How quickly a year comes around. Last years event in Frankfurt is still fresh in my mind. Nevertheless, it is good to see another year of success at Sendmail EMEA and a chance to meet up with new and old customers alike.
Due to the downturn in the global economy, the desire to cut down on expenses by all user group attendees was apparent. Sendmail obliged by hosting two separate events to reduce travel cost making it more accessible nearer to where our key customers are located. Sendmail decided to do the road show format and hosted two events taking it to the customers – one in London and the other in Berlin. As a presenter of two topics, I attend both venues. I will try and give an account of both if I can remember it all.
The London venue was at the Britannia International Hotel, Canary Wharf in the Docklands. I must say it was well located and easily reachable for local customers or if they flew in from abroad.
London – Day one:
I arrived just before 9am in time for the registration and coffee. Had to rush a bit since it was on me to bring and setup the projector. Had a bit of trouble syncing the Dell laptop with the projector. As usual, it was down to the driver and utilities installed and the controls the notebook and external monitor. With that finally sorted we were set for the presentations. The actual start time was 10am. The conference was very well attended. Of all confirmed invitees, only one did not show. There were a number of customers representing sectors from finance, high tech and database software companies. The mix of attendees was equally split technical and decision makers.
Our VP of EMEA, Ian Emery, made a warm welcome and also re-caped the purpose and aims of the user group meeting. He reflected back on last year’s event highlighting Sendmail’s desire to accommodate special requests and willingness to listen to our customers. He also stressed that this year’s theme was based on helping our customers to save money and enhance their existing Sendmail infrastructure. Our SVP and COO, Glen Vondrick, followed next with a very comprehensive talk about Sendmail’s strategy and reviewed our position in the market with future directions on the company. This was very well received providing reassurance to our key customers who have committed to Sendmail products and solutions. Glen also gave the iPhone analogy to explain the Sendmail Sentrion product strategy.
My next post will talk about the presentations our customers gave! Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
End of Part 1.