Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the Information Technology Alliance Conference in Atlanta, GA. There, I was able to attend many fantastic sessions, a very informative and eye opening roundtable, and be introduced to some very interesting people. Whenever you are in a situation when would-be competitors sit down to share compare notes on common challenges, everyone is going to walk away a winner.
Some of my major take-aways from this session include re-emphasizing value/return on investment with when working with clients, insights into social media(Wayne Schulz, Joe Rotella, Ed Kless and John Jantsch), learning how firms are handling the economy (Alf Nucifora from Nucifora Consulting Group) and learning a few presentation techniques that I will be adding to my everyday life (Joey Asher from Speechworks). Most importantly, I was able to get an identity as a partner as opposed to directly working for a software vender. There are some subtle differences I was able to discuss with some of my peers.
I was also able to put a face to a voice and email to Jim, a great guy and my sales partner who takes care of the business side while I concentrate on the technical aspects.
Just add in some southern cooking,smooth travel, and a Sox game where Jacoby steals home plate against the Yankees and I must say this was a fantastic trip.