I am currently sitting in Orlando, Florida listening to a presentation from Portland General Electric, my old utility company when I lived in Portland. Huh, Small world. However, the reason I am in Orlando is for the Gartner BPM Summit. BusinessGenetics does not have a booth here at the event, but myself and Steve Baker are attending to learn about trends in the industry, network and meet those who are interested in BPM and process improvement.
Not having a booth provides a great amount of flexibility when attending these shows. I am not chained to one location, end users don't run from us or avoid us at all possible costs and I can actually hear what people are looking for, what their pain points are and get to know them on a personal level before introducing the fact that I do work for a vendor/solution provider. Which, in terms of marketing and sales, I get to establish trust with someone and develop a conversation without the "hardsell" of hosting a booth.
I have met some great people, Sandy Kemsley with Kemsley Design and a blogger who is posting during every session here. Her blog if you are interested is here.
We also ran into a gentleman from State Farm who had taken a training course approximately five years ago and who is interested in hearing about what BG has done since that time.
I am looking forward to the sessions today and to meeting up with a current client of ours for lunch. If anyone is interested in learning more about the Gartner BPM Summit or you are a tweeter, check out their website here and their tweets here.