On June 9th and 10th Inside Sales leaders from across the U.S. came together to learn, share, and network at the Annual Emblaze Leadership Summit. The event was a packed full with presentations, demonstrations, and interactive discussions. Attendees left inspired and equipped with innovative ideas and techniques to improve their organizations.
The Summit kicked off with opening remarks from Emblaze Founder and CEO, Bob Perkins. Bob spoke about his vision for
the Summit and the Association and also challenged attendees to embrace their time together and focus on new ideas
and best practices they can use for improvement. A heartfelt keynote address was then delivered by Thomas Stanley,
Vice-President of Global Integrators for Network Appliance. Thomas addressed the challenges of motivating a sales
force in today's environment. He reminded us of the key factors to success and opened his "vault" as he discussed
his proven methodologies and best practices. The morning continued with Leadership, Development, and Productivity
being a recurring theme. The morning ended with small group activities allowing attendees the opportunity to use
their experience and decision making skills in solving some key inside sales team challenges.
The afternoon saw the first of 2 topic specific breakout sessions where attendees had the option of selecting
sessions relevant to their needs. The group reconvened for an interactive panel discussion that saw spirited
conversation centered on driving revenue and improving productivity. The afternoon ended with innovative and thought
provoking presentations from Gregg Baron of Success Sciences and long time Sale Executive and a former VAR Business
Magazine's Top 100 Executives, Larry Sheffield. Day 1 ended with a Networking Reception and Vendor Fair that allowed
everyone to mingle, wind down, and see some great technology from the Summit sponsors.
Day 2 saw additional presentations and breakouts discussing the reoccurring themes of development, leadership, and
productivity. Sessions that seemed to create some "buzz" included compensation and incentive presentations from Mark
Quinlan, Director, GE Healthcare, and Jim Micklos from Motivation Excellence. In addition, Laurie Lynard's, VP
TeleMasters, "Coaching Methodologies" breakout was also of great interest.
Day 2 also included the Emblaze Awards luncheon where the Emblaze leadership team recognized outstanding effort and
contribution to inside sales in four Categories - Sprit, Innovator, Excellence in Execution, and Executive of the
Year. Below are descriptions of the award categories as well as the LS2009 Award recipients. Congratulations to each
individual winner for receiving these well-deserved awards!
The Emblaze looks forward to expanding upon these awards, as well as the nomination process, for Leadership Summit '10.
No Emblaze Summit would be complete without a motivational message which was delivered by Olympic Gold Medalist Jeff Blatnick. His endearing style and inspiring message was felt by all attendees. Afterwards Jeff spoke with attendees and many took photographs with Jeff and his Gold Medal. It was wonderful way to end the Summit and had members looking forward to next year and asking question about where it would be held.