You’ve likely seen our web, social, and email promotions for the ECM Renovation Roadshow events we’ve co-hosted with Alfresco in various cities over the last two months. While often plagued by bad weather, the events have been extremely popular and are often standing room only once the presentations begin. We’re so pleased with the response to these lunch and learn style programs that we are planning to expand the series to new locations this spring and summer.
For some inexplicable reason our events are destined to experience extreme conditions. You may recall the inclement weather we’ve experienced in Boulder the last two years during the Zia Summit. In 2012, while earlier in the week the weather was sunny and 85 degrees, the temperature plummeted to 30 degrees and snow fell on the day of the Summit. In 2013, Boulder experienced a 1000-year flood… right on top of our event. So, why should the Renovation Roadshows be any different?
Atlanta – “Deadly Ice Strom Turns Atlanta into Parking Lot, Strands Thousands”
The original date for the Atlanta event was January 30th. Our team was scheduled to fly in the day before, however, by Tuesday the 28th all of our flights had been cancelled due to severe snow and ice in Atlanta. It was quite apparent we were not going to make it, nor did registered attendees want to brave the treacherous roads to the venue. We heard several of our partners at Alfresco were stuck in their cars for hours on Tuesday, as were many of the attendees. So, one day before the event was suppose to take place, we scrambled to reschedule it for the following week—hoping that our flights, hotels, the event space, and all of our attendees would be able to accommodate the change. We were so fortunate that everything worked out and over 90% of the originally confirmed attendees showed up the following week.
The underlying theme of the Atlanta event was “integration”. First up, our SVP Phil Robinson introduced the concept of ECM Renovation using Zia’s migration, automation, and integration solutions. Then our CEO Mike Mahon took a deep dive into these solutions. Specifically, he discussed how easy it is to integrate Alfresco Enterprise with other technologies like SAP. We received excellent questions from the audience about our capture and Easy RM (records management) solutions. Presentation slides from this event can be found on our slideshare channel.
New York – “Deadly Winter Storm Hits Northeast”
We had an overwhelming response rate to our promotion of the New York event. Over 150 people registered for a space that held 60—unfortunately, we were not able to accommodate all the requests we received to attend the Renovation Roadshow in New York. We slightly modified our presentations for this event, focusing more on what the technology would do for the customer rather than how it specifically worked. This message seemed to resonate well with many attendees. We received numerous questions about migrating off of other ECM solutions to Alfresco and discussed the process for doing so. With an excellent turnout and strong audience engagement, we were pleased with the results. Slides for this presentation can be viewed here.
Getting to New York wasn’t difficult. But, the substantial snowfall made getting home a nightmare. Our flights were cancelled and rescheduled three times during the Roadshow event alone. Initial rescheduling had us stranded in NYC for three days. Ultimately, after numerous phone calls, delays, airport changes, waiting on the tarmac, and an overnight layover in Houston, we arrived home on Friday.
Silicon Valley
Once again, strong response to the event promotion in Silicon Valley meant we were not able to host all of the registered attendees. Luckily for this event, the weather was sunny and bright. A little rain was falling when we arrived, but overall the City by the Bay was good to us. We were also pleased to have several of our partners at Alfresco in attendance as they continue to build up their office in San Mateo.
Thank you to all who attended the events in Atlanta, New York, and Silicon Valley! Next up on our Renovation Roadshow tour: Dallas, Chicago, Denver, and more! Be sure to check back for an event location near you.