The Internet and high-speed access are great tools for businesses to learn about technology, but they are not everything. A conference is the perfect complement as it provides a structure and focus to learning as well as an opportunity for face-to-face meetings that isn’t easily duplicated online. But when you live in a rural area, it can be too costly to spend time traveling to a conference in a large city.
Realizing there was a demand from its business customers, Nex-Tech, a rural Kansas-based Communications Service Provider, created Tech Edge, a technology conference that brings together their partners and customers. As Jimmy Todd, Nex-Tech GM/CEO explains in the above interview, working with a local university to host the event, Tech Edge 2.0 (its second year) had technical sessions, hands-on labs and speakers.
Although the focus was helping its customers get the most out of technology, this annual event surely cements Nex-Tech as a local technology thought leader in the minds of its customers and prospects. Rural operators like Nex-Tech should consider producing this sort of community educational effort to help their respective customers.
[Note: This video brought to you by Calix and was filmed at the 2015 Calix User Group].
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