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BusinessSpeak Panel VIPS - Robert Cohen, Laura DiDio, Harry Brelsford, David Schafran, and others
Presented in an “unconference” format, thanks of this as an annual SMB board meeting where shareholders as direct and pointed questions. The shareholders are attendees and the Board of Directors is our distinguished panel of SMB business leaders. All questions are welcome from high-level “mission statement” insights and forecasts down to impacting policies and procedures. This session has been very popular in the past and you will leave with an improved “business model” you can use the next day. Examples of topics would include how to sell managed services, developing a cloud-based computer consulting practice, etc.
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Everything Legal, Take 2 - Ben Yarbrough
Its been said that the best time for a criminal to consult with a lawyer is before the crime is committed so you can do it right and not get caught. We are not suggesting this exciting and action packed session is in anyway an ethical anticipatory breach. Rather, proper legal planning can result in smooth operations, protect you as an on-going concern and add significant entity asset value when you invoke your exit strategy. This is a hands-on legal workshop with immediate tangible benefits. You will leave this session with immediate urgent steps you must complete before dawn!
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AVG’s Value Proposition – 80 million users can’t be wrong! - Caitlin Buxton
AVG is focused on providing computer users with the most comprehensive and proactive protection against computer security threats. AVG develops internet security protection with a version designed for home users, a network edition for businesses that protects workstations and file servers - and an edition developed specifically for Microsoft Windows Small Business Server networks.
During this session you’ll learn more about who AVG is selling to (and why), key product differentiators, competitive comparisons, AVG Free vs. AVG Paid feature comparisons, new AVG 8.5 features, how you can gain an added source of revenue through renewals, and more. Attend this session and see how you can cash in with AVG.
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Leveraging Windows Essential Server Solutions to Enhancing Remote Productivity - Dana Epp
With the introduction of SBS 2008 and EBS 2008 come new technologies that can help a business to gain more remote productivity from their employees, partners and customers. From TS Gateway and TS Remote Apps, presentation virtualization allows staff to gain better access to their business tools than ever before. Remote Web Workplace easily allows anywhere, anytime access to critical business resources, expanding on small businesses need to increase productivity while lowering technical deployment costs. Come see how to get the most out of your investments in your WESS solutions, and learn exactly how to configure your server to allow for this sort of access.
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Essential Business Server 2008 Secrets - Greg Starks
This “introductory” lecture is deceiving. After a quick Essential Business Server (EBS) “meet and greet” you will learn about the optimization of EBS deployment from the hardware-layer up from one of the world’s leading EBS authorities, Greg Starks (formerly with the SMB server group at HP). Greg will share behind the scenes EBS optimization techniques plus planning, deployment and administration secrets. If ever the overused saying “Proper planning prevents poor performance” applied, it is with EBS and is the cornerstone of this lecture. You will leave this lecture with bona fide tips and tricks.
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The Right Fit for your Business - Derek Falberg
Join NETGEAR executives as they demonstrate a variety of networking tools, appliances and configurations in the SMB Nation Lab. See the latest networking Network Attached Storage, Wireless and Security Threat Management devices. Observe the remote management functionality and other enterprise class capabilities in this interactive demonstration. NETGEAR delivers feature rich storage, security and networking solutions together with best in class warranty programs at price points that small and medium size organizations find attractive.
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Are you ready for EBS? - Greg Starks
Customers outgrowing SBS? Larger opportunities knocking at your door? Come find out what Essential Business Server 2008 is all about. Learn how it is positioned vs. SBS and how it will help you simplify managing a multi-server environment. Discover what hardware you will need to sell with EBS, how to plan for shared storage solutions, and insights into deployment methods. Be ready!
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Migration Techniques for 2008 Platforms - Jeff Middleton
Gain a practical and strategic view of the technical issues from Jeff Middleton, the Founder of SBSmigration.com. This session will educate you about the good and bad ahead for deploying SBS 2008 or EBS 2008 to existing or new customers. This technical assessment will be a guide to what you can expect to include in the scope of your customer proposals, staff preparations, and the underlying skills that will be essential to your success with production deployments.
