Unleashing XChange Content
By Robert Demarzo - Senior Vice President of Strategic ContentAugust 03, 2012 at 8:04 AM
The XChange Events website serves a number of important purposes for our audience and sponsors. For one, it provides critical information about our events so attendees can manage their agendas or identify potential partners they want to meet with during the live conference. It also lets our solution provider or midmarket IT executives peruse the products or services sponsors will be highlighting in boardrooms or on the exhibit floor. It is a terrific tool to prepare for the hectic events we put together for our audience.
But as we move forward, the XChange website will have a greater goal: to help disseminate our content to a broader audience. Speakers at our events reach those within the confines of that engagement but, as our website evolves,it will allow their words to have a longer shelf life and reach a broader audience. At the same time, it will serve as a destination where professionals can access resources such as presentations, videos, blogs, important contact information and valuable links to content.
Like you, I attend many industry events where I often hear insight and inspiration from great speakers. Yet when I return to my office or hit the road again I struggle to find the resources I need to act upon that information or disseminate the material to my peers or superiors. The goal of our web ite and certainly this ongoing blog is to help our attendees manage and access their event information and bring to life the content for those who could not attend XChange in person. One of the greatest assets we have is our media partner CRN and CRN.com, which reports on the happenings at XChange. Now the readers of the industry’s leading IT publication will not only have the ongoing news coverage from XChange but a place where they can go to dig deeper or read the opinions of attendees, presenters and others who witnessed, say, a live presentation by HP on a new technology initiative or a researcher who was forecasting growth in a specific market segment. Through this blog and our overall content we will also help direct you to communities that are outgrowths of our events, those managed by UBM Channel or others that have valuable content. Our goal through all of this is to help educate and inform the greater channel community on the technology and business strategies that can help drive growth.
Let met know your thoughts at Robert.DeMarzo@UBM.com
Robert Demarzo
Robert C. DeMarzo, dubbed "The Channel Man," he has spent most of his career helping Solution Providers and IT Professionals analyze the most complex issues facing their businesses. With topics ranging from choosing a technology platform, to picking vendor partners or deciphering the business landscape, DeMarzo has delivered voluminous insight on the web and in the pages of CRN and VARBusiness for more than 20 years. Today, he serves as Senior Vice President Strategic Content of UBM Channel, a United Business Media company that serves more than 1 million individuals in the IT channel community. He oversees content creation and development for XChange and Vision events. web and print publications. He also oversees all of the group's major editorial research projects, such as the Annual Report Card survey and its major lists, including the VARBusiness 500, CRN Fast Growth and Channel Chiefs. DeMarzo has built a vast network of contacts inside the channel and vendor community who share their strategic goals and solicit his advice and insight. In his role, DeMarzo works closely on business-development with UBM Channel's executive leadership team on events, research, web and print strategies.
