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UC Summit 2014 Agenda

April
27
Day 1
April
28
Day 2
April
29
Day 3
April
30
Day 4

The agenda for the UC Summit is designed to provide opportunities for learning, networking and building relationships.

The UC Summit officially begins at 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 27, 2014. For attendees who arrive early in the day on Sunday, UCStrategies presents breakout sessions on a variety of topics starting at 2 p.m. 

Sunday, April 27

Time Sunday, April 27
Noon - 5:00 p.m. Registration open
2:00 - 2:45 p.m. UCStrategies Breakout - The Elephant in the Room 2014: Lync - UCStrategies Expert Kevin Kieller - Learning Theater
2:00 - 2:45 p.m. UCStrategies Breakout - High-Value UC Apps to Drive SI Growth and Profits - UCStrategies Expert Marty Parker - Pacifica Ballroom
  Customer investments are increasingly shifting to the applications for UC, i.e. those things that will transform the workflows in specific parts of their businesses. These transformations usually produce very high returns that will fund your professional services engagements, year after year. This session will spotlight where those applications can be found, so you can create lasting customer relationships that will fuel growth and profits even as the traditional VoIP markets are commoditized.
2:45 - 3:00 p.m. Break
3:00 - 3:45 p.m. UCStrategies Breakout - Mobility Mash-up - UCStrategies Expert Michael Finneran - Learning Theater
  The mobility market continues to grow and develop, and in this session UCStrategies own Michael Finneran will bring you up to date on developments in a long list of areas. Those would include: Mobile Device Management (or “Enterprise Mobility Management”), the new 802.11ac products on the Wi-Fi front, and the renewed interest in Mobile UC over Wi-Fi driven by the UC SDN standards and the Wi-Fi Alliance’s developing multimedia standards for real time voice and video. We’ll also look at the bigger question of who is going to be running the show on mobility.
3:00 - 3:45 p.m. UCStrategies Breakout - Where does the Cloud Play for UC, Both as Infrastructure and for UCaaS? - UCStrategies Experts Dr. Joseph Williams and Dave Michels - Pacifica Ballroom
  Dave and Joseph will provide an assessment of how the Cloud is being used by enterprises. The drivers and opportunities, and what's really occurring. The trend towards enterprise hybrid clouds will be examined. The slow traction for UC as a Service (SMB / multitenant solutions) will also be discussed. Ways forward to unlock more economic value from the Cloud will be presented.
3:45 - 4:00 p.m. Break
4:00 - 4:20 p.m. ★ UC Summit Welcome ★ - Pacifica Ballroom
4:20 - 4:45 p.m. Keynote - ShoreTel - Pacifica Ballroom
4:45 - 5:10 p.m. Keynote - SMART Technologies - Pacifica Ballroom
5:10 - 5:30 p.m. Meet Some of the Sponsors - Pacifica Ballroom
5:30 - 8:00 p.m.         Welcome Reception - Solutions Hall - La Jolla Ballroom - Sponsored by UCStrategies.com
8:00 - 9:30 p.m. Private Sponsor Wine Reception - Trinitas Wine Bar
8:00 - 9:30 p.m. Drinks on IntelePeer - Mustangs & Burros

