After reviewing several locations for ANPI’s 2010 Annual Meeting, we’ve made our final selection based on attendee feedback from last year’s event. The Venetian five-diamond resort in Las Vegas, Nevada will play host to our meeting on May 3 and 4, 2010.
Agenda highlights and speaker biographies will be posted to our website as they are made available.
As announced on our August Membership Webinar, the 2010 ANPI Annual Meeting is set for May 3 & 4, 2010. All ANPI customers and shareholders should mark their calendars for an event consistently described as “very informative”.
“The ANPI Annual Meeting provides a timely intelligence update on the telecommunications industry as it relates uniquely to the Independent Telephone Company and Wireless Carrier”, described Bob Agnew, manager of voice products for Iowa Network Services. He continued, “With a myriad of telecom conferences to choose from each year, the ANPI Annual Meeting is guaranteed to provide information pertinent to our business. We bring something back to the office every year.”
Jeffrey Hayzlett, Eastman Kodak Company’s chief marketing officer and vice president, will give the keynote address. Speaking to the topic of “Keeping Relevant in a Changing Market”, he’ll prove a company over a 120 years old can reinvent itself to meet competitive threats. When Jeffrey joined Kodak in 2006, they were reeling from a loss in 1/3 of the company’s main revenue stream seemingly overnight. Three years later Kodak is thriving in today’s marketplace with services that embrace technology and customers current needs.
We hope you’ll gain valuable insight from Jeffrey’s keynote as it relates to the prosperity your company can achieve during times of change. Don’t forget to mark your calendar and stay tuned for the meeting location announcement.
In the last stretch of finalizing the agenda for ANPI’s upcoming Annual Meeting, a partnership was formed. What amazes me about this partnership is the ease of which it all came together. It’s one of those rare moments in business where two organizations just “make sense” to combine efforts.
Today is an exciting day around my office because we’re pleased to announce enhancement to ANPI’s 2009 Annual Meeting. ANPI and Rural Telecommunications Group (RTG) will co-produce several sessions at the upcoming customer event set for May 4-5 in Scottsdale, Arizona. Every year ANPI hosts an Annual Meeting for shareholders and customers, and for the first time we’ve expanded the agenda focus to include sessions that address the needs of wireless providers. It is ANPI’s Annual Meeting that will now serve as a joint customer meeting for both ANPI and RTG.
I think the opportunity for our customers was summarized best by Dave Lewis, ANPI’s chief executive officer, when he shared during a planning meeting, “It has always been ANPI’s goal to provide meeting topics that are both educational and relevant to our customers. Since many of our customers either operate wireless divisions today or are considering entering the wireless market, RTG is a natural fit to include in this meeting. RTG’s contribution to the agenda and speaker lineup solidifies a program that is timely and relevant for our respective organizations.”
RTG’s executive director, Jerry Wilke, added, “RTG’s members are small businesses serving or seeking to serve secondary, tertiary and rural markets, and this is exactly the market that ANPI has so effectively served since 1996. We believe combining our efforts will result in an event that benefits both organizations immensely.”
Why are the organizations such a complement to each other? ANPI provides wholesale voice and data carrier solutions to a diverse and growing number of ILECs, CLECs and Wireless service providers with the goal of utilizing the organization’s scale and collective resources to maximize multiple business opportunities for our customers. While RTG’s members provide wireless telecommunications services, such as cellular telephone service and Personal Communications Services, among others, to their subscribers. RTG is comprised of both independent wireless carriers and wireless carriers that are affiliated with rural telephone companies.
Gene Chohon, vice president of sales and market development for ANPI, said it well, “RTG’s participation in the upcoming meeting is a great step towards a mutual goal for both organizations. That goal is to provide customers with a forum that brings together industry leaders and experts in a common setting that is conducive for attendee and speaker interaction. I think we’re going to accomplish exactly that with ANPI’s and RTG’s joint efforts.”
The new co-produced sessions will address the growth of wireless opportunities in rural America including the availability of spectrum and creation of the business case to light it. Other discussions include new wireless technologies and what they mean for service providers and their competitors. Sessions will also include discussions for shared wireless infrastructure, Capex realities, nationwide networks and peering. RTG’s members can check out meeting details and register via ANPI’s website.
Pamela White
Director of Marketing & Communications, ANPI
ANPI’s Marketing Workshop in Scottsdale, AZ is a mere 45 days away and yesterday we held a webinar to introduce you to the main topic of the workshop — Inbound Marketing. Sara Hertrampf, Sales and Marketing Manager of Alpine Communications said, “Great webcast today!! Mike Volpe did a great job putting everything into perspective. I’m so inspired!”
The webinar was just a short preview of the workshop scheduled for May 5 — an afternoon focused on your inbound marketing and how you can help your company “get found” by people shopping for the services you provide. We will spend 5 hours evaluating and improving your very own online marketing strategy, plus introduce you to tools that will have you measuring your marketing success in no time.
