WISPAPALOOZA Show Daily - Day 1

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WISPAPALOOZA 2016 • OCTOBER 11-13, 2016 1
DAY1
SHOWDAILY
OCTOBER 11-13, 2016
LAS VEGAS
WISPAPALOOZA 2016 Showcases Expanded Focus,
Deeper Insights
By Tara Seals
As the wireless ISP industry embarks on a
new sea of opportunities in diverse areas
like enterprise services, video and fiber—
while deepening its commitment to traditional
service areas—this year’s show promises more
opportunities for learning, conversations and
insights than ever before.
According to Nathan Stooke, Co-chair of the
WISPAPALOOZA Agenda Committee and CEO of
Wisper ISP, the 2016 event offers an expanded
focus that includes dedicated, topical education
tracks for HR, marketing and more, an expanded
Vendor Spotlight program and a record number
of companies participating in the planning of
the show.
“This year we had almost two dozen people
dedicating time to plan the show—an even mix of
vendors and operators,”he explained. “This is the
first year we’ve involved that many vendors, and
they have an important perspective that comes
from interacting with hundreds of WISPs and
hearing their concerns and requirements.”
Part of the fruit of those meetings is an
expanded agenda that features grouped sessions
that revolve around a given topic. The idea is
to make it easier for WISPs to bring multiple
representatives to the show from different aspects
of the business.
“Typically if you look at a smaller WISP, they
can’t send a marketing and/or an HR person
out for an entire week, so we’ve set it up so that
different days feature different topics,” said Stooke.
“So for instance, all HR sessions are on Thursday,
so they can limit their time out of the office and
get the full benefit of the sessions. All of the
marketing is on the first and second day, and
Wednesday is the finance day with four sessions.”
An overarching agenda theme is a focus
on helpingWISPs better run their business.
“Accounting 101 for instance helps small business
owners understand that how need to be tracking
things and how to do it properly,” Stooke said.
“We have our superb traditional regulatory and
technical content as well, but we definitely want
to make sure we’re addressing the wholeWISP.”
See WISPAPALOOZA 2016, page 6