General Consultant Discussion

Many of the people involved in the MOTM have asked about extending the meeting to end users and the responses have been mixed at best. In the past I-BN and currently other partners hold successful regional user group meetings at which they get more satisfied customers and even SALES (OMG!). Every major SMB ERP has a User Group (UG) independent from the publisher except for MAS90/Sage 100. AXUG, NAVUG and even Timberline (TUG) found reason to do this. Most are tacitly if not actively supported by the publisher and frankly 90 Minds is the only group in the 100 world capable of pulling something like this off. The upcoming ASUG for SAP B1 is chock full of sponsors and partner speakers. This event has grown from nothing to very significant over the past 5 years or so. https://asug-sessioncatalog.wegone.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=16&locale=en_US This is not a small undertaking and would need an active group of active partners willing to bring their customers. As we think about the future of 90 Minds and Sage 100 we should consider this topic again. @Businessofconsulting

You make a good case for consideration. The devil is in the details here. Concerns include: 1. San Diego location. Not the best location to attract lots, although Feb timing is mitigating. 2. Because MAS/Sage never created one, the inertia in the customer base is to Partner-based UG. I don't see the large partners giving that up willingly, so why would they participate (spend money) in 90 Minds? I don't know, there might be legitimate forces moving them out. 3. There are essentially 3 relevant customer segments. a. Customers who intend to migrate out from Sage. Low interest in 90MUG b. Customers who will stay with Sage, (1) but have little budget. They keep doing what they've been doing. I can't see them joining, but maybe. (2) and who see how it can meet what they need for foreseeable future. They likely have good partners. What is their benefit from a UG? 4. I don't think this works well mixing with MOTM itself. However, I can readily see it as a 2-day event immediately following.

I'm not for including end users; nor am I against including end users in the MOTM's event. However, it becomes LESS interesting to me personally, if the event included end users. If this were a multi-day event; I would only be interested in the Partner/Member portion. That is my $ 0.02; for all it is worth.

Two cents add up to real money....

Unfortunately, my customers won't spend the $99 registration fee and travel costs for Summit, so I can't imagine them spending the money for San Diego.

Perhaps there could a be a time to meet during MOTM in February for those who are interested to talk further.

Although I love San Diego and think it is one of the absolute best places to go for a meeting (especially when organized by our illustrious leader Jim Woodhead), linking with MOTM was not meant to be inferred or implied. I like Melissa's idea of a brainstorming session because there are many ways to do and/fund this. - If I remember correctly Moira was streaming the Sage portion of the MOTM one year - We could consider regional meetings to limit travel and time away from office for our customers - ASUG started as free for customers or members of ASUG and then became a paid event over time. (originally 100% sponsor funded) - Content would need to be relevant and meaningful for customers to attend (most likely more tactical than strategic focus of Summit). - Potentially combine a free (sponsor funded) event with a paid training event. Just some thoughts for consideration!

I will add this to our session ideas for Motm 2017. We are still looking for a couple more people to assist in the planning this year. if you want to have a part in planning MOTM this year let me know. We meeting Thursday mornings at 11:30 EST.