“We are in discussions with multiple vendors from the Summit, and very close to working with one in particular. It is likely to be a multi-million dollar contract for a period of five to ten years,” said Daniel Green, VP of Enrollment Management, York College of Pennsylvania, a delegate at the Marcus Evans University Leadership Summit.
We will start working with one vendor very soon. It is likely to be a multi-million dollar contract for a period of five to ten years.
I had known them before the Summit, but after talking with them again and seeing how their model had changed, it seemed like they were a good fit for us. The time we spent together at the Summit helped us decide to engage with them. Our meeting was very valuable and worth my trip. We had uninterrupted time to ask questions.
There are a few more vendors we are following, and could do business with.
I receive vendor calls and emails every day, and I am a tough sell. We are very strategic here and need to see a return on every dollar we spend. Thankfully, it is working. We grew by 10.5 percent last year. To get my attention, a vendor has to really fit into our strategic model, have a complementary tool of some sort.
At the Summit there were many innovative folks who offered interesting products and services. It was obvious Marcus Evans had criteria in place for selecting vendors to make sure they matched with other attendees on board. That is incredibly important. I enjoyed the one-on-one meetings because I was trying to find cutting-edge, innovative products. There are so many vendors and solutions out there, why would we engage with one vendor and not another? Having a face-to-face meeting helps.
The quality of attendees was very high. There was a diverse range of institutions. I liked that I could choose the vendors to meet with.
Other events tend to be like exhibits where vendors try to sell their products rather than demonstrate how they could benefit us. I prefer sessions that are run by colleges or by colleagues to hear how they utilize technology, their best practices, or what they did innovatively, so we can do a better job back home.