To quote this year’s Marketing Workshop leader, Mike Volpe, “If you’re a marketer and you’re not tracking your marketing with metrics, you’re not trying hard enough.”
Mike Volpe is the Vice President of Marketing at HubSpot, an Internet marketing software startup, where he leads the company’s lead generation and branding strategy through inbound marketing, including blogging, search engine optimization (SEO), video marketing and social media.
Below are the slides from yesterday’s sneak peek presentation of the ANPI Marketing Workshop. We hope you’ll be able to join us in Scottsdale on May 5.
In today’s economy the pressure is on marketers to prove ROI. As an introduction to Inbound Marketing, the main topic of ANPI’s Marketing Workshop scheduled for May 5 in Scottsdale, we’ve planned a complimentary webinar for marketers interested in knowing how Web 2.0 marketing tactics can be implemented to successfully promote your products and services.
Think tactics like blogs, SEO and social media don’t apply to you? Let the expert show you how they do. HubSpot’s Vice President of Marketing, Mike Volpe, will conduct a webinar that will introduce you to Inbound Marketing.
After this exclusive preview webinar, you will better understand how lessons learned at the upcoming ANPI Marketing Workshop will enable you to shed ineffective tactics and have the confidence to move forward with a new strategy of Inbound Marketing.
Intro to Inbound Marketing Webinar
Thursday, March 19 • 10:30 AM Central
Register for the “Intro to Inbound Marketing Webinar”!
Too many meetings — too little time (and budget). As director of marketing at ANPI, I know the pain. Not a week goes by that I don’t hear about another conference that is a “Must Attend”. I’m admittedly growing cynical and tired of digging through agendas that are more of the same. So when I plan ANPI’s Marketing Workshop — I keep everything in perspective of the busy marketer who is invited to a different meeting each week and I picture myself — luckily that isn’t hard to do since I know me fairly well. This self-awareness comes in pretty handy as we kick around ideas. I’ve been a marketer long enough to experience the transition from “Traditional” to “New and Scary” marketing tactics first hand. Although, if you’re someone who has ever paid a few thousand dollars on a mass mail campaign only to hear crickets chirping, you know all about “scary”.
I am a firm believer that inbound marketing tactics are more than a trend. We all hear of plenty of companies adopting successful web marketing strategies, yet sometimes it is difficult to picture how their success could parlay to our own. The reality is budgets are tightening and pressure is increasing. So how do you tap into the power of Web 2.0? I am just like you, operating a marketing department with increasing responsibilities and without an increasing staff or budget. Time and budget limitations have pushed me out of my comfort zone of “traditional tactics” and into an exciting new world.
I say inbound marketing is exciting for several reasons:
1. It is fluid.
Because it is ever changing, your information and tactics can adjust accordingly.
2. It is real time.
No more sitting around awaiting mail processing so we can guess if there is an uptick in activity. We know it — and we know it quickly.
3. It is scalable and affordable.
With constricting budgets and growing expectations of results, inbound marketing makes sense for me.
4. It is proof old dogs can learn new tricks.
I’ve learned more in the past 1.5 years since meeting David Meerman Scott (author of the #1 best seller New Rules of Marketing & PR and World Wide Rave) than I have in all my years as a marketer.
I realize and appreciate that trying new is scary. Trying new when under the gun is petrifying. Since 2007 I’ve studied the actions and lessons of others — becoming a follower of thought leaders such as Seth Godin, David Meerman Scott, Charlene Li and Mike Volpe (to name just a few).
So back to the announcement at hand — ANPI’s Spring Marketing Workshop. When we were kicking around ideas we started thinking — what has improved our lives as marketers? What is different about today than last year or the year before? What have we learned since diving into the dynamic world of Web 2.0? And then the message was clear. Let’s not try to be the expert. Admittedly, we are very much still students ourselves. Let’s get someone that is an actual expert — doing this day in and day out. That my friends was our ah-ha moment.
We are thrilled to have Mike Volpe from Hubspot join us in Scottsdale to run the most intense, hands on, cut-the-fluff-it’s-all-action marketing session we’ve ever hosted. Mike is one of the foremost experts in inbound marketing, and within 5 hours he will show you exactly what needs to be done and how to do it. This isn’t a theoretical discussion at 10,000 feet. This is a bring-your-laptops-and-login to work on your information in real time. You will leave this session educated, empowered and enthused about the new tools you have available at your fingertips. Attending this session is a small investment of time and money that will pay dividends in your 2009 marketing successes.
Register today so we can do proper research on your company, and customize the presentation to address your current marketing efforts. I’m not saying this is another “Must Attend” but I will say — if you are interested in becoming a smarter marketer with the confidence to adjust your current tactics — this is the meeting for you.
Pamela White
Director of Marketing & Communications, ANPI
Surviving the Recession
Monday, May 4 • 1:00–1:45 PM
Realizing consumer budgets are under stress as more people lose their jobs and more homes face foreclosure, telecom service providers are shifting their pricing and marketing strategies. But are lower prices enough to retain customers?
