2014 IT Channel-Specific Event Calendar

By The Business Solutions Network

One of the best ways to learn is to speak with peers and share your best and worst practices. The best place to do that is at industry events. In addition to networking, conferences are also great places to partake in top-notch industry-specific education on technology, sales, and marketing. If you're not an events kind of person or company, you're missing out on huge growth opportunities.

I happened to be throwing together a list of channel-specific events the other day for internal purposes and thought it could be useful to share with you.

Don’t have the time to attend an event? That’s why I’m sharing this now, so you can plan accordingly. Don’t have the extra money? Your business is in big trouble if you can’t swing a grand or two to attend a show. Frankly, with all the changes in the IT world, you can’t afford not to go. However, if time and/or money are insurmountable obstacles, there must be some regional events you can make work.

Some of the following are partner conferences and/or invite only. My advice is to ask for an invite if you want to attend but aren’t a partner or don’t meet their requirements.

• Feb 19-20 — ASCII SMB IT Success Summit — Newport Beach, CA — Managed Services
• Mar 19-20 — ASCII SMB IT Success Summit — Austin, TX — Managed Services
• Mar 23-25 — Motorola Partner Conference — Las Vegas — AIDC
• Apr 1-4 — ISC West — Las Vegas — Physical Security
• Apr 7-9 — Ingram Cloud Summit — Hollywood, FL — Managed Services
• Apr 8-10 — ETA — Las Vegas — Payment Processing
• Apr 8-10 — RFID Journal Live — Orlando — AIDC
• Apr 13-18 — SYNNEX Spring VARNEX/Red, White and You Conference — Orlando, FL — All
• Apr 16-17 — ASCII SMB IT Success Summit — Chicago — Managed Services
• Apr 29 — Channel Transitions West — Santa Ana, CA — All
• May 7-10 — Ingram IMOne - Spring — New Orleans        — Managed Services
• May 12-14 — Catalyst Telecom Partner Conference — Savannah, GA — Telecom
• May 14-17 — Tech Select - Tech Data Partner Conference — Orlando, FL — Managed Services
• May 17-20 — NRA — Chicago — POS
• May 28-29 — ASCII SMB IT Success Summit — Columbus, OH — Managed Services
• Jun 8-10 — Autotask Community Live — Miami — Managed Services
• Jun 18-19 — ASCII SMB IT Success Summit — Atlanta (Pine Mountain, GA)
• Jun 23-26 — ESX — Nashville — Physical Security
• July 22 — Channel Transitions East — Boston — All
• July 30-31 — ASCII SMB IT Success Summit — Providence (Warwick, RI) — Managed Services
• Aug 4-7 — CompTIA Channelcon — Phoenix — Managed Services
• Aug 3-6 — RSPA RetailNOW — Orlando, FL — POS, Payment Processing
• Sep 8-10 — GFI MAX 2014 Customer Conference — Orlando, FL — Managed Services
• Sep 17-18 — ASCII SMB IT Success Summit — Phoenix, AZ — Managed Services
• Sep 17-19 — BlueStar’s VARTECH — New Orleans — POS, AIDC
• Sep 21-23 — Navigate - Continuum User Conference — Managed Services
• Sep 21-24 — Ingram IMOne - Fall — Las Vegas — Managed Services, AIDC, POS
• Sep 29 - Oct 2 — ASIS — Atlanta — Physical Security
• Oct 1-4 — SYNNEX National Conference — Greenville, SC — All
• Oct 7 — Channel Transitions Midwest — Chicago — All
• Oct 22-23 — ASCII SMB IT Success Summit, Cup Party — Atlantic City, NJ — Managed Services
• Nov 12-14 — IT Nation — Orlando, FL — Managed Services
• Nov 16-19 — SYNNEX Fall VARNEX Conference — Las Vegas — All
• Nov 2-6 — Money2020 — Las Vegas — Payment Processing