Big names grab a bat at Expo

Vermont Business Magazine, May 01, 2005 by Kelley, Kevin

Organizers of the 2005 Vermont Business & Industry Expo seek "quality rather than big names" when it comes to choosing speakers for the annual event, says Curtis Picard, the Expo's director. This year, it appears, Expo audiences will be getting both.

John Henry, principal owner of the Boston Red Sox, and David Neeleman, CEO of JetBlue Airways, are the headliners of the two-day gathering at the Sheraton Burlington Hotel and Conference Center. Henry will deliver a May 25 dinner keynote address on "The Business of Baseball," and Neeleman is scheduled to speak at a May 26 luncheon on his airline's pathbreaking applications of technology.

Each of the speakers has a drawing power that could push attendance at this year's Expo past the anticipated 3,000 mark. But as crowdpleasing as Henry and Neeleman may prove, it's a fact that most attendees are attracted mainly by the networking opportunities that Expo offers. Exit surveys conducted at last year's event found that 57 percent of Expo visitors had come for the chance to initiate and renew business contacts.

"If you're in business in Vermont," says Picard, "Expo is the place to be."

Katie O'Connor, a Verizon spokeswoman and Expo's vice-chair, agrees that the event qualifies as a must for movers in' the Vermont business community.

"Everyone who is anyone comes to Expo," O'Connor says. "It's the only thing of its kind all year in the entire state."

Despite Expo's unique magnetism, Picard says it has to be periodically retooled in order to stay fresh. "A lot of business expositions don't last as long as this one has," he notes.

Expo's 21st edition will feature some new layouts and visual elements keyed to this year's theme of "Your Business Destination." Street signs bearing the names of sponsoring companies will be posted throughout the exhibit area, which will include 186. booths - the largest number ever.

Some exhibitors use Expo as an occasion to roll out their latest products. Verizon, for instance, is showcasing its new "iobi Professional" system that allows an office to gain control over all its communications modalities with just a few keystrokes.

"Expo definitely works for us," says Verizon's O'Connor. This year will mark the fifth time that Verizon Vermont has teamed with IBM as an event sponsor.

Some of the other speakers this year have been heard at previous Expos, but they're big names nonetheless.

Senator James Jeffords, for example, will introduce a May 25 breakfast session on "Vermont's Workforce - Today and Tomorrow." Panelists discussing this topic include UVM President Dan Fogel, Vermont State Colleges Chancellor Robert Clarke and Vermont Business Roundtable Director Lisa Ventriss. Following this kick-off event, the Deane

C Davis Award will be presented to the outstanding Vermont business of the year.

The state's other US senator, Democrat Patrick Leahy, will also be speaking at Expo - via a video link from his office in Washington. That's actually a fitting medium for Leahy's remarks, since the May 26 e-business seminar he will be leading has a teleworking theme. The senator's comments and those of other speakers at this session will also be transmitted live to six locations around the state through Vermont Interactive Television's network.

Leahy's annual e-business seminar, first held in 1996, was merged with Expo last year. The aim originally was to acquaint Vermonters with the advantages of doing business on the Internet. "But because of the growing_ recognition that e-business IS business, it made sense to make the seminar part of the biggest business event in Vermont," explains Gretchen Saries, Leahy's Montpelierbased conference coordinator.

Teleworking options and opportunities will be examined in presentations by a representative from Vermont Hitec (Health Care Information Technology Education Center) and by a US immigration official based in St. Albans.

Vermont Hitec, a Williston-based nonprofit, has trained more than 100 Vermonters for medical transcription jobs through a federal- and state-funded mentoring program. Fletcher Allen Health Care recently hired 18 program graduates for work-at-home positions. The new transcriptionists will be doing work in Vermont that Fletcher Allen had planned to outsource to companies in India.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services Service Center in St Albans is meanwhile relying on 254 Vermont teleworkers to process forms, Saries says. An official from that office is scheduled to discuss this operation, including the computer security issues that it involves.

Teleworking offers a host of possibilities for both companies and employees, Saries points out. Disabled Vermonters, for example, may find this an easier way to be part of the workforce, and their abilities can now be more readily tapped by employers looking for skilled data processors, Saries notes.

Randall Kempner's name is well known to those specializing in business competitiveness issues. Kempner, vice president for president or regional innovation at the Washington-based Council on Competitiveness, will discuss the challenges and advantages of running or starting a business in Vermont. The May 25 luncheon address will highlight ways Vermont can compensate for its infrastructural impediments as it seeks to lure new employers.