Attendees say the 11th Annual Intelisys Channel Connect event may have been the best ever!

Channel Partners

November 4, 2010

3 Min Read
Channel Surfing Blog: Intelisys Partners Learn, Live It Up in Napa


By Patrick Wefers,
INFINIUM Communications

Going into the 2010 Channel Connect is was difficult to imagine the event getting any better.

It all started off in great fashion with a welcome reception Wednesday night. It always impresses me how the East Coast folks are often the last to turn in despite the three-hour time advantage us Left Coasters have on them.

Thursday started off with the Partner Roundtable, which unfortunately I had to miss due to some client emergencies (or perhaps it was that last beverage I had with the Global Crossing team early that morning  you decide!)  My day started with the vendor presentations in the Wine Cave. 

Its worth spending a moment on these presentations. Instead of giving each vendor a half hour or more to speak, they get 15 minutes. Until this year, I never understood the brilliance of this. This time limit essentially forces the carriers to get right to the point and keeps all the information relevant. We no longer have to hear a 10-minute introduction about the companys funding, route miles or standard fluff to be found on the website. They keep all that information to one slide and get straight to the good stuff (new products, promotions or other timely information) so that there is time for some brief Q&A.

One of the other invaluable aspects of this event is that it caters to agents at all stages of their business. If you are new to the channel, you get the vendor presentations and the vendor fair which will greatly expand your knowledge of what is out there. You also get introduced to the people that you interact with and support your efforts. For folks that have been in the channel for a longer time, they get to arrange one-on-one face time with many of the carriers in private meetings. This is a unique opportunity to speak with many of the teams that support our businesses and help foster those invaluable relationships.

Thursday evening is all about the vendor dinners. Carriers and agents partner up for an evening of great food and conversation. Sometimes the conversations revolve all around work, but often its a great time to get to know the folks that you work with. This year I had the pleasure of dinner with the incredible Integra team and the savvy Silent Partner Telecom contingent. It was a wonderful combination of food and conversation. 

Friday was a day spent away from presentations and focused on spending time enjoying ourselves. Although there were plenty of CrackBerries and iPhones to go around, most folks made an effort to avoid work unless it was extremely important. For me, it was the wine tour (which my golfing buddies are still giving me a hard time for). It started with the Chateau Montelena (BottleShock anyone?), followed by two other amazing wineries.  After the first few tastings you could tell that it was going to be a fun day with this group, and we werent disappointed. From using the wine barrel outhouse at Fleury to the barrel tasting a Del Dotto it was a day that will not soon be forgotten.

As we all got back to the Meritage and began the recovery (or continued at the bar), stories were told and people compared their various excursions. It was all in preparation for the final hurrah at the awards dinner that night. The fantastic meal was easily overshadowed by the energy and camaraderie in the room. Jay Bradley welcomed us and acted as emcee all evening long. Rick Dellar set the tone with a heartfelt speech about what made this evening so special. As awards were given out, the congratulations flowed from suppliers and competitors alike it was quite a unique and amazing evening.

It was definitely difficult to imagine how Intelisys could have improved over last year but somehow they did. I cant wait to see what they have in store for next years event!

Patrick Wefers is president of

Infinium Communications

, which provides analysis, design, procurement and management of carrier services for business clients all across the globe.

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