Surprises at Konica Minolta’s 2012 Business Conference and Product Expo
Ah, the conference circuit: familiar faces, cocktail receptions … and educational sessions so close to infomercials that they’ll put you to sleep faster than an alligator on its back getting its tummy rubbed.
It’s not often that you attend a conference that surprises you (at least not in a good way), but such was my experience at Konica Minolta’s 2012 Business Conference and Product Expo at the Bellagio in Las Vegas – and no, I’m not being paid to say that. The theme of the conference was “Inspire Customer Passion,” and I’d have to say that Konica Minolta set a strong example of how to do just that; I and the dealers among the 1,100 attendees found ourselves, as Konica Minolta’s customers and guests, inspired – and that’s a pretty tall order, especially for those of us who’ve attended countless shows and have been in this industry since the dinosaurs bit the dust.
One impressive part of the event was the presenters – three in particular that I was able to see who focused on education that applies to all companies as opposed to delivering the typical hour-long ad for their companies. Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, was the keynote, and, taking a page out of his bestselling book “Delivering Happiness” to echo the idea that if you work on making your employees happy, the rest will naturally fall into place, he described how dealers could create their own company cultures conducive to winning more business. Rick Von Feldt, senior partner of Kolaborative Consulting, also addressed the culture of the workplace, though through a more chronological lens, providing insights into how the various generations of employees can come to “all just get along” under one roof, leverage technology and move into a profitable future together. Doug Lipp, former head trainer of Walt Disney University and private consultant, not only took on the challenge of living up to a session title that was strikingly similar to Konica Minolta’s – “Igniting Customer Passion” – but knocked it out of the park, bringing lessons from the culture he helped create at Disney to bear on the print space. Information about sales, social media, and, of course, MPS was also abundant.
The show floor was also dynamic, including several partners who’ve been acquired in recent years, such as All Covered, alongside their contributions to the Konica Minolta product suite. The most interesting area to me was a spot near the center of the floor that had been carved out for the education vertical, wherein Graphtech’s (one of All Covered’s managed IT acquisitions) ActivClassroom by Promethean products were brought to life, complete with an Albert Einstein look-alike theorizing nearby. Ever notice how those pavilion areas on show floors tend to have empty seats? Not so here. In fact, every time I walked by when “class” was in session, all the chairs were occupied, and people were even standing on the sidelines, checking out the interactive whiteboard and handheld gadgets the “students” could key in product quiz answers on to win prizes. This classroom of the future is definitely something to keep an eye on, and Sam Errigo, SVP at Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc., informed me that what I saw at the show is only the beginning. “It’s really cool technology and certainly will have impact in the marketplace,” he said. “The more exciting stuff is where they’re going, how we’re tying technologies together and how we’re using our products to interface with their products and make that classroom experience something really, really special. That’s the exciting part – finding great partners that share our vision and enthusiasm around growth and really doing something different and special that has big impact in those vertical markets. That’s the key. So we’re being really selective in our partners – and not necessarily just for the technology; it really is the shared vision.”
That shared vision was evident all around – not only among the partners at the event, but those presenters who’d been chosen as well. And speaking of sharing, multiple book giveaways to all those who attended certain sessions to me signaled Konica Minolta’s highly inspiring dedication to dealer education as well as its interest in including dealers in that same vision. If it’s any indication of the changes Konica Minolta has said it’s made within its own organizational culture, it’ll be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years in the print and managed services marketplace; inspiring customer passion will undoubtedly also inspire customer loyalty.
Posted by Raegen Pietrucha on 02/20/2012