Not even Hurricane Irma could stop MicroCorp from taking attendees “In the Cloud” for the 14th Annual One on One event held September 10th and 11th at the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta.
One on One is one of the industry's essential events for thought leadership, inspiration, and learning. This year’s event lived up to its billing by providing rich and relevant content, meaningful networking, expert mentoring and product knowledge. Channel partners were able to personalize their event by selecting their individual provider meetings as well as partner roundtable sessions.
Event Highlights
Helicopter Rides: MicroCorp more than themed the event “In the Cloud” to reflect the event content, they let attendees take to the skies on helicopter rides over Atlanta. With all eyes toward the southeast skies, the impending storm didn’t stop channel partners from enjoying this once in a lifetime thrill. With the sunset displaying tones of MicroCorp’s purple and blue, the night could not have been more perfect. Attendees also enjoyed live music, bourbon tasting and a night of networking with their peers and providers.
Keynote - Lisa Miller: With MicroCorp as a Level 3 Communications MVP and at Diamond Level for CenturyLink, it was only fitting to bring the named leader of these combined companies to the stage. Lisa Miller, presently serving as Senior Vice President Wholesale, Indirect, Content, Inside & APAC Sales, shared her personal outlook on “Technology Innovation and The Impact on the Channel & Our Customers.”
Miller highlighted the new technology shift and how as consumers of technology, we are all becoming early adopters and the speed at which we adopt new technology is happening at a more rapid pace. This background became the premise of her primary message about adapting to disruptive technology – Blockchain. “Let’s ensure we all leave this room speaking about it…Blockchain. That’s right. Blockchain. It will make you question everything you think you know about the network and IT stack,“ commented Miller. Miller offered insight for channel partners on their role in innovation and guiding their customers. Miller shared, “The future involves more integrated, certified solutions developed and sold in an ecosystem of alliance partners.”
Lead Gen & Business Development Insight: MicroCorp sessions created dialogue between our speakers and attendees. Day one kicked off with two high-impact sessions – “The Anatomy of a Wildly Successful Lead Gen Campaign,” and “Partners at Their Peak.” Our high energy guest speaker, Angela Leavitt of Mojo Marketing, provided key steps for channel partners to build a winning lead gen plan. The power-packed session was followed by world-class partners providing insight on how they built — and continue to build — highly successful agencies and milestones they faced in building their niche. Attendees were able to ask questions of the experts to help gain ideas to advance their own agencies.
Platinum Battlerounds: Technology became a spectator sport as our Platinum sponsors went head-to-head on some the hottest topics in IT and cloud. Platinum sponsors included 8x8, BCN, CenturyLink, Comcast, Effortless, Level 3 Communications, Momentum, Spectrum-Navisite, Star2Star and Verizon. Sponsors were paired up, given the same question and 60 seconds to provide their insight. Channel partners received a variety of views and useful sound-bites in the areas of SD-WAN, Security and UC.
Building Your Ecosystem: Threaded throughout MicroCorp One on One event content was the concept of building an ecosystem of experts. Channel partner attendees were able to hear from Todd Smith of Open Spectrum about the benefits and live case studies of partners who have utilized Open Spectrum as their own compute division to build wider and deeper opportunities within a single customer. Smith and other members of Open Spectrum also serve as trainers in MicroCorp’s Ultimate Partners Training. Graduates of this training and their accomplishments were highlighted.
Drumming in Our Top Achievers: With the help of international performers, Industrial Rhythm, top sales achievers were drummed to the stage by the performers and audience to receive their award. MicroCorp recognized its Top Ten sellers as well as Top Billing Agent, GCN. Awards were also given for highest sales achievement in key product categories. In all, more than 30 awards for partner sales performance were given.