2008 Platforms: SBS 2008 versus EBS or Windows
- The WESS Product Family Overview
- From 1 to Many: Choosing your Server Platform Directions
- Suite Value vs Technology Comparisons
- The “Essential” Product Elements
- Windows 2008, x64, & Hyper-V Story
- The WESS Application Family in SBS and EBS
- Elemental Differences from SBS 2003 R2 to SBS 2008
- Migration & Transition Project Challenges
- The Microsoft Concepts
- The Swing Migration Concepts
Deployment Optimization: Predictability, Time, Quality
- The Transition Timeline & Value Budget
- The Value-Add of Quality & Predictability
- Establishing Roll-Back, Pause or Completion Goals
- What’s implied in EBS & Multi-Server Deployments? Discussion: Techniques, Traps, and Scope Concerns for SBS 2008 Deployment
- Essential Elements in the Migration Path
- Where is the Automation?
- Learning the Project Path with Practice
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Building a valid infrastructure foundation with HP ProLiant - Steve Bark
The presentation will include a discussion on Windows Server Foundation and the HP bundled product offerings for Foundation as well as the other Windows OEM solutions offered by HP. It will also cover the new HP ProLiant G6 technologies, a roadmap of ProLiant product offerings, and available management software. How to buy and sell HP ProLiant servers without being an HP authorized reseller will also be discussed.
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Response Point Tips and Secrets - David Bainum
Whether you’re simply curious about Microsoft Response Point- the amazing small business IP telephone solution- or you have worked with Response Point since inception, you need to attend this lecture. One the one-hand, Response Point is simple and the introduction portion of this lecture is short to get everyone to the same baseline. Then the real fun begins with a DEEP DIVE into RP and its’ new SP 2.0 release, including practical examples of some of its compelling features such as the Caller ID-URL launcher, site-to-site VPN support, and RP’s ability to very nicely “tie-in” to other Carrier- and Web-based services.
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Geekonomics - Harry Brelsford
Join SMB Nation CEO and SMB PC publisher Harry Brelsford as he provides he well-researched economic forecast for the SMB partner channel. Both serious and silly, this entertaining session provides THE TOP TEN OPPORTUNITIES in the current marketplace you can exploit to not only survive but THRIVE! Can you say “counter-cyclical?”
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Total Small Business Management Using OneNote 2007 - Todd Colbeck
This class will discuss how to add 25% or more in new revenues to any small business (including your own) using Microsoft OneNote 2007. One Note 2007 is to a business owner, what a palette of paints is to an artist. Everything the artist needs to paint his picture is on the palate. It is up to him how to blend the colors and apply them to the canvas. Every feature a business owner needs to execute a business plan is in OneNote 2007, it is up to him how to blend the features to create his dream business. A lot of lip service has been given to the paperless office; OneNote 2007 is a paperless office! In this class we will discuss: 1. A brief review of the features in OneNote 2007.
2. Customized templates and applications for running the business of a Microsoft Small Business Specialist.
3. How to customize and apply the templates for improving the businesses of your customers, regardless of their vertical.
We will be going extremely deep on greatly improving the sales and marketing cycle using OneNote 2007. We will also discuss how to use its collaboration features to reduce workflow time by 15 to 25% in most businesses and sometimes more.
OneNote 2007 is always a great tool to create a WOW from your current customers and create competitive advantage for yourself when winning new customers. This class will help position you as an expert for all areas of concern to a small business owner in addition to technology.
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How To Get SaaSy! Software as a Service (Hosted) - Scott Barlow, Grant Thompson
No - we did not forget the hottest topic in the SMB partner community right now: HOSTED SERVICES and Software As A Service (SaaS). Join this session of industry experts in a panel format to sort SaaS out, from the common customer objections to the concerns of you, the solution provider, to ways that Hosted Services can help grow your business and increase your name/brand recognition. SaaS might be for you or might be against you, but you will not know unless you attend this session.
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Street-Smart Branding - your path to Growth - Jeff Connaly
Most IT Service Providers do a terrific job when it comes to service delivery - but struggle with building a branding and messaging strategy that attracts their "ideal customers". This session is a must for any attendee who wishes to position his/her business apart from the pack. This session will use a "hands-on workshop" approach. Attendees will get not only a structured framework for developing their unique branding and messaging, but will also have the opportunity in this session to put this framework into practical use.
