NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release          For More Information Contact:

Jan. 14, 2014                    Brent Hoskins

          Executive Director

Business Technology Association

          (816) 303-4040

 BTA Southeast to Host Winter Break

Feb. 14-15 in Orlando

Canon's Mason Olds to Serve as Keynote Speaker

 Kansas City, MO — On Feb. 14-15, 2014, the Business Technology Association’s (BTA; www.bta.org) Southeast district will host its annual Winter Break event at the Walt Disney World Swan in Orlando, Fla. The event will provide the opportunity for dealers to learn from experts, network with fellow dealers, and gather new ideas and strategies..

The event will feature a keynote presentation by Mason Olds, vice president and general manager of sales, Business Imaging Solutions Group, Canon U.S.A. Inc. There will also be five additional educational sessions presented by industry leaders, as well as a dealer panel on how to spark transformation in your business.

Dealers will be able to participate in networking events that will allow them to connect with their peers, including a welcoming reception on Feb. 14, and a trip to the Epcot theme park on Feb. 15. In addition, there will be time to visit with 30-plus exhibiting sponsors, many of which will hold drawings for great prizes during the event. Dealer attendees can also enter on site for a chance to win one of five $100 American Express gift cards from BTA Southeast and be entered into the BTA District Event Sweepstakes.

Winter Break begins at 10 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 14, with an opportunity for dealer registrants to meet in groups of three with exhibiting sponsors until noon (and earn up to $120 cash back). Then, the schedule continues with opening comments and Olds’ keynote presentation, “The Future for Dealers & Vendors in a Highly Connected Society.” Two educational sessions will follow, with a break between sessions that will give attendees time to visit exhibitor tables. Following the educational sessions, a welcoming reception will be held from 5 until 7 p.m., giving attendees time to network with peers and visit with exhibiting sponsors.

Breakfast will begin at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 15, followed by opening comments, educational sessions and lunch. After lunch, the final educational session and dealer panel will be held, followed by closing comments and prize drawings. Breaks will be held during the day to give attendees time to network with peers and exhibiting sponsors. From 4 to 9 p.m., the event will wrap up with a trip to the Epcot theme park.

In addition to the keynote presentation, the Winter Break educational sessions will be: “Identifying Your Vertical Market Opportunities,” with David Ramos of InfoTrends; “Customer-Centered Engagement Model — A Key to Services Growth,” with Jim Heffernan of Insights 53 LLC; “A’s Hire A’s, B’s Hire C’s,” with Ronelle Ingram, a hands-on working service professional with 40 years of experience, and Rock Janecek of Burtronics Business Systems Inc.; “How to Turbocharge Your Sales Leadership,” with Steve Waterhouse of Predictive Results; “Making the Leap to MPS,” with Mike Lecak of Collaborative Consultant Group; and “Disrupt — How to Spark Transformation in Your Business,” a dealer panel moderated by Ramos.

FIX: Cost Management for Service 2.0 will be the front-runner workshop to the Winter Break event. On Feb. 13, Ingram and Janecek will present BTA’s popular service workshop. Attendees to FIX will receive free registration to Winter Break. For more information, visit www.bta.org/FIX.

The exhibiting Winter Break sponsors: Autotask, AVG, Balboa Capital, BEI Services, Buyers Lab, Crawford Thomas, Densi, Digital Gateway, DirectCloud (Feb. 15 Lunch Sponsor), DocuWare, EDA, ESP/SurgeX  (Feb. 15 Breakfast Sponsor), EverBank, Evolved Office, Falcon Technology Solutions, Frontier Imaging, Global Printer Services (Feb. 14-15 Breaks Sponsor), GreatAmerica Financial Services, Hytec Dealer Services, Image Star, Impression Solutions, Katun, Lease Corporation of America, LMI, Memjet, Muratec, NA Trading and Technology, OKI, OnePak, Print Audit, Printer Essentials, Q2, RPT Toner, Smart Power Systems, Synnex, Toshiba and West Point Products.

BTA member registration (with Epcot ticket) for Winter Break is $199, which includes the keynote session, educational sessions and dealer panel, Friday welcoming reception, and Saturday breakfast and lunch. BTA member registration without an Epcot ticket is $169. Non-member registration with an Epcot ticket is $249. Non-member registration without an Epcot ticket is $219.

For more information, including full session descriptions and the registration form for the event, visit www.bta.org/BTASoutheastEvent.

Founded in 1926, the Business Technology Association serves office technology dealerships, resellers, manufacturers, distributors and service companies. Its core members — office technology dealerships — consult, sell and service hardware, software and supplies with the goal of helping businesses maximize their investment in devices and technology. Through the association's various educational programs, information, research, legal services, publications and guidance, BTA member dealerships are positioned to be the premier source of the office technology used by businesses throughout the United States every day. For more information on BTA, visit its Web site at www.bta.org or call (800) 505-2821. The fax number is (816) 941-4838. You may also write to: BTA, 12411 Wornall Road, Kansas City, MO  64145.