| Written by Gennifer Biggs |
| August 06,
2009 |
 Good
tired. That is my first thought as I sit down with Kelly
Ricker, VP of Events and Conferences for CompTIA. With nearly
1,000 attendees moving smoothly from session to session, networking
oozing from every cluster of people, and the first three days of
Breakaway under her belt, Kelly has good reason to be smiling. "We kept
our expectations realistic for this event, so we are very pleased that
we've eclipsed last year's attendance numbers," says Kelly. While the
organization will still audit their numbers, they are confident they
have beat last year's number of 935.
Now it is on to the next round, says Kelly, and that means taking the
feedback from Breakaway and starting to not only build a bigger better
Breakaway in 2010, but also applying that feedback to upcoming events.
"We'll take the comments, look at the notes and videos from the event,
and not only consider that information as we try to improve our events,
but also use it to glean opportunities where we can support the
channel," says Kelly.
Next on the events schedule for CompTIA is the MSP IT Summit,
Oct. 7-9, and the CompTIA Annual member event, April 6-8, 2010.
And for those already thinking about the next Breakaway,
mark your calendar for Aug. 9-12, 2010, at a new site in San Antonio,
Texas.
For a full listing of upcoming events, check out the CompTIA.org
site
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Written by Gennifer Biggs
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| August
06, 2009 |
Exciting was the word Jeannine
Edwards, director of the ConnectWise Community, used as we
chatted in the CompTIA lounge on day two of Breakaway. ConnectWise is
highly dedicated to its channel, and it's Jeannine's responsibility to
explore what that community needs and how to deliver that information
to them (video, Facebook, online communities).
She shared that she felt a great deal of excitement throughout the
event – excitement about peer networking, vendor and VAR networking,
and more. ConnectWise interacts with its channel via several routes,
including ConnectWise TV programming, and face-to-face user groups,
which it hosts every quarter in every region throughout the United
States. "I like looking around here and see these VARs starting to
understand that partnering is a good way to grow – partnering with each
other, partnering with vendors," says Jeannine.
Coming soon is a new offering from ConnectWise that is geared toward
helping its users partner with other VARs and MSPs. The new version 2
of its ConnectWise Network allows users
to share ConnectWise tickets between their businesses, encouraging
outsourcing and the sharing of expertise.
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Written by Gennifer Biggs
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| August
05, 2009 |
It isn't often a
keynote speaker makes you laugh out loud and also delivers truly
actionable information. But that was the case when author
Patrick Lencioni took the stage at Breakaway. He shared –
in a mere 45 minutes – more information than many speakers could pass
along in hours. His focus was the idea that during a recession,
business leaders have the perfect opportunity to restructure and
improve their business.
"It is during times like this that we can find time to make our
organizations stronger, and that means the difficult time turns out to
be the best thing that ever happened to us," says Lencioni. "We often
know we need to do these thing, we know how to do these things – we
just don't always remember to do them, especially in the heat of
battle." Lencioni outlined two main points: the requirements for
success and the five dysfunctions of a team.
The two requirements for success are: being smart
(strategy, marketing, finance, technology) and being healthy (minimal
politics, minimal confusion, high morale, high productivity, low
turnover). The tricky part is nearly everyone knows how to be smart,
but the healthy portion of that equation can be where the real
challenge lay. One part of achieving a healthy corporate culture is
having a strong leadership team. But, you guessed it, that isn't as
easy as it seems. Which brings us to the five dysfunctions of
a team:
1. The Absence of Trust: Starting with the leader, there must be a
willingness to be vulnerable and open up to trust.
2. The Fear of Conflict: If you don't have trust, you can't have
conflict. Your team must be able to disagree or the issue ferments.
3. Lack of Commitment: If you skip conflict, you end up with no
commitment. If they don't weigh in, they don't buy in.
4. Avoidance of Accountability: The most common problem, and one best
resolved through peer-to-peer accountability and pressure.
5. Lastly, with all of the above comes a complete Lack of Results.
Lencioni says that, if you resolve the above team issues, you end up
with a leadership pyramid: results sitting atop layers of trust,
conflict, commitment, and accountability.
Want to know more? Check out Lencioni's website and book
list.
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