By Carl Lewis
ASUG Program Chair
The 2012 SAP Business One Summit - 100% Business One All The Time
Three years ago the ASUG SAP Business One Summit began in Beaverton, Oregon at the iconic headquarter for Nike. Last year it successfully moved eastward to the Lake Lanier Conference center just outside Atlanta, Georgia. Now in its third occurrence, the ASUG SAP Business One Summit is in the minds of some, if not everyone, the most significant event in the world for SAP Business One. No other event brings together the entire SAP Channel, which includes resellers, software solutions providers, SAP staff and most importantly the customers. It is quite simply one hundred percent SAP Business One all the time for three consecutive days.
This year, there is a NEW reason to attend the Summit – FREE Training. There are 17 FREE training classes being offered on Wednesday the 14th – the first official day of the Summit.
Why should everyone involved with SAP Business One want to attend this event?
There are at least five good reasons:
- Education – There are 42 sponsors to interview, 17 free training classes to choose from, and 42 Workshops that deliver valuable content.
- Networking – You can count on the fact that nearly everyone involved with SAP Business One will attend the Summit. In three short days you can deepen relationships and move forward more quickly because this is a face-to-face encounter.
- Influence – SAP and the other publisher of SAP Business One specific solutions make themselves available for feedback, ideas, and even criticism. The Summit has become a valuable place to introduce new ideas and preview new releases.
- Unfolding The Future – Each year the emphasis on new technology has increased its presence at the Summit. Customers see over the business horizon. It fulfills the reason they selected SAP Business One for their business; they needed a solution for today, tomorrow and beyond.
- Cost Effectiveness – The Summit takes great care to deliver value to every segment of the overall audience that attends. The interests of SAP, Resellers, SSPs, and their customers are not identical, but they do overlap in certain places. We take advantage of the overlap simultaneously ensuring that interest groups such as developers, reseller councils, SSP councils, golfers, SAP, industry groups and more can use the event to obtain additional value. One plane ticket, one hotel bill, and a value packed three day event.
Every Year I am asked questions such as, what training session should I attend? Or what workshop do you think will be most valuable for my organization? With so many choices, it can seem difficult to make a final determination, but I do have some simple suggestions to make. Hopefully, they can help insure that everyone returns home from the Summit with a big story to tell.
How to acquire value from the ASUG SAP Business One Summit
1. Plan Ahead –
a. Review The Agenda - Select the 10 workshops you absolutely will not miss.
b. Review The Abstracts Collection – Specifically, for your 10 pre-selected workshops.
c. Study The Sponsor List (Logos) – Meet the representatives of software solutions you are running in your SAP Business One environment
d. Review -The Facility Maps – know where you are going ahead of time
2, Divide and Document – If you are the only person attending from your company consider sending one additional person. If there are two or more of you, split up – meet together for meals and breaks only. Bring a bag, take notes, collect business cards, and gather brochures.
3. Review Daily - You had a plan before you arrived, but maybe you will hear something the first day that will modify the plan. Treat the Summit in a strategic manner and it will deliver a far better reward.
4. Ask For Help – Asking for help is a higher level skill. If you need clarification, make sure you get it. If you are confused or need advice, there a plenty of well-trained people at this Summit who can help.
a. Ask SAP – 20 plus staff members will be in attendance
b. Ask a Customer – a very untapped resource
c. Ask your Reseller – there is no billable time at the Summit
d. Ask the publisher – SAP or an SSP
5. Follow Up – Create a written report and deliver it to your co-workers and invite them to look over the materials, brochures and documents you returned with. If you wish to see additional demonstrations of solutions, contact your reseller and recruit their help to do so. From the business cards you selected, send an email to all the people you met and expand your network of SAP Business One contacts.
The ASUG Business One Summit is only 32 days away. There is plenty of time to register and make your plans to attend. Take advantage of these powerful few days and join 450 other SAP Business One users in Dallas Texas, at the Plano Centre, November 14-16th. It’s an event you can’t afford to miss.
CBL>
ASUG SAPO Business One documetn can be found at - http://tinyurl.com/9korgst
You can register at - http://tinyurl.com/3purwx6
Carl Lewis carl.lewis@vision-33.com serves as an ASUG Volunteer – he is the Program Chair for the Special Interest Group representing SAP Business One. He is employed by Vision33 an SAP Business One reseller.
