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YOUR BUSINESS : EVENTS
40
On January 23, wholesaler VOW
held its annual conference and
exhibition at the Hilton Metropole in
Birmingham.
This year’s event, Green Light 2015,
was more broad-based and inclusive,
following VOW's decision to extend
invitations to a wider array of industry
vendors and service providers and to all
UK resellers, whether or not they currently
purchase through VOW.
Green Light 2015 addressed key trends
directly affecting resellers and the print and
office products industries though a mix of
inspirational and practical talks, workshops,
an exhibition and seminars, including
a separate track exclusively for VOW+
partner principals.
Mobile event app
In another first, VOW launched its first
ever mobile event app to help attendees
get as much as possible from the event.
Green Light 2015 Powered by VOW was
built by QuickMobile, the global leader in
Award winners
It wouldn’t be an industry conference without a gala dinner
and awards ceremony, which this year was compèred by
comedian and actor Rob Brydon. The winners were:
VOW+ Partners of the
Year
ACS Business Supplies
Professional Office Supplies
Braley Business Systems
EOS Reseller of the Year
ACS Business Supplies
Facilities Supplies
Reseller of the Year
Commercial
Furniture Reseller of the
Year
Complete Office Solutions
mobile event apps, and provided constantly
updated information on agendas, speaker
profiles, presentations and exhibitor details.
Emma Nourry, VOW’s Head of Channel
Marketing, said: “In our social and mobile
age, apps can make big events such as
Green Light a more personal and tailored
experience. The Green Light app was the
perfect way for our resellers and partners
to learn, share and stay completely up-to-
date with every element of the day.”
Keynote speaker
The keynote speaker this year was
Baroness Karren Brady, Vice-Chairman
of West Ham United FC, aide to Sir Alan
Sugar on BBC’s
The Apprentice
and former
Managing Director of Birmingham City FC.
The theme of her inspirational address was
business transformation.
VOW National Sales Director Martin
Weedall said: “Baroness Brady’s impressive
achievements to date, together with
her business expertise and insights,
delivered inspiration and encouragement
to everyone, helping us all aim for even
greater growth in this fast moving and
often challenging industry.”
Getting to grips with MPS
Managed print services (MPS), the
subject of four informative workshops,
is an increasingly popular way for office
products dealers to grow and diversify their
business.
VOW Group MPS Manager Owen
Costen said: “The perceived complexities
of MPS have deterred some resellers from
embracing the opportunity. However, with
all the research showing that many more
small and medium-sized customers are
likely to start buying into MPS for their
businesses in the next few years, there is a
massive growth opportunity out there.”
He added: “Resellers who get on board
and start to make MPS a key offering will
undoubtedly benefit and create much
stronger, longer-term relationships with
their customers. The sessions at Green
Managed Print Services took centre stage at
wholesaler VOW’s annual conference
Green Light
for MPS
Light de-mystified MPS and showed
resellers just how easy it is to make this a
strong part of their businesses.”
Costen led two workshops, one
providing an overview of MPS and why
the market is expected to grow by as
much as 22% by 2017, and the other
explaining the VOW MPS Programme in
more detail. Dennis Krammer of Print Fleet
(see page 35) hosted the ‘Vision & Linked
Platform Solutions Showcase’, where he
explained how resellers can gain greater
market share, capture leakage and counter
the competition; and Tom Foster of Gap
Intelligence looked at ‘Transactional Versus
Contracted Solutions’.
Get Switched On
More than 80 industry suppliers signed up
for VOW’s ‘Get Switched On’ interactive
exhibition zone, with Brother, Newell
Rubbermaid and Nestlé reserving headline
spots in the Technology, Traditional Office
Products and Facilities Supplies Zones.
Andrew Stacey, VOW’s Vendor and
Product Management Director, said: “Our
industry is at a hugely important stage of
its development, which is why we ensured
that the big and emerging issues and every
product and service area were covered. This
was all about maximising resellers’ time and
ensuring everyone who attended received a
huge return on investment.”
Awards ceremony
compère,
Rob Brydon
Keynote speaker,
Baroness Karren
Brady
Owen Costen, VOW Group MPS Manager
Martin Weedall, VOW National Sales Director
VOW Green Light 2015