Monday, April 28

Time Monday, April 28
7:00 - 7:45 a.m. Breakfast - Grande Room
7:00 - 7:45 a.m. Consultant Breakfast - Special Session with HP - Magnolia
8:00 - 8:15 a.m. Let's Get This Party Started - Pacifica Ballroom
8:15 - 8:45 a.m. ★ Opening Remarks ★ Jim Burton - Pacifica Ballroom
8:45 - 9:45 a.m. UC Expert Session - Technology Trends - UCStrategies Experts Dave Michels, Dr. Joseph Williams, and Michael Finneran - Pacifica Ballroom
  There is a lot going on in UC - what do you need to know? This session will review four major tech trends and shifts that will be impacting dealers and consultants. The four topics are: WebRTC, Video, Cloud, and Wireless technologies.
9:45 - 10:15 a.m. Break  
10:15 - 10:55 a.m. Keynote - HP - Pacifica Ballroom
10:55 - 11:35 a.m. UC Expert Session - Technology Trends to Watch - Virtualization, SDN & WebRTC - Dave Michels and Michael Finneran - Pacifica Ballroom
  There are a number of trends to watch - including Virtualization, SDN & WebRTC - Dave and Michael will explore the technologies that will evolve over the next 12-24 months that hae the potential of impacting our industry.  
11:35 - Noon Keynote - Mitel - Pacifica Ballroom
Noon - 1:30 p.m. Lunch & Solutions Hall Open - La Jolla Ballroom
1:30 - 2:15 p.m. UCStrategies Breakout (for SIs and Sponsors): The UC Partner Ecosystem: Do Vendors Need to Step It Up? - UCStrategies Expert Dr. Joseph Williams - Pacifica Ballroom
  Have the major UC vendors overestimated the “halo” effect of their brands in energizing their partner channels?  A lot of evidence suggests that the answer is yes.  What do channel partners need from the UC vendors in terms of time, dollars, and demand generation?  How should the UC Vendors be thinking about channel conflict, support, and incentives?  How to make the UC Partners a real strategic advantage for a UC Vendor?  A panel of resellers will discuss and offer suggestions to ignite this important ecosystem.
1:30 - 2:15 p.m. UCStrategies Breakout (for Consultants) - UC Adoption - Key Trends to Build Your Practice - UCStrategies' Mick Sawka - Magnolia
  This will be an open discussion for consultants on how to bring UC to bear on building their practices. Among the issues we intend to explore are the cloud, mobility, business continuity and deployment options for UC, and how to use these elements to expand the range of services you can offer to clients.
2:15 - 2:30 p.m. Break
2:30 - 2:55 p.m. Sponsor Keynote - NEC - Pacifica Ballroom
2:55 - 3:15 p.m. Break
3:15 - 4:00 p.m. Focus Session #1
  Focus sessions give each vendor the opportunity to privately present to small groups of resellers or consultants. These sessions can focus on product/technology, channel programs, or whatever the sponsor wants to focus on, but is not a repetition of a general session or keynote. Attendees are grouped by interest topic, size or demographic, or other factors. These sessions are held in private meeting rooms. Small groups allow for maximum interaction. Sponsors may request certain types of participants in their sessions, such as SI’s focused on SMBs, cloud services, etc.
4:00 - 4:15 p.m. Break
4:15 - 5:00 p.m. Focus Session #2
5:30 - 7:00 p.m. Pre-Dinner Reception in Solutions Hall - La Jolla Ballroom - Sponsored by CLP Central
7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Dinner - Sponsored by HP - Mustangs & Burros
8:30 - 10:00 p.m. After-Dinner Reception

Tuesday, April 29

Time Tuesday, April 29
7:00 - 7:45 a.m. Breakfast - Grande Room
7:00 - 7:45 a.m. Sponsors Breakfast - For those sponsors who want to learn more about CLP Central - Magnolia
8:00 - 8:50 a.m. UC Expert Session - Omni-channel Customer Experience - UCStrategies Experts Blair Pleasant, Art Rosenberg, and Don Van Doren - Pacifica Ballroom
 

Contact Centers have long been a source for profitable business. Today, unified communications concepts and technologies are bringing the potential to dramatically change how contact centers operate to interact with their customers. These changes offer additional opportunities for both Channel Partners and Consultants to sell products and professional services to design, configure, and implement these capabilities.

