8:00 Chairperson’s Recap Of Main Conference Day One

8:15 Partner Strategy: Managing the Change to a More Partner/Channel Centric Organization

Many organizations claim to be partner oriented, yet fail to effectively deliver on the promises of partnering.

Does your company have a defined partner strategy? Does it cover the strategic elements essential for success?

Does your sales-force work with or against partners?

Hear how Genesys re-designed and implemented their channel strategy – one of the biggest change management projects ever undertaken.

Join this interactive session and learn how to:

• Build the Strategy
• Identify seven essential elements to effective partner strategy
• Gain executive buy-in
• Work with other company functions that affect partners
• Identify worldwide regional differences
• Re-train staff
• Overcome pitfalls and challenges

Robert Koen
Senior Director
Channel Sales, Genesys

9:15 Interactive Roundtable Discussions:

1. 10 Most Common Mistakes You Can Make Building and Implementing Your Reseller Program and How to Avoid Them:

During this interactive session you will have a chance to go through most common mistakes channel management managers can make and learn how to avoid them!

Stoney White
Business Development Manager
Panasonic

2. 10 Most Common Mistakes You Can Make Building and Implementing Your Channel Marketing Program and How to Avoid Them:

During this interactive session you will have a chance to go through most common mistakes channel management managers can make and learn how to avoid them!

10:45 Maximizing The ROI Of Your Co-Op And MDF Programs

Online marketing and social media has changed the way IT organizations go to market and generate demand. Channel Managers and Reseller Partners now more than ever need to evaluate various measurable options to ensure their vendor initiated funds are well –invested. How do you get the most out of vendor spend so that partners drive net-new business and secure repeat customers? How do you get vendor solutions and channel partner capabilities in front of IT professionals with active projects? And finally, how do you select demand generation programs and measure their effectiveness and ultimately ROI? Attend this interactive session and learn how to:

• Prove a higher ROI on your co-op and MDF
• Set measurable goals for your Co-op and MDF such as reinforce brand and increase demand generation opportunities for channel partners
• Help Channel Partners reach and influence end users with active IT infrastructure and software projects

Nick Pontacoloni
VP
Tech Target

11:30 Determining The Best Ways To Communicate To Your Channel Partners: Distributors And VARs

It’s not a secret that communication with your partners plays a vital role in determining the success of your channel partners program. But, as companies actively search to increase the effectiveness and value of their channel programs, it is important that you find the best ways to develop messaging, communication activities and communication vehicles. To get there, you must have a very clear description of the relationship between the communications, buying, and selling processes critical to your success. Attend this interactive session and learn how to:

• Identify communication frequency and intensity based on the value each partner brings to your business: interaction of channel partner with your customer, visibility of your partners, time dedicated to pushing your products
• Indentify ways to communicate to and through your partners: training, motivational materials, tools to share with end users
• Evaluate the progress: tangible and intangible results

Robb Henshaw
Director of Marketing & Communications
Proxim Wireless Corporation

Check Out Proxim’s Presentation from 2010

Partner Enablement and Training

1:30 Improving The Effectiveness Of Your Channel Program

Is your promotional allowance program a valuable marketing tool, or a cost of doing business? With marketing budgets tighter than ever, your promotional allowance program can be a valuable resource to increase sales and improve customer and channel relationships alike. During this session you will learn valuable tips that will immediately help you improve the performance of your program. Plus, discover sine if the many trends in program design and management that can help you take your program to the next level - and transform your program into a competitive advantage.

Attend this interactive session and learn how to:

• Manipulate 8 key variables to improve program effectiveness
• Forecast and track ROI from your promotional allowance program
• Apply new approaches to program design that will keep your channel partners engaged at all levels

Dale Taormino
Director of Professional Services
CCI

2:15 Roundtable Discussions:

1. Cloud Computing: What is It and How Will It Affect Your Channel Management Business?

It’s very clear to everybody that vendors and solution providers alike need to be more in tuned to the options out there and the way advances such as cloud computing can and will affect their business. How to build applications for the cloud? What are the pros and cons?

What are the limitations to cloud-only applications? What are the other options? What opportunities cloud can provide for channel? What compelling value does a cloud computing channel partner add to the consumer of the service/product?

Susan England
VP Channel Sales
Ariba

2. Cost Comparisons of Various “Go To Market” Programs: Criteria and Challenges to Overcome

Because lowering costs is an imperative for every business today, applying effective cost comparison strategies is an absolute must! The question is: what criteria should be applied to various “Go To Market” programs? How do you define and select them? What challenges will you most likely face in the process? And how can you overcome them?

3:30 PANEL DISCUSSION: The 5 Best Ways To Leverage Compensation To Drive Behaviors

During this panel, you will have a chance to explore best-inclass practices and next-in-class strategies for channel sales compensation and partner compensation. How do you analyze how to use compensation elements to drive desired behavior in your channel, how do you drive incremental sales through existing partners, and how do you drive partner loyalty, engagement and revenue? Attend this interactive session and learn how to:

• Explore best practices for channel sales compensation and partner compensation strategies
• Analyze how to use compensation elements to drive desired behavior in your channel
• Drive incremental sales through existing partners
• Grow specific areas of your business
• Clear out well-entrenched competitors
• Show how to drive partner loyalty, engagement and revenue

4:15 40 Ideas In 60 Minutes

Our panel of experts will break down the tools and activities that had the greatest impact on their business. The panel will also brainstorm next steps and outline key takeaways for the conference participants for next day action. Topics of discussion will include:

• Maximizing the ROI of Your Co-Op and MDF Programs
• How Effective is Social Media for Your Channel Programs?
• Managing Partners Throughout the Program Life Cycle: Best Practices for Maximizing Your Returns
• 10 Most Common Mistakes You Can Make Building and I mplementing Your Reseller Program and How to Avoid Them

5:00 Chairperson’s Closing Remarks & End Of Conference