BPOS MeetUps are a part of an effort to build community where interested parties and partners come together to share their BPOS experience, expertise, and to showcase their individual strengths and successes. You can find out more about hosting a BPOS MeetUp here.

Terrie Zimmerman guest blogs about a BPOS MeetUp she held earlier this year and how it has helped her business. She discusses successes, tips and why you should host a BPOS MeetUp.

-Josh Topal.

Tips for planning & holding a successful BPOS MeetUp

Written By: Terrie Zimmerman

For more than 20 years, Terrie Zimmerman has been an I.T. business development thought-leader and technologist in the Philadelphia area. Terrie founded Cloud-Wire.com to focus fully on the opportunities and expansion of the Cloud Computing marketplace based on Microsoft’s Software plus Services model.

How hosting a BPOS MeetUp has helped my business

Hosting a MeetUp is/was a great way to gain visibility for our Microsoft Partnership, Cloud-Wire. We were able to create a buzz in the “certified” Microsoft community, reach out to both small business & mid-market customers and listen to what attendees said about BPOS and how it would expand their mobility & collaboration. 

Some successes that resulted from the BPOS MeetUp

An interesting variety of new members attended our 1^st MeetUp and many commented on how Bill Wolff’s presentation allowed them to “see BPOS in action” and really start to understand how we could all exploit the power of SharePoint 2010 and the BPOS suite.

Many were curious about the evolution of BPOS and commented that they wanted to become members so that they could learn more about the next version of BPOS.  

A few of our attendees were inside sales people for technology marketing programs and they were astonished at everything BPOS and SharePoint 2010 could accomplish and were excited to communicate this with customers & telemarketing prospects. 

As a result of this MeetUp, the Cloud-Wire team has engaged in discussions with or booked sales presentations with 10 potential customers who we have never worked with before.  

Motivation to host a BPOS MeetUp

As an early stage company, Cloud-Wire wanted to use the chance to host a BPOS MeetUp to start to create buzz about our company and our skills in migrating companies to Cloud computing.   Additionally, to start increasing our name recognition “virally,” our team wanted to meet a cross section of people interested in BPOS and Cloud Computing to build an “interest list” for on-going MeetUps, Twitter updates and other social networking.

Inviting a variety of people including Office, SharePoint and Windows Server customers, along with other fellow Microsoft Partners and tech community members was important to creating a “user group / member” environment instead of a “sales presentation.”

Cloud-Wire wants to be viewed as a leader in mid-market Cloud-Computing and that starts with building name recognition.   Advertising will only go so far in explaining the benefits of Cloud Computing and the power of the SharePoint/Windows Server/BPOS platform.   Holding face-to-face events that focus on the power of the products and help build the user community will benefit our company and visibility in the marketplace.

Tips and Tricks for Hosting a BPOS MeetUp

Here is a quick list of tips for planning & holding a successful BPOS MeetUp: 

1. Pick your first date at least 4 weeks out in advance;
2. Build an email list including everyone, clients, fellow employees, colleagues at other tech companies or partners as well as technology sales & marketing professionals;
3. Be willing to partner up and invite members of other “related” user groups or MeetUps such as: SharePoint User, MVP  or Experts groups  or Visual Studio interest groups;
4. Contact other Microsoft Partners who are also engaged OR want to get on the BPOS bandwagon – make sure you get email addresses of everyone with interest to send email invite;
5. Put together an invitation email that has a link directly to the BPOS MeetUp Site for registration purposes;
6. Plan for a Speaker and the topic in advance so that there is a purpose to your MeetUp and it is not just a social event. Make sure that your presenter(s) have a wide area of knowledge so that they can address anyone with BPOS interest that attends, both technical/developer, sales/marketing and business decision maker types or office users;
7. Invite/ involve Microsoft employees who are willing to participate such as Technical Evangelists, Account Managers, Partner Marketing Managers, etc.
8. Pick a fun location where attendees can socialize and feel comfortable.  Print or have name badges for everyone;
9. Test all equipment, internet connections, 3G / 4G wireless reliability, etc – well in advance (best to test when booking the venue);
10. Decide how to handle refreshments:  Partner-sponsored appetizers, cash-bar or “sponsored” happy hour?  Plan how refreshments & drinks are being managed and state this in any printed materials
11. Act as host/hostess and reach out and circulate by introducing people to one another particularly if they work in different arenas to create interesting conversations– i.e. a SharePoint Administrator introduced to a Partner Sales/Marketing Manager;
12. Keep any presentation or technical briefing to 45 minutes – 1 hour tops!
13. Ask opinions, take notes of popular topics and do a quick group summary with invitation to the next MeetUp event.
14. Create a BPOS MeetUp Committee so that on an “on-going basis” the group comes up with interesting topics, invites new members and evolves over time.