My focus here at Microsoft is to help startups be as successful as possible, leveraging every asset that Microsoft can provide. One of the key aspects of this engagement support is events. When I was at Great Plains, I managed the Microsoft relationships, and had a friend and sponsor at Microsoft corporate, actually a few of them, and they taught me that Microsoft is an event driven company. It was back then, more than 10 years ago, and it is now.
As a startup you can engage in Microsoft events at multiple levels, from a local level, to get to know folks in the local Microsoft office, from a regional level, at an event in Asia or Europe, or at a Global level. These events are either a Microsoft event that is globally focused or an event that Microsoft has a significant annual presence.
I have a new BizSpark One company I am working with, Soluto, who leverage the PC Genome project to tune-up your PC. In working through what we, i.e. Microsoft and Soluto, can most effectively do together, for them, I went right to event planning. Soluto needs to get visible in the Microsoft ecosystem, mostly business and enterprise, but consumer as well. In thinking through this, I wanted to make the key, global, 2011 events visible to all startups. Some of our BizSpark team will be at each of these events, so don't hesitate to ping me and I will make sure you are connected. The event, dates, links and key audience is described for each.
2011 International CES (Consumer Electronics Show), January 6-9, Las Vegas
This is not a Microsoft managed event, but Microsoft has a large and consistent presence every year. This is consumer focused. Essentially the show where retailers like Target and Best Buy go to see what they will be buying and putting in the stores for the next Christmas, i.e. 2011. Microsoft usually shows off what will be coming in the next year and has all the current products and many showcase ISV's in the Microsoft booth. The Microsoft booth is BIG, the size of a GAP store or so. You can see my previous posts on showcase scenarios from an event like CES.
MIX 11, April 12-14, Las Vegas
This is the Microsoft sponsored webby event. It's a good place to learn about the latest Microsoft technologies in the web arena and more engaging client content. It's a great place to network and get connected to Microsoft focals and strong developers on the Microsoft platform. Not really a place where you will sell product, but good networking, and a good place to start your Microsoft relationship.
Convergence 2011, April 10-13, Atlanta
Convergence is the Microsoft event focused on the business user, and the VAR (Value Added Reseller) channel. If you want to sell to the mid-market business segment, you have to go to this conference. It's loosely based on what the old Great Plains Stampede conference was focused on, matching products with partners and customers. There is some high end enterprise focus as well. Good place for research, to test channel ideas, and evaluate pricing models, regardless of your chosen distribution channel.
Tech Ed 2011 (North America), May 16-19, Atlanta
This is Microsoft's IT focused event. Microsoft has always had a relationship with the IT managers at corporations and all sizes of businesses, and this is the event focused on keeping and nurturing this relationship. If you want to sell to this audience, you need to go to this conference. And if you want to get connected to Microsoft and its business sales channel, then you need to make friends here.
E3 Expo 2011, June 7-9, 2011
This is not Microsoft's event, but we have used it consistently to announce our latest XBOX and entertainment offerings. It is perhaps the best collection of XBOX folks that get to a single event. And if you have been following the activities on the XBOX, there are more opportunities for BizSpark companies to leverage the platform and get their games and entertainment content published.
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, July 10-14, Los Angeles
Do you want to talk to HP or Dell? How about EDS or Accenture? This is the conference where you can have those conversations. Also, this is where many of the field focused sales contacts from Microsoft can be met. As a Microsoft partner, which you are if you followed the instructions on BizSpark, you can attend this conference. There are no customers, just distribution partners, so have your business models ready.
Those are the events. Yeah, much of my team will be at the TechCrunch's, DEMO's, LeWeb's (a great one), and South by Southwest(SXSW). And we will be happy to chat with you and discuss Microsoft engagement activities. But when you want to go big in the established Microsoft markets and get plugged into the Microsoft ecosystem, these are the events you want to attend, learn from, and perhaps be featured in some day. It's nice to be on the edge, but it's profitable to be in the mainstream.
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