This is a critical issue for telecom companies in particular, since they already face accelerating access line loss and declining DSL sales. Poor performance during the recession could risk losing ties to some households altogether and make for a much bleaker future.
How can a telco survive the recession and even consider strengthening market position and consumer loyalty? During this session Telephony’s Editor-in-Chief Carol Wilson will present research shared during their 5-part series.
Speaker: Carol Wilson
Editor-in-Chief, Telephony Magazine
Editor-in-Chief, Telephony Magazine
Carol Wilson is Editor-in-Chief of Telephony magazine. She returned to Telephony in 2004 as editor-at-large. She has covered the telecommunications industry for more than 20 years. Over that period of time, she has been founding editor of two magazines — Inter@active Week and The Net Economy — as well as a news and information website, Broadband Edge. Carol began her telecom career as news editor at Telephony in 1985, becoming Editor three years later.
Robin Benincasa abseiling on the first day of the 4-day grueling Outdoor Quest Adventure Race in Borneo, Malaysia.
As director of marketing for ANPI, I get to work on very exciting projects. One of my favorite annual projects is the planning of ANPI’s Annual Meeting, which will take place on May 4 and 5 in Scottsdale, Arizona this year.
Today I have the chance to announce our keynote speaker is Robyn Benincasa who is a world champion tri-athlete and adventure racer. I’ve been sitting on this secret for too long — and thought I was going to burst at times. I’m so happy to finally let the cat out of the bag and share this exciting news with our customers.
Robyn’s passion for adventure and life is evident from the first moment you meet her. In the past 13 years she’s completed 36 expedition length adventure races — courses that challenge the mental and physical endurance of the team throughout the 100+ miles of running, paddling, biking and climbing the world’s most exotic and remote terrain. Robyn will bring her lessons of what it takes to be a successful team to ANPI’s Annual Meeting. Although it is exhilarating to hear about the victories she’s enjoyed over the years — she also exposes the agony experienced when teams fall apart. At first glance one might wonder what commonalities exist between Robyn and ANPI’s customers, 400+ ILECs, CLECs and Wireless companies throughout the U.S., but they are there. Commonalities such as endurance, planning, training, execution and most of all teamwork made Robyn a slam dunk decision as our 2009 keynote speaker.
As the more than 400+ individual companies that make up “ANPI’s team” navigate unstable carriers, increasing competitive pressures and endangered revenue streams — Robyn’s message is timely and relevant for all of us in telecom. One of ANPI’s differentiators is that we are NOT a vendor to our customers — but a teammate. ANPI’s business case is proof positive to Robyn’s message that victories are not won by individuals who are the strongest or fastest, but instead are won by teams that capitalize on the collective synergy of the group by leveraging the strengths and experiences of individual members. It has always been ANPI’s goal, and will continue to be our focus going forward, to seek competitive rate programs, enhance network functionality and develop back office tools that aid our fellow team members.
We are excited to provide this unique opportunity to all of you to meet and learn directly from Robyn. “After years of study in what it takes a team to rise from ‘good’ to ‘world class’,” states Robyn in the April 2007 issue of Competitor Magazine, “I’ve come to the conclusion that the biggest factors are the attitudes and actions of the individual teammates. In the races my team and I have won, we were not the strongest nor the fastest, but we were able to create a ‘human synergy’ that made the TEAM stronger than the collective training and experience of individual members.”
When she is not out playing all over the world with her teammates, Robyn can be found at her “real” job as a full time firefighter for the City of San Diego. ANPI looks forward to having Robyn speak at this year’s annual meeting. She’s an expert in what it takes to rise from “good” to “world class” and we hope that all of our shareholders and customers join us in Scottsdale. For more information on ANPI’s 2009 Annual Meeting, please visit www.anpisolutions.com.
Pamela White
Director of Marketing & Communications, ANPI
October 9, 2008 Springfield, IL Associated Network Partners Inc. (ANPI) has announced their plans for the 2009 Annual Meeting and Marketing Workshop. The meeting will be held May 4-5, 2009 at the Hyatt Resort and Spa at Gainey Ranch in Scottsdale, AZ.
“ANPI worked closely with its customers and shareholders to plan a meeting that meets their needs and exceeds their expectations” shared Pamela White, ANPI’s director of marketing and communications. A large percentage of ANPI’s customers actively participated in the planning by submitting preferences via a survey and ultimately casting votes for their favorite location.
White continued, “ANPI strives to provide forums for our customers that are thought and action-provoking while ensuring topics are relevant to their business needs. We look forward to hosting our customers in Scottsdale next spring and will continue incorporating their suggestions throughout the planning process.”
Agenda, special events and keynote speakers will be announced over the coming months. White added, “We are especially excited to bring back our Spring Marketing Workshop in 2009. This is another example of augmenting our programs to meet customer requests. We look forward to developing a marketing-focused tract that is a valuable resource to the marketers within our customer base.”