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Businesses Win, Businesses Run Like Jobs Will Lose - George Sierchio
In any economy, but especially in a down one, operating your company like a true business and not a job is a must for survival and future success. This is true for businesses of any size. Our discussion will go over increasing profits and structuring a stable business that has the ability to recognize problems in time to fix them as well as see positives and capitalize on them by utilizing:
- goals,
- key metrics,
- benchmarks and
- available business intelligence tools
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Exit Strategy: “Run It Like You’re Gonna Sell It” To Maximize Profit Now and Build Business Value for the Future - George Sierchio
Whether you plan on selling your business soon, many years from now or never, structuring your business to sell for top dollar has many advantages to the savvy entrepreneur. Doing so maximizes the amount of profit it can produce for you and creates an “insurance policy” on the business to protect you personally. All while constantly increasing the value of your business and the cash it throws off to you. This holds true for a 1-person show or a business with employees. See how looking at your business through the eyes of a potential buyer is an intelligent business strategy.
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GeekSpeak Panel MVP and VIPS - Our always popular “unconference” format is all about YOU. Attendees drive the flow of this panel discussion where you can ask YOUR QUESTIONS and have some of the best minds in the industry provide detailed answers. Think of this as “free consulting” that you can use IMMEDIATELY to solve problems, provide better solutions and take true value away from this event. This session is always action packed and never silent!.
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Group Policy in SBS 2008 - Eriq Neale
A look at the changes in Group Policy from SBS 2003 to SBS 2008, including Group Policy Preferences and the new SBS Group Policy Objects. Further discussion for how to use Group Policy to replace login scripts and other management functions that can be handled with Group Policy.
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Town Hall Meeting - Looking Forward! - Harry Brelsford
Think of this as part visioning "town hall meeting" and part closing cermonies to celebrate a fantastic educational weekend together at SMB Nation Spring! Hosted by SMB Nation CEO Harry Brelsford, topics will include:
What did you learn this weekend?
The future of SMB Nation events?
What can we do better in the future?
Held in a "sharing circle" format, everyone will be expected to contribute.
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Speed Dating - SMB Nation Staff
Stop and read this description! This is not a lifestyle session to fill a personal void. This is your chance to spend 30-mins in a small conference table format with the guru of your choice before moving on to chat it up at the next table. Here is how it works. Every 30-mins the moderator “rings the bell” and you move to from table to table to visit with conference speakers and other VIPs. Perhaps you have a follow-up question from lecture you want to ask the speaker directly. This is your opportunity. You get the point and the “speed dating” format has been EXTREMELY POPULAR at past SMB Nation events.
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Technology Solutions for The New IT Economy - Ashutosh Tiwary
Current economic conditions and new technologies are driving significant changes in IT for the SMB. In this New IT Economy, customers will pay less yet demand better quality and service. You need to meet their needs while building a more profitable business. How do you resolve this dichotomy? How do you leverage technologies like virtualization, cloud computing, and managed services? How do these technologies work, when should they be applied, and how do they affect your business? We will answer these questions and show you how to increase the quality and efficiency of IT. Come hear industry expert Ashutosh Tiwary discuss how you can leverage the New IT Economy.
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Microsoft Response Point SP2 Overview and Discussion - Stephen Deming
Join us for a deep discussion and demonstration of the new features, benefits, and deployment techniques of Response Point SP2. From intercom & paging to automatic parked call return to analog phone support to an afterhours receptionist, we will address how Response Point SP2 makes communication easier. To expand your opportunities, there are now VPN capabilities, customized 3rd party support, and digital service integration. To wrap things up, we will review various Response Point partners and address ways to uncover and exploit opportunities to include the Response Point solution scenario with your small business customers.
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Making Mobility Happen – A Multi-Vendor Approach - Tom McGee
Perhaps the worst kept secret is the strength of mobility solutions in the marketplace. This session presents the mobility opportunity from a uniquely independent point of view including Windows Mobile, Blackberry and Apple iPhone. The common thread is the integration into the SBS 2008 environment with Exchange Server 2007. Lecture topics are both business (selling mobility as part of our overall voice strategy) and technical (securing mobile communications with Exchange).
