By Andy Slawetsky, Industry Analysts – Sharp finished a four city road show in Chicago IL April 1 – 2. The final event was held at the Lowes hotel in the heart of downtown; a great setting for the event!
The Momentum Road Show visited four cities from March 1 – April 2; Baltimore, Houston, Los Angeles and Chicago.
During the event, Sharp executives gave presentations on product introductions, updates, road maps and more. Sharp thumped their chests a bit as there were several product awards received from BLI as well as accolades from The Cannata Report.
Although they didn’t have a big product fair at this event, Sharp still rocked their hardware, showcasing ten A4 products in front of the crowd sitting not-so-subtly behind whoever happened to be speaking. For a company that didn’t have any of their own A4 two years ago, they sure got that product line filled in quickly, clearly another upside to the “Foxconn thing”
Click here to see all photos from this event!
Sharp executives also spent considerable time talking about the Smart Office, discussing the amazing opportunities this technology will bring to dealer portfolios. They also warned dealers that the smart office was also an opportunity for VARs and they need to protect themselves from this outside threat now more than ever. Just like copier dealers, VARs are increasing their reach within the account through the support of more IT and IoT.
Sharp reviewed several new Smart Office offerings, including RocketStart, their new Smart Meeting solution that facilitates collaboration and efficiency with meetings, providing instant access to content while recording meetings, providing notes and more.
We then sat through an interesting panel with Mark Miller of Sharp dealer Eakes Office Solutions, Chris Johnson of Sharp’s central region and Sharp VP John Sheehan, a nice way to wind down the afternoon.
It was a short day, beginning after lunch and ending before five. The evening was spent at Flight Club, a local dart bar where we all had a great time mingling and catching up.
The next morning was a different setup and attendees were split into three tracks; a dealer owner room, a room for sales and another for service where speakers rotated through as they discussed a variety of topics. The day ended shortly after the morning sessions with lunch.
With nearly one hundred dealers at this Chicago event, Sharp was able to keep themselves in front of their reseller community during a fairly long stretch between larger conferences. I have no doubt, face to face time builds relationships and loyalty. It’s also a great way for sales and service reps to meet the senior executives and to enjoy a nice night out and some good information they can take back to their dealerships.
It was a quick event, but I’m glad I got the chance to attend. This short conference seems like a lot of effort, but it also shows Sharp’s commitment to their dealers. They didn’t need to hit the road for the last month, visiting city after city, especially considering their big conference is slated for this fall. But they did anyways. My hats off to the team at Sharp for throwing a very nice event that I’m sure was greatly appreciated by their dealer community. It was great to see everyone!
