THE 2004 STRATEGIC PARTNER CONFERENCE WRAP UP....
 The
Strategic Partner Conference 2004 opened with a record, sold out,
participation of 125 customers in attendance at the
Don CeSar Hotel and Spa, St
Pete Beach, Florida. For the single registration fee
all meals, sessions and events were provided by O'Neil Software. We
would like to thank all the guest speakers, business partners and
each and every one who contributed to the educational success of
this years' conference.
Attendance
The
conference was a great learning experience for O'Neil's diversified
client base of over 500 companies, based in 51 countries. At
this show we had representatives from 28 US states and 9 countries
from Poland to Hong Kong. With the conference in Florida this
year, it was a little easier for O'Neil's East Coast and European
customers to attend. Thank you to everyone who attended and a
special thanks to those who had to travel a little further this
year.
Sessions
This
year, the Strategic Partner Conference
opened with an introduction from Ian Thomas, Vice President of
Business Development, on the format of the
conference. To start everyone off in a conference mood, he
then gave away a $1000 cash prize to the winner of a group of early
registrants. The winner was Leon McKie of Pacific Storage,
Sacramento who was, to say the least, stunned into silence.
(Leon is shown here with Tim O'Neil, President & CEO of O'Neil
Software, and Ian Thomas).
 Our
first educational speaker was the inspirational Gary Tobiczyk, who
delivered an entertaining and thought provoking talk on generating
new sales. Gary's demonstrated his vast industry experience, with
companies such as Pierce Leahy, and openly shared his knowledge with
the eager audience. Over the 2 days, customers were exposed to
7 customer speakers and 12 info-break presentations. The info-breaks proved to be
one of the most popular parts of the conference, giving attendees
the opportunity to learn more about the software they already own
and new features being introduced. Wireless communications,
wireless receipt printing and signature capture proved to be of
great interest to everyone. The info-breaks also allowed
attendees to spend time with our Strategic Vendor Partners, who
demonstrated how they add value to an existing O'Neil Software
purchase.
The Record
Center Challenge
This
year's challenge followed the boat theme from 2002 but with a
slightly different twist. Working in teams the goal was to
build a boat from one of the basic materials of record storage
(cardboard) and one member of the team had to race it across the
hotel swimming pool. Sounds easy? Far from it but our
10 intrepid teams approached the task with vigor, flair and a good deal
of humor.... and some of the boats really floated. The highlights are shown below. Click
on the photo to see it enlarged:
The Dinner
Cruise and Awards Ceremony
After the exciting Record Center Challenge, it
was only fair to let everyone relax with a dinner aboard the
beautiful Starship Dining Yacht. Three luxury buses took the
attendees on a short ride to Tampa, Florida where we boarded and
sailed in the gulf. After an enjoyable 3 course dinner the
Strategic Partner Awards session took place.
So what
did you think?
Our post-conference survey really said it all:
-
86% of attendees voted the conference as above
average or excellent with no below average scores.
-
100% voted the fee as reasonable.
-
74% voted the speakers as above average or
excellent
-
94% voted the location as above average or
excellent
-
81% voted the record center challenge as above
average or excellent
-
96% found the networking to be above average or
excellent
-
100% said they were likely to attend the next
conference
... and your comments were gratefully received.
It was great to see that so many of your view your relationship with
O'Neil Software as "Very Strong", "Strategic" or "A Partnership".
When it
all was over...
With an action packed few days such as these
there are many emotions at the end of it all.
|
New Friends were made... |
Old loves rekindled...
|
|
Some members of the support team took a
bow... |
...and some rested peacefully with their new
found knowledge of RS-SQL. |
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