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Connecting the Client and the Cloud - Joel Allen
The anticipated success of the cloud ignores one basic fact of computing: Power migrates to the periphery. As our computers and networked devices become more powerful, what will we do with that surplus capacity? Do we really expect software to disappear, leaving Web-based services connected to increasingly powerful browser terminals? The future of computing connects the client and the cloud. There will surely be continued growth in Web services. But there will also be software and local data that reside at the periphery, not encumbered by a browser or the need for a constant Internet connection.
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The Most Powerful Multiplier for Drag-Along Revenue - Scott Barlow
This session focuses on hosted email security as a powerful vehicle for maximizing your annuity revenue stream and substantiating the value that you deliver to your clients. Experience shows that hosted email security opens the door for add-on sales of complementary hosted offerings and services, while the integration of email blocking statistics into the management summary created by your PSA platform underscores the value that you deliver to your clients every day. For background, Reflexion provides a suite of hosted security and compliance solutions exclusively through solution providers. Offerings include hosted email security, hosted email archiving, discovery and recovery, and hosted web security. Free trials of Reflexion’s services are available at http://www.reflexion.net/sp.
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Online Backup...It’s all about the Recovery & Security of your data - Sam Gutmann
A backup strategy is only as useful as your ability to recover your data. Additionally, as more states implement encryption requirements for electronic records of personal information, data security will continue to be a growing concern among businesses. Many businesses today rely on local storage that includes backing up onto portable devices. Information about personal customer information (i.e., name, credit card, account number, etc) stored on portable devices are under scrutiny and it is important that the data being stored is encrypted and recoverable when the data is needed. The session will explore the importance of online backup and more importantly recovery as well as the necessity to consider security and encryption a vital part of all backup strategies.
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Best Practices using Trend Micro's Worry-Free Products - William Kam
This informative presentation will provide Best Practices techniques and information for using Trend Micro Worry-Free Security Solutions:
1. Worry-Free™ Security Solutions
protect your business assets, your customer information, and your reputation from identity theft, cyber criminals and other Web threats—so you can focus on your business.
2. Trend Micro™ Worry-Free™ Business Security Hosted for small offices protects multiple PCs and notebooks located in or out of the office. Customers can centrally manage security from anywhere.
3. Worry-Free Remote Manager
Manage multiple Worry-Free Security customers from anywhere, anytime.
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How to Provide Profitable and Simple Disaster Recovery, Data Protection and System Migration Services to Your Customers - Dave Stufflebeam
StorageCraft will present methods to provide profitable and simple disaster recovery, data protection and system migration services to your customers. You will be introduced to the benefits of the StorageCraft No-Cost Reseller & MSP Partner Programs.
You will also be introduced to the StorageCraft ShadowProtect product line of automatic disk-based backup, data protection, disaster recovery and system migration solutions. ShadowProtect solutions complement virtualization products such as VMware™, Microsoft™ Virtual Server and Virtual PC and Virtual Iron™. ShadowProtect provides fast and reliable disaster recovery and system migration to the same system, dissimilar hardware and virtual environments - P2P, P2V, V2P and V2V.
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Understanding the BlackBerry Solution and Your Opportunity - Paul Osmond
Join Paul Osmond, BlackBerry Enterprise Evangelist, to discover the architecture and design that makes the BlackBerry solution the clear choice in wireless connectivity for small and medium businesses.
Gain insight into how the BlackBerry solution provides unparalleled security, extensive IT management capabilities and superior wireless efficiency. Plus, uncover how you can expand your portfolio and develop a sustainable BlackBerry solution business practice.
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Response Point Tips and Secrets - Dave Bainum
Whether you’re simply curious about Microsoft Response Point- the amazing small business IP telephone solution- or you have worked with Response Point since inception, you need to attend this lecture. One the one-hand, Response Point is simple and the introduction portion of this lecture is short to get everyone to the same baseline. Then the real fun begins with a DEEP DIVE into RP and its’ new SP 2.0 release, including practical examples of some of its compelling features such as the Caller ID-URL launcher, site-to-site VPN support, and RP’s ability to very nicely “tie-in” to other Carrier- and Web-based services.
