By Michael Goodenough

You and I know how lucky we are to be in the channel business. At the spring Channel Partners Conference & Expo, I was privileged to share that knowledge by inviting two veterans to shadow me and get an introduction to an industry that offers a lot of opportunity. More on how that went in a minute. But first, I want to announce that I’m working with Khali Henderson at Women in the Channel (WiC) and Channel Partners to repeat our Veterans’ Mentorship And Shadowing Experience at Channel Partners Evolution in Washington, D.C., Aug. 14-17, 2016.  

This time, we would like to invite two female veterans to join us, under the auspices of Women in Channel, to learn about cloud, mobility, communications, security, end-user management, network design and IoT by participating in education, some one-on-one meetings, and just walking the exhibit floor. The idea is to have these vets shadow myself or WiC members during the event to learn firsthand about new technologies and solutions being implemented in businesses today, and to interact and network with successful entrepreneurs, CEOs, CIOs, CMOs, CTOs, engineers, product managers, marketers and salespeople.

Looking back to March in Las Vegas, many of you got to meet two wonderful veterans, Jameel Matin and Adam Dubois. Here’s some feedback from Adam and Jameel on their experience at the Channel Partners Las Vegas conference:

“The experience opened my eyes to an industry that I was not familiar with and one where I feel a big buzz of growth and excitement. From a big picture standpoint, I took what I learned from this experience and now have a better understanding of how powerful a tool cloud technology can be to any type of supply chain within any industry. I was able to think up my own idea on how we can use cloud technology in assisting with veteran hiring. This is just one example of how I benefited from this experience. I am very thankful for the opportunity to have been a part of the conference and I hope you will continue to provide opportunities for more veterans to participate in the future.” — Adam Dubois

“I’ll be honest, I had no idea what to expect at the Channel Partners Conference [and Expo]. All I knew from reading various articles was that the technology industry can be very lucrative as well as exciting to help people and companies be more efficient in their daily lives. I grabbed my notebook and pen, packed my bags and drove to Las Vegas where the conference was being held. Shadowing Michael was an eye-opening experience. One thing I particularly paid attention to was the social behaviors, such as how Michael was engaged with all types of people from sales reps to VPs to CEOs. This was something I was never exposed to in the Marine Corps — while I have closely worked with military colleagues, I have not been trained in dealing with professional civilians. Marines have their own way of dealing with people. They tend to be observant, to use filler words and to have no or little eye contact. I realized if I wanted a professional career in technology, I better learn how to interact with people in the industry. The addictive energy from the conference left me hungry for more exposure and knowledge. Due to my time shadowing Michael at the Channel Partners show, I continue to learn more about the industry and hope to establish a career in it.” — Jameel Matin

It doesn’t get much more rewarding that that. So what am I asking of channel colleagues? Two things:

What better place than Washington, DC, to give back, as an industry, to those who’ve served while also making a dent in the women in STEM deficit? Are you in?

Michael Goodenough is vice president of cloud solutions at BCM One. He is focused on driving BCM One’s future in cloud business by adding solutions that combine to create a unique approach to a true Intercloud.