Quick Jump Menu to this Month’s Articles Twenty eight days and counting ..! I Can See Clearly Now, HDTV Is Here – Or Is It? NSTW Party – Sunday in the Park, You’d Think It Was the Fourth of July Telecom ’03 Exhibition Preview: Conferences – It’s a Tough Life, But Someone Has Got to Do It Questions, StreamingTV, Dave Hood Follow-up, Privacy
Conferences – It’s a Tough Life, But Someone Has Got to Do It
by Ken Pyle
September, 2003 Issue
It has been said many times that one could spend all of their time attending conferences. And even in a down economy, that adage is still accurate. In this era of budget cuts, conference attendance is often one of the first things to be eliminated. Conference attendance is an investment, however, is critical for keeping up with the many regulatory, technology and business changes that are impacting the industry.. The pay-off is long-term.
Attending these conferences is as much about networking and making connections, as it is hearing the speakers and seeing the product demonstrations. With that, please find the following list of a few upcoming conferences that may be of interest, as they are dealing with issues near and dear to independent telephone companies:
NTCA’s TechNet Business Briefing, 2003 IOC Wireless Symposium, October 8th to 10th
Seattle, WA is the spot for NTCA’s Business and Technology’s “2003 IOC Wireless Symposium”. Having attended their May, “Fiber: Opticmize Your Network” conference, I am impressed with their ability to put on a class conference. Bernie Arnason and his team have put together a comprehensive agenda of over 25 hours of content dealing with virtually every aspect of wireless. I am looking forward to attending this conference to understand where the state of the industry is with regards to video delivery over wireless, as well as seeing clever ways telcos are using wireless, particularly Wi-Fi, for marketing their other services.
USTA’s Telecom ’03 Annual Conference and Exhibition, October 11th to 15th
Telecom ’03 is a comprehensive conference and exhibition that provides a comprehensive look at the business opportunities for telcos in voice, data and video. Speakers include influential Congressman W.J. “Billy Tauzin” (R-LA) , Martin Schwarz, General Manager, Broadband Solutions Real Networks and Brian Strom, President and CEO of SureWest Communications, a California-based independent telephone company. I am looking forward to learning a great deal at this show.
OSP EXPO 2003, November 11th to 13th, Colorado Convention Center, Denver, Colorado
I have never been to this conference, but I have heard good things about this event. The registration is practically free for this combination conference and exhibition. This conference focuses on the nuts and bolts of the technology and techniques necessary for telcos to upgrade their plant to cover the fundamentals, as well as the triple play. Fifty two overview seminars are available for “free” for attendees, while there are ten so-called advanced seminars. At ten dollars, registration is practically free.
TelcoTV Conference and Expo 2003, November 12th to 14th, Las Vegas, NV:
Last year’s conference was a great forum for telcos to network and learn about technology, content and regulatory issues surrounding video and telephone companies [click here for last year’s review]. It had a welcome does of optimism after the bubble burst. Although, at first glance this would appear to be very similar to the conference produced by Viodi, I encourage you to attend this as well as our conference. In many ways, the agendas of the two conferences are complementary. At this point, with the industry so fragmented and with competition coming from all directions, there probably cannot be enough education and networking on this ever-changing video business.
The Western Cable Show, December 2nd to 5th, Anaheim, CA
The Western Cable Show is probably my favorite big show, maybe because, in 1980, it was the first major show I attended. It was the show that was glitz and glamour. It was the show where Disney launched the Disney Channel by opening up the park to attendees. It was the show that featured the latest in cable technology. Just three years ago, it rivaled the National Cable show in terms of size, drawing 30,000+ attendees. Unfortunately, the boom turned it into a bust. This is the swan song for this show. I especially encourage attendance at this show, as it will give the cable perspective on the video, hi-speed Internet and, even, the telephony business.
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