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Hands on Lab - Hosted Security from Trend Micro: Good News in Bad Times - Eric Jensen and TJ Alldridge
Trend Micro hosted security products are good news in bad times for channel partners, enabling them to make more money and increase account control. With Trend Micro’s hosted endpoint, email, and website security products, you can deliver industry-leading security to a rapidly growing hosted security market while retaining complete account control. In this session Eric and TJ will give an overview of each product and explain how to profit in a down economy with hosted solutions.
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Creating, Selling and Funding Managed Services - Eric G Steinberg
During a jam packed and entertaining 90 minute presentation, Eric will take you through the step-by-step process of selecting and delivering each component necessary to build a winning, recession and competitor proof MSP practice. Next you will learn how to successfully attracted and engage with new and existing clients through a systematic process of professional solution selling techniques. Finally, Eric will provide you with a series of effective and creative ways to finance your new MSP practice.
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The Managed Services Opportunity - Benjamin Lavalley
Managed Services is an industry hot button right now...and a growing source of new revenues for firms with large numbers of existing SMB clients. Kaseya is a major player in this market.
Kaseya's IT Automation solutions empower IT service providers to proactively monitor, manage, and maintain distributed IT infrastructure remotely, easily and efficiently with one integrated Web based platform.
In this session, a representative from Kaseya, accompanied by one of their successful local customers, will conduct a Q&A about IT automation and managed services... and their immediate effects on the customer’s profitability and recurring revenue.
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Kaseya Hands on Lab - Benjamin Lavalley
Kaseya provides software, services and support that increase profits and reduce hassle for IT service providers worldwide. Kaseya-powered businesses in over 30 countries enjoy recurring monthly revenue (with high profit margins), lower overhead and unlimited freedom to grow.
Join Kaseya Senior Sales Engineer Benjamin Lavalley for a hands-on, demo lab where you’ll see how Kaseya’s technology can automate many of the manual procedures you are handling inefficiently today, including: patch management, software deployment, monitoring, auditing, remote control and scripting.
Don’t miss this interactive session and a personal test-drive of the world’s most powerful MSP engine.
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The Explosion of IT Service Networking, Collaboration, Outsourcing and New Partnerships
An increasing level of business activity is moving out into the Internet “cloud,” and IT services is no exception. In this session, software-as-a-service pioneer Autotask Corporation, will share our vision of the growing IT service ecosystem, and share our new Web 2.0 technologies that are transforming service relationships.
This session will include:
- Overview of our purpose-built IT services management software platform
- Four New Autotask SaaS technologies that facilitate collaboration and outsourcing with your colleagues, partners, subcontractors, and internal IT organizations.
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SMB Networking in a Tight Economy - Jason Turk
Join NETGEAR’s Director of North American SMB Channel Sales, Jason Turk as he shares perspectives and insights on SMB networking in the midst of these challenging economic times. Think you can’t afford enterprise class features, or that you can’t future proof your network on your 2009 budget? Think again! While conventional wisdom holds that many networking categories have been commoditized, important differences have emerged in areas that impact your organization’s total cost of ownership. Jason will share real world examples to illustrate how warranty, configuration tools, stacking and security threat management appliances among others can help you help your business store, connect and protect your network in 2009.
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Great Web Demos for SMBs - Wayne Turmel
In Cyberspace, no one can see your bunny slippers. How much time and money do you spend doing capabilities presentations and product demos to your customers? What if you could instantly meet with customers near and far without getting in the car- or even a plane? Today’s web presentation tools allow SMB Consultants to expand their reach and reduce costs at the same time- but only if these web demos are done well.
Join Wayne Turmel, president of Greatwebmeetings.com and author of “6 Weeks to a Great Webinar” as he leads an energetic and insightful discussion on:
• Why SMB Consultants need to do web demos
• The 4 most common mistakes
• Tips for creating powerful demos that will separate you from the competition
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