 100 people.

Sage help us diversify? You mean even more than what they are doing with additional hoops and higher fees? If it is to be, it is up to me (us). Maybe we should set up a conference where the larger resellers have a booth and the smaller shops can go around selling their client base to the firm that provides the optimal solution. I like the concept of a smaller conference without Big Brother around.

Well ... who here wants to set up a conference with Jeff and I? @JeffSchwenk - I think that if this goes forward, it would be a good thing to get some level of Sage involvement. I can explain in depth later.

Occupy Sage Channel. I've often wondered why we let Sage set the agenda for everything. Maybe its time the channel views Sage more like CPAs view the IRS. I don't believe the big conference CPAs go to each year is the IRS show. And CPAs are not attending IRS-led seminars to learn how to prepare tax returns or give tax advice. Maybe its a stretch, but there might be some parallels. At least 5 years ago there was significant ex-channel presence within Sage, but now that is completely non-existent. To pull off such an event is a big undertaking, but if accomplished could have long term benefits for the channel.

I have a 300 seat auditorium with full internet access at each seat and a large rear projection screen available at our data center. It would be perfect for large group sessions/keynotes, etc. It is in a suburb of Atlanta across the highway from the Sage building in Suwannee Georgia. The data center also has 3-4 large conference rooms, bit I beleive the Sage facility also has a couple of training rooms. There are about 5 small to mid-sized hotels available in the vicinity.

The key pain that I see with planning a conference is the details are non-stop. People pay and they expect this to be a first class catered meal, 2 GB wifi and sessions with 40 page manuals -- all for $99 for 3 days. If done I would recommend billing it as: - Non conference - Come as you are - Eat meals on your own - Share best practices - One or two key technical sessions (I bet you could charge vendors to put them on) - One or two training type sessions

@WayneSchulz The approach you describe would attract the most passionate among the channel and would be a great approach for a year one or year two - or maybe forever. The DIY (do it yourself) non-conference could easily become a must-attend event. I would say that no Sage sponsorship would be key. That said, on an invite-only basis, certain Sage progressives could be welcome guests. I like it. 'Channel Non-Conference 2012. Not Sponsored by Sage.'

Wayne - Do you think this would end up looking similar to an ITA meeting (without lunches or formal events) but limited to Sage Partners? And Wayne is correct regarding the planning and details. From personal experience organizing day long break out confrences for 200+ people, I can tell you it will be a lot of work for someone(s) even if it is a DIY conference, and there will need to be money fronted to reserve things. I am guessing the 3rd part vendors participating in TPAC are paying for much of the cost. Who organizes that conference?

Agreed - on the devils advocate side - many (most) VARS are extremely cheap mom and pops at their core, they think if they've sold one deal in the past 15 years they're owed an annuity revenue stream forever at the same rate as what was in place in 1986. There's definitely a group of VARS who would question why they'd pay anything more than maybe basic costs - perhaps $ 50. The way I could see this starting would be as a 90 Minds type gathering (similar to what Jeff is proposing) so we have guaranteed attendance and agenda/presenters - but also have it open to other partners and perhaps sell sponsorship to vendors. Most vendors will want to know attendance numbers so initial sales of sponsorships would be difficult. You could even make this a gathering that is only initially open to 90 Minds and OASIS members. Why screw with people we don't know and trying to make them happy when they've not shown any initiative to participate. Thoughts?

Agree with @MikeFitzgerald that this is a bigger effort than it seems (and you haven't even gotten to the part where you figure out who is doing what session and making sure that the sessions are great) - I know that he has put these on previously for customers so has some first hand knowledge.

My ""for now"" thought is make the conference exclusive and only open to those who participate here. Or make the fee higher for non members of this group.

