Committee Events

Just finished a call with Diane Haines and Anila Baseel of Sage. I went over the list of topics we created and told them we may not necessarily need to discuss each of them but that they could be somewhat prepared if the topic came up. Diane asked if we felt having Jim Emerick (head of support) at the event would be helpful. I told her that while we could probably give him some thoughts on what's bad with the portal but our group might be more interested in an ongoing dialog with Jim and his team versus just telling him at MOTM how bad the portal is. As of now the following people from Sage are slated to appear (I'm sure this could change): - Paige Erickson - She runs the channel in NA (Tom Miller / Donald Deshaies replacement) - Scott Munro - VP Product Management for Sage 100, 300, 500 - Mike Ritchie - VP Product Management for Sage 100, 300, 500 (I think Scott is Mike's boss) - Connie Certusi - EVP for Sage NA solutions (Joe Langer type replacement though maybe not exact duties) - Diane Haines - VP Product Marketing (Deborah Nelson identified her as an important person with respect to marketing and other related activities) - Anila Baseel - SR Marketing Manager ISV (Not sure how she fits in but I suspect she may be working for Paige) - Linda Cade - Product Manager - sage 500 and Sage 100 (she has been around for quite some time) Most importantly for 90 Minds, several of the attendees likely have what I'd term ""spend authority"" or very good influence over participation in future events and involvement with the group (Paige, Scott, Connie and Diane would be my guesses). They will plan to be at the gathering on Thursday PM and stay Friday and attend the boat cruise. I don't know whether all will attend the cruise but I suspect we'll have a good showing. We should be sure that we give them a good introduction both before the event by letting people know who from Sage is expected and their role within Sage but also on the opening Thursday night. I think we should tell affiliates that the sessions begin 1 pm on Friday and make the morning half of Friday open to consultant members only. This is similar to what we did last year and I don't think people had too much of an issue.

I'm all for telling the affiliates that sessions begin at 1 pm Friday and making the morning half consultant members only. So we have 7 Sage attendees? Hate to ask, but did Sage pay to cover that many attendees?

No, they only would get 2 with a Platinum. I recommend we allow the full number of 7. I'm not sure that they'll all stay past Friday (my guess is Linda Cade might be the only one). One of the interesting things about our member survey is that there was a very high number who responded that they wanted us to be more involved with publishers. I think this achieves the goal and lets them have direct contact with quite a few of the top people in the Sage 100 world.

And don't forget we are thinking about inviting people from the support and product development trenches

Good thing we got some money out of Sage! 7+ attendees, three sessions, 1/2 page ad...they really got a deal.

I can back into the pricing issue so somebody can make a note for next year for when Sage asks why the pricing arose: - Paige was brand new and of course, all of Sage negotiation and discussion are 11th hour - this resulted in us misquoting by $4,000 - so Sage wound up not being prices an affiliate membership.

- we had already confirmed road ahead , at least two of the Sage people - Connie and Scott likely would be invited speakers. If we would have let them stay the whole event is another story.

- Sage's paid for benefits start and stop here. If they want to have 90 Minds meetings through the year I think those should be priced in advance with the assumption that Sage will be incapable of giving a yes or no until a week after deadline and even then Sage will only be very interested if they are in the midst of some fiasco (s) they are trying to dig out of.

90 Minds by virtue of going to a management company structure also is in the perfect opportunity to charge for each touch point with Sage in the future. We no longer will have the ability to ""give it to them for no cost"" since we incur fees to manage that relationship. Luckily once MOTM 2016 is done we've 100% fulfilled all promised benefits to affiliates so anything going forward is a la carte - pay as you go.

John and I have a call with Sage again later today to review their town hall. I think it's with Aneela and Diane Haines who seem to be quarterbacking Sage's participation.

Is there a call tomorrow?? I don't see a GTM link yet.

No @JeffSchwenk Theresa is dealing with the wedding this weekend.

is there a call this week?

We can have a short one but I think we are mostly set. @MoiraGoggin @ThereseLogeais What do you think?

We are set, as far as schedule is concerned. If you want a call this week its fine, don't know that it's needed.

I'm most concerned about our expo night since we sold a bunch of attendee only tickets and everyone will want their time to get up and make a pitch to the group.

Moira and I are on it. We will be having tables for each one vendors around the outside. . We will have a riser in the middle of the room with a mic. The plan is each one will be allow to do a short intro <5 minutes on who they are and why they are important. We will be having food and a full bar in the room. We will have 10 or so belly bars. No big round tables this year. It should be a blast.

Sage paid 9K today.

Shazam!!

Jim what time are we going to start the expo? Should we try for some giveaways maybe in the middle or 1/3 of the way through the presentations - to incent people to stay in the room?

There will be food and drink @WayneSchulz , what more do you think we need?

I'm wondering if we have 12 affiliates at 5-10 minutes each giving pitches do we need something to entice people to not wander off?

As I recall, we didn't lose too many last year until the food/beverage ran out.

Wayne I think we should limit the speeches to 5 minutes. If your concerned we can have a draw for the order..

I will be ordering double the food this time...... not to mention it will be an open bar... 5:30 to 7:30 or 8pm

Don't forget you have a budget..................

@WayneSchulz - All the info I sent to the affiliates & sponsors (FAQ and subsequent emails) said **2-3 minute intros for the expo**. I expect some will run over a bit so that's why there is an off switch on the microphone.

Not to worry Jeff .. We bumped up the budget from last year. I think you will remember that we ran out of food last year. Anyways I think you would agree that Affiliate Meet and Greet is VERY VERY important to this conference for the affiliates. Affiliates are in effect paying for the conference so we need full attendance. . They go away so do all the evening events.

Moira a mic switch or loud music to let them know that their time is over.

Yes we'll need a signal for them. They are a big support and are just as excited to be at the event as everyone else is. I don't want to be rude, but if they drone on then they'll lose the audience and that won't be fair to the affiliates that follow them.

1. Nerf guns 2. Squirt guns The affiliate can keep talking after the bell but attendees get to shoot them with water/nerf.

Brilliant!