Now that the Tampa Placement Conference is over, that means the Kansas City conference is on the horizon . . . and it’s rapidly approaching! In fact, it’s less than a month away.  The event is scheduled for Friday, March 19, at the Embassy Suites Kansas City – International Airport.  Now there’s an announcement I’d like to make regarding the conference, but before I do that, I’d like present some other information about the event.

• The cost of attending the convention is just $129 per person, the same price as the Tampa conference. (Registration is now available online in the Members’ Area.)
• The cost will remain $129 per person for the duration of the registration period. Heck, you can walk up to us in Kansas City and hand us $129 prior to the event, if you want. We had some recruiters do this in Tampa. If you decide this is the option for you, though, we ask that you tell us in advance so that we can have an accurate headcount for the conference.
• Barb Bruno, CPC/CTS of Good as Gold Training & Development will be the main speaker in Kansas City. Barb has put together a great video promoting the event, her “Top 10 Reasons to Attend the Kansas City Conference. You can view this video in the News Section of the Members’ Area. (Just keep hitting the “F5” key until the video appears.)
• There will be an Icebreaker Reception on Thursday night, March 18, at the Embassy Suites.
• You don’t have to stay at the Embassy Suites. There are other hotels in the area from which to choose. You can find information regarding these hotels in the Members’ Area.
• The updated preliminary agenda, including descriptions of Barb’s sessions, is currently available, once again in the Members’ Area, as well as within this issue of The Pinnacle newsletter.

Okay, on to our special announcement about the Kansas City conference.  Network President Mark Demaree mentioned this briefly in his article in last week’s issue of the newsletter, but there will be a special Big Biller training session offered at an additional cost of just $20 per person.  Conducting this session will be Todd Bossler, Internet Strategies Manager at Top Echelon.  Before discussing the rationale behind offering this training—especially considering the new format for conferences that we’re employing this year—below is a description of the session.

Kansas City Conference Preliminary Agenda – Thursday, March 18

Time:  1 – 5 p.m.

Session Title:  Big Biller - Power User Training

Presenter:  Todd Bossler, Internet Strategies Manager for Top Echelon Network

Looking to put the full power of Big Biller to work for you and your firm? Have questions about how you can use Big Biller to help you make more Network placements? Then Todd Bossler, our resident tech guru, can help! Please note that the cost of attending this session is an extra $20, above and beyond the $129 base price associated with attending the Kansas City Conference. (Be sure to check the appropriate box on the registration page in the Members’ Area in order to sign up.)

For those of you who might not be familiar with Todd or his background, below is a small bio:

Todd-Bossler is responsible for all areas of training for Top Echelon Network.  He started as a Web developer in 1998, and we quickly learned that he was more valuable interfacing with people than coding interfaces.  He soon began to attend conventions to train Members on how to effectively use the many tools and services Top Echelon provides.  Bossler spent four years in the U.S. Air Force and then attended Kent State University, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Information Systems.

Cost comparisons

We decided to offer this special software training for more than one reason. As you might imagine, we’re still fine-tuning our new conference format, and part of that fine-tuning process is tweaking the format as we go along, making changes, revisions, and hopefully, improvements that will benefit those who attend to a greater degree. Those of you who have attended our conferences prior to this year know that we’ve typically offered a software training day prior to the main day of the event.

That session was included in the price of attending the event, whether it was the National Convention or the Fall Conference. If you paid for the event, you were free to attend the software training day. However, as most of you know, the cost of attending the National Convention ($495) or the Fall Conference ($229) was much more than the price of attending a one-day event this year. That’s one of the reasons we’re charging an additional $20 for this special training session.

With that in mind, here are some additional points to keep in mind regarding this software training session being offered in Kansas City:

• Back to the price.  As I mentioned, the cost of Early Bird Registration for a typical Fall Conference is $229.  However, the agenda in Kansas City—with the inclusion of the software training—is basically the same as a Fall Conference, with the exception of the Trading Partner Dinner.  However, the dinner is not included in the price of the event; it’s an extra cost.  So in actuality . . . attendees in Kansas City who opt for the training session will receive all the meat and potatoes of a Fall Conference, but for $70 less.
• Keep in mind that this is primarily a Big Biller software training session. Although Todd might touch upon a few Network-related software issues, the bulk of his time will consist of Big Biller Version 2.0.  So if you have questions about Big Biller, make sure to bring them to Kansas City.
• Todd will run this session in much the same fashion as he’s conducted his training sessions in the past.  There will be approximately two hours of instruction, followed by a short break, then followed by another two hours of training.

We’re committed to helping you be as successful as possible, and we believe very strongly that attending conferences such as these can play an integral role in achieving that success.  If you have any questions about the Kansas City conference or about Top Echelon events in general, please send an email to marketing@TopEchelon.com.  And be sure to check The Pinnacle in the future for more information and announcements!