Talk shows, panel discussions and 60-second presentations draw in the crowds at upcoming EMEA channel event.
PARIS / SPAIN / MOSCOW / DUBAI: January 2008 — DISTREE Events, the
organisers of DISTREE XXL 2008, the largest annual event for the
distribution channel in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), has
announced today a high level of interest and registrations for its
special events programme, including the popular ‘60-Seconds to
Convince’ segment of the upcoming event.
In addition to a keynote address from Isabel Aguilera, CEO, Google
Spain & Portugal, DISTREE XXL 2008 will also feature a world-class
conference programme including boardroom presentations, talk shows,
workshops, and panel discussions.
“From the very beginning, we wanted to get away from boring long
speeches and presentations that are the mainstay of most conferences
and introduce novel, interactive platforms for communication between
the vendors and the participants (in this case distributors),” said
Farouk Hemraj, CEO at DISTREE Events. “In our after-event surveys, we
find that most attendees enjoy the novel way of presenting new products
and technology without detracting from the ‘fun’ element of the event.
While business remains the focus for the event, we want to make it
interesting for all.”
The DISTREE Talk Show, introduced at the inaugural XXL event last year,
allows selected vendors to make a short presentation on a key topic of
their choice, followed by a live interview with a journalist or one of
the conference directors on stage. Each talk show lasts for a maximum
of 15 minutes but gives the vendor the opportunity to present various
aspects of their technology.
Stephane Tripot, Managing Director at Port Design remarked, “The Talk
Show format served our needs superbly. It gave us the opportunity to
get our market message across to all the distributors that attended
DISTREE XXL. After the presentation, the on-stage Q&A session meant
that we could delve even deeper into some of the hot topics influencing
the distribution of our products in EMEA.”
DISTREE XXL’s most popular event is its ‘60 Seconds to Convince’
programme where select vendors nominated for two separate awards –
Technology and Innovation – are given literally 60 seconds to convince
the participating distributors to vote for them in each category.
Vendors are allowed to use any means of communication to convince the
audience from live demonstrations to short skits, adding innovation and
comedy to the proceedings. The interactive voting procedure allows for
a unique interactive forum for awarding the most innovative and
upcoming technology in the region. Mike Borze, General Manager for
Eastern Europe at BenQ said, “The ‘60 Seconds to Convince’ Awards
Programme was a real bonus for us at DISTREE XXL. Not only was it
entertaining, it was also a great opportunity for us to deliver a
focused elevator pitch to distributors from across EMEA on one of our
latest products. Hats off to the team at DISTREE for coming up with
such an exciting awards format”.
DISTREE XXL’s workshop agenda is taking shape fast, with a dozen
different sessions for delegates to choose from. Covering a wide range
of topics from channel credit in EMEA to M&A trends and also
featuring regional focuses. “The XXL workshop programme offers
something for everyone and remains a popular part of the conference
agenda for delegates,” said Stuart Wilson, Research & Conference
Director at DISTREE Events. “The workshop topics are a direct response
to the feedback from our delegates. They tell us what matters most to
them and we source the best possible moderators from across EMEA to
deliver a high-quality session at the event.”
