What is Connect?

Format | Topics

 

Connect is a one-day executive technology event which tours from city to city hosted by local Chambers of Commerce.  Attendees choose from over 100 one-hour non-technical briefings presented by insiders from leading technology companies.

 

Attendance at Connect is by invitation only.  For more information about Connect in your city, please visit your local Chamber of Commerce website.

 

 

All Connect briefings are high level and low tech, geared to executives and their management teams.  The presenters are not propeller heads – these are people who understand the business side of the desk.  They help executives sort out the tools from the toys and decipher all the jargon like ISPs & ASPs, Intranets & Extranets.

 

As you arrive at the event, you will exchange your ticket for a set of invitations.  Pick an invitation.  It guides you to a certain suite.  Walk in, sit down, and lean in.  During the next 60 minutes, your presenter will take you on a grand tour.  Get inside the products and grasp the vision behind each company.

 

Each Connect event includes more than one hundred briefings delivered in dozens of briefing rooms.  Since almost no facility has this much meeting space we have had to be creative.  In most facilities, we take the beds out of an entire wing of a hotel and set up about a dozen chairs in each room.  Most of the presenters don’t even stand up, so think… conversational.

 

We dig right in at 8:00 AM with an interactive multimedia welcome program followed by breakout sessions running throughout the day.  We serve a buffet luncheon and wrap up in the late afternoon with a prize drawing where we give away a mountain of free gifts.

 

Virtually everything in business technology is covered at Connect, including computer software and hardware, communications, Internet and email, LAN and intranets, and technology services and outsourcing.

 

There are two types of rooms, sponsored and non-sponsored.  In a sponsored room, all briefings are from one company.  Most sponsored rooms present two or three topics and repeat them at least once in the morning and once in the afternoon.  Although most “sponsored” presentations are biased toward that company’s view of the technology, no selling is allowed at Connect.

 

Un-sponsored rooms include Power Panels, Round Tables, and Super Session rooms where you have a different presenter every hour, usually following a theme.  For example, in our “Internet Theater,” presenters address questions like, “Who’s making money on the World Wide Web?” or “How do I get faster access?” and “What about e-commerce?”

 

The event is divided into several flavors of briefings, or tracks, as follows: 

	EXECUTIVE BRIEFINGS include a variety of product demonstrations and comparisons.  Each includes a short presentation, and in-depth demonstration, and plenty of time for questions and answers.  Executive Briefings explore all the top-selling business technologies.
	CRYSTAL BALL BRIEFINGS give you a sneak preview of products not yet released to the market, or a glimpse at what is one the drawing board even further down the road.  You get information today to help guide you through tomorrow’s leap-frogging technologies.
	DOLLARS AND SENSE BRIEFINGS are targeted at financial officers, or at CEOs interested in the bottom line.  D&S briefings examine Total Cost of Ownership, Return on Investment, and
	HANDS ON LABS allow you to sit down and test drive the latest innovations, coached by personal, professional trainers.  You’ll pick up tips & tricks for the top-selling business software.  Some people spend the whole day in the labs.
	TECHNICAL BRIEFINGS allow you to dig into more technical topics like LAN and Intranets and computer hardware, and computer-telephone integration, and macro programming features.
	BIRDS OF A FEATHER BRIEFINGS are delivered in two formats.  “Round table” discussions are organized by title and by industry, CEOs, CFOs, Education, etc.  Moderators help keep things moving, but attendees do almost all the talking.  “Panel” briefings involved 3-5 experts on a panel and are organized by topic, e-Commerce, etc.  Panels are one-third introductory presentations and two-thirds questions from the audience.
	TEDDY BEAR BRIEFINGS are designed for executives who might not even know how to turn on a computer.  Morning Teddy Bear briefings are designed to get you up to speed fast on new technology concepts, so that you can intelligently attend related briefings later in the day.

 

You pick and choose the sessions you want, come and go as you please.

 

Between sessions, you are invited to visit the “Future Now” showcase area where we hand-select national and local technology experts who’s products and services fit the briefing topics.  Play with their hands-on exhibits.  “CONNECT” with your business colleagues.