We have organized user conferences for 50 or so and that was manageable compared to larger conferences (for which I was on the organizing committee for the GSCPA IT conference for a number of years). When we organized user conferences we had local restaurant clients bring in lunch and charged a modest fee for the conference to cover the meals (not our time). If people pay nothing you get more no shows. if there is a modest committment, more people actually attend. We also did not have Sage sponsor but did get Leanne Lowe to throw in some Extended Solutions as prizes and had Sage bring a speaker. I recently attended the America's SAP User Group meeting for Business One and this was not sponsored by SAP, but did have SAP speaking on technical subjects and what is coming in the roadmap. This was a big draw for the customers. That event was sponsored by VAR Solution Providers (master developers) who paid for table space and even more for the opportunity to speak. I think that could be a future option. The reality will be that someone will need to take the lead and then someone local will need to help coordinate.

GetX Search for MAS 90/200 would very likely be interested in sponsorship - even with a 90minds/OASIS only conference.

Just so I'm clear ... we are talking about an end-user conference, correct?

Absolutely. The goal I would be to provide education and value to existing customers, touch them without a hard sell, find orphans, and then of course sell them something!

I was talking about a Sage partner conference. End user is much trickier because partners may prevent them from attending and it's a little harder to reach the end users.

I agree that a partner-only non-conference should be the goal for now.

The recent ASUG conference was for both partners and customers and was about 50%-50% (about 400 total attendees in its second year about 250 in its first). Although the reseller community is smaller, the same petty fears do exist, but all exhibitors were very careful about not trying to poach customers. I think that because SAP does not have any other B1 related events, there was a big acceptance of the format. We would have a much bigger battle to face, but there is a glaring need for more local user group stuff.

A private group of Dynamics NAV vars (we are a member) does this annual. It's called Directions. Its a MASSIVE task however and unless Sage runs it, I don't recommend giving it a second thought about doing it ourselves.

I'm in the same camp as Mark. If we do a get together for more than a couple dozen people it's a logistical nighmare of collecting payments, registrations, courses.

If it were a ""reasonable"" size partner conference, we would be interested in hosting it as well if needed. We have a great relationship with the local convention center and a decent size trade balance we never use up, so we can sponsor no problem. Plenty of space, wifi, food, etc... everything in one location. Contact me directly Wayne and I can give you all the details.

I think the main concern here is the administrative time to do this properly is overwhelming. Once you start charging for a conference people reasonably have an expectation of quality and pulling together presentations and agendas is a really big time sucking endeavor.

I think what Wayne is trying to nicely say is that this is a great idea but members who have historically been less active would need to take ownership of this project if we were to do it as the usual folks that do the most just can't afford more non billable time for a large scale project like this

I don't have any problem with our organization taking on the ""grunt"" work for a project like this, if it's a ""reasonable"" number like I mentioned. We don't want to organize an event for 200+ people. If it's 50, or less, I don't think that is any problem. The primary assistance we would need is just making sure there are presenters that are willing to participate and people would want to come to Michigan for a conference. We aren't in a big city, so sometimes we can offer everything and still not get anybody interested. I like Wayne's idea of a laid back conference that can just get an idea like this rolling. We have been one of those companies that has not taken ownership in the past on projects like this and are willing to step and get it going if there is interest.

@ Kevin - We have several employees from the Michigan area and have a fondness for the region during the summer months when the weather is nice. To ensure maximum (or sufficient) participation I would recommend the following: 1. During the winter I would recommend a more southern venue. 2. Any location should have a good hub airport where there is competition so the airfare is reasonable 3. The location should be near the ariport so cars are not required and transportation is cheap. 4. The location should be in an area where the hotels are near restaurants and activities. Summit was much better this year than the last time at the National because of the little town that sprung up. We probably won't be catering so this is important as I generally don;t like Holiday Inn food very much. We are currently hiring and until my staffing is settled I can't step up. In the hopefylly not too distant future, we should be able to take an active role.

I've found Dallas to be a great location but again Somebody else would need to run it

Maybe we could use Beth's training center??????????