In this session, Blair Pleasant, Art Rosenberg, and Don Van Doren will explore these emerging changes and their implications for Channel Partners and Consultants. They will look at the trends and the new technologies and how they impact the ways companies interact with their customers. Mobile apps, social networking, unified communications tools, and other emerging capabilities will be explored. 
8:50 - 9:10 a.m. UC Expert Session - FOX e-Procurement - Changing the Game...How Successful UC Technology is Acquired - UCStrategies Expert Roberta J. Fox - Pacifica Ballroom
  Taking 30 years of government and large enterprise complex technology procurement experience, FOX GROUP has developed web-based and three dimensional automated analysis tools and methods to help vendors and clients work together to successfully procure and implement enterprise and government UC solutions.
9:10 - 9:30 a.m. UC Expert Session - Selling UC Benefits - UCStrategies Expert Phil Edholm - Pacifica Ballroom
9:30 - 10:00 a.m. Break
10:00 - 10:50 p.m. UC Expert Session: Developing UC Value - Differentiating in a Commoditized Market - Marty Parker, Steve Leaden, and Bill MacKay - Pacifica Ballroom
  The value of UC is in the solutions, not just the technology. In this discussion among the panel and with the audience, these UC Expert consultants will review many ways to develop UC value based on their diverse client experiences ranging from contact centers, to Cloud options, to UC overlay applications, to the needs for safety (E-911), security and compliance.
10:50 - 11:15 a.m. Keynote - Unify - Pacifica Ballroom
11:15 - 12:15 p.m. Success Stories - Pacifica Ballroom
  Sponsors will present a Success Story that details a recent implementation of their product or service. These Success Stories will include lessons learned and how challenges were overcome.
12:15 - 1:15 p.m. Lunch
1:15 - 2:15 p.m. Special Session for Consultants and Resellers (No Vendors) - The UC&C Vendor Landscape - Blair Pleasant, Marty Parker, Dave Michels - Learning Theater
  It's hard to stay current on all the competition, but that's what we do at UCStrategies. Join Blair Pleasant, Marty Parker and Dave Michels for a casual review of the vendor landscape. In this informative session, we will take you through each of the major vendors and hit on key strengths, challenges, and recent changes.
1:15 - 2:15 p.m. Vendor Session - Products and Solutions Offered by UCStrategies - Clark Richter and Jim Burton - Magnolia
2:15 - 2:30 p.m. Break
2:30 - 2:55 p.m. Keynote - Sonus - Pacifica Ballroom
2:55 - 3:15 p.m. Break
3:15 - 4:00 p.m. Focus Session #3
4:00 - 4:15 p.m. Break
4:15 - 5:00 p.m. Focus Session #4
5:30 - 7:00 p.m. Pre-Dinner Reception - Sponsored by Unify
7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Dinner - Garden Courtyard
8:30 - 10:00 p.m. After-Dinner Reception - Sponsored by NEC - Trinitas Wine Bar

Wednesday, April 30

Time Wednesday, April 30
7:00 - 7:45 a.m. Breakfast - Grande Room
8:00 - 9:00 a.m. UC Expert Session - Quantitative UC Decision Tool and Process - Phil Edholm - Pacifica Ballroom
  All of the major vendors have similar UC offers with similar benefits. While there are differences between the offers, comparing the offers on features alone is difficult. And with major UC vendors having strong strategic relationships in many accounts and strong internal advocates, this decision process is very complicated. This session will introduce a quantitative analysis technique that can be used with clients and customers to analyze the options and drive a decision. The tool can be applied to multiple vendors simultaneously and enables a politically charged decision process to be effectively managed. All attendees will receive a copy of the tool and instructions.
9:00 - 9:30 a.m. Keynote - Microsoft - Pacifica Ballroom
9:30 - 9:45 a.m. The Big UC Giveaway - Pacifica Ballroom
9:45 - 10:15 a.m. Break
10:15 - 11:30 a.m. UC Expert Session - UC Lessons Learned Since Last Year...From the Trenches - The Consultants Viewpoints - Roberta J. Fox - Pacifica Ballroom
 

Below are questions to be answered from consultants that primarily work with end users to develop strategies, architectures, acquisitions and migrations.

1. What are the top trends and changes that have happened in the UC space since last year?
2. Why do you think these changes have occurred?
3. Why are customers looking to move to UC solutions now?  If not, what is holding them back?
4. What are the good, the bad, and the ugly areas that customers should consider and why?  And lastly…
5. What advice would we give to the UC VARS, resellers and manufacturers to ensure success?
11:30 - Noon Closing Remarks - Pacifica Ballroom
Noon - 12:30 p.m. Box Lunch and Airport Return

Agenda is subject to change.

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