BTA Southeast to Host Spring Break March 18-19 in New Orleans, Louisiana

(Kansas City, MO) February 4, 2016  — Are you embracing the managed IT services opportunities within your customer base — or are you leaving money on the table while risking having your customers stolen by the competition? Managed IT services cannot only provide a new revenue opportunity, but can also help to diversify your services offering and protect your base. Are you on track with your managed IT services strategy? With a focus on managed IT services, the Business Technology Association’s Spring Break district event, hosted by BTA Southeast, will help you better prepare your dealership to claim a greater share of this burgeoning opportunity. Spring Break will be held March 18-19 at the InterContinental New Orleans in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The event will feature a keynote session by Steven Shepard of Shepard Communications Group, a dealer panel focused on emerging technologies and seven additional educational sessions presented by industry experts. At the close of the event, BTA will provide admission tickets to the nearby National World War II Museum. Attendees may explore the museum at their leisure during the afternoon, and will convene as a group that evening for dinner and entertainment at the museum.

In addition, there will be time to visit with 40-plus exhibiting sponsors, many of which will hold drawings for great prizes during the event. Dealer attendees can also enter on-site for a chance to win one of five $100 American Express gift cards and be entered into the BTA District Event Sweepstakes.

Spring Break will begin at 7 a.m. on Friday, March 18, with breakfast, followed by opening comments at 8 a.m. The keynote address, “The Dance of Generations: Leading the Multigenerational Workplace,” led by Shepard, and the first two educational sessions will follow: “Why Revenue/Profit Diversification is Essential in the Evolving Office Technology Industry,” led by Jerry Newberry, president, and Jeffrey Kelly, senior partner, Pros Elite Group; and “Building a Managed IT Services Division,” led by Mat Wolfgram, vice president of sales, The Office Technology Group.

Lunch will be served after Wolfgram’s session, followed by two more educational sessions and the dealer panel. The afternoon educational sessions: “Managed IT Services: Build or Partner?,” led by Chip Miceli, president, Des Plaines Office Equipment Co. Inc. (DPOE); and “How to Build a Practice Selling Cloud & Hybrid Solutions,” led by Mike Fleetwood, senior business development and services manager, SYNNEX Corp. The dealer panel, “Emerging Technologies — Impact on Sales & Service Operations,” moderated by David Ramos, director of channel strategy service at InfoTrends, will include panelists: David Lynch, executive vice president of operations, Repeat Business Systems Inc., Albany, New York; Miceli; Doug Pitassi, president of Pacific Office Automation, Beaverton, Oregon; and Ken Staubitz, vice president of client services and aftermarket support at Modern Office Methods, Cincinnati, Ohio.

After the panel, a welcoming reception will be held from 5 until 7 p.m., giving attendees time to network with peers and exhibiting sponsors. Breaks between sessions on both days will also give attendees additional networking time.

The second day of Spring Break will begin at 7 a.m. on Saturday, March 19, with a continental breakfast, followed by the final three educational sessions: “Don’t Just Move Forward — Accelerate With Managed IT,” led by Britt Siedentopf, managed services manager, LeapForward Managed Services; “Managed IT Lead Generation & Onboarding Best Practices,” led by Lindsay Dick, director of sales, Collabrance LLC; and “Reaching New Heights Through Social Media,” led by Andy Slawetsky, president, Industry Analysts Inc. (IA).

From 2 until 9 p.m., attendees will travel to the National World War II Museum for a tour, dinner and entertainment.

The Spring Break exhibiting sponsors: ACDI, AgentDealer, Balboa Capital, BEI Services, Buyers Lab, Carolina Wholesale, Compass Sales Solutions, ConnectWise, Continuum, Crawford Thomas, DCS, Digitek, ECi FMAudit, EDA, Epson (March 18 Lunch Sponsor), ESP/SurgeX, EverBank, Evolved Office, GreatAmerica Financial Services, Gwentaa (March 18-19 Breaks Sponsor), Hytec, Image Star, Impression Solutions (March 19 World War II Museum/Dinner Sponsor), Katun, Laserfiche, Laser Pros International, Lease Corporation of America, Lexmark, LMI, MSE, Muratec, NA Trading and Technology, Nuance, OKI, OnePak, Panasonic (March 18-19 Breakfast Sponsor), Parts Now, PHSI, Polek & Polek, Print Audit, Q2, Supplies Network, SYNNEX, Tesseract, TonerCycle/InkCycle, Toshiba, TSAWorld, Wells Fargo and Xerox (March 18 Reception Sponsor).

BTA members receive 2-for-1 registration to Spring Break. BTA member dealer registration (with a National World War II Museum ticket) is $199, which includes the Friday and Saturday educational sessions and dealer panel; Friday breakfast, lunch and welcoming reception; and Saturday breakfast. BTA member registration without the World War II Museum ticket is $169 and also includes a second free registration. Non-member registration with a museum ticket is $249; non-member registration without a museum ticket is $219.

Arrive early and save! IBPI will host a members-only meeting March 16-18. IBPI members are invited to stay for BTA’s Spring Break for just $100. BEI Services will also host the BEI Solution Optimization Workshop on March 17 from 1 to 5 p.m. and will comp BTA’s Spring Break registration (click the link for details).

For more information on Spring Break, including full session descriptions and the registration form for the event, visit http://www.bta.org/BTASoutheastEvent.