“Two service providers I met with at the Summit are now working with us on several projects. We have contracts in place, and anticipate that they will turn into very long-term relationships. We are investing around USD 1 million in their services annually,” said Jon Sinclair, Director of Engineering, Matanuska Electric Association, a delegate at the Marcus Evans Transmission & Distribution Summit.
I found the Summit very helpful for developing partnerships throughout the industry. It was a good opportunity to gain contacts from different sectors of my business. We are in Alaska, so it can be difficult to get consultants and contractors up here to bid on our work.
Several organizations we met participated in our bidding process and we brought on board one contractor and one consultant that had the exact skill set we were looking for. We are currently working with the consultant on several different projects.
The contracts together are worth around USD 1 million annually, and most likely we will renew them for next year.
No, I did not know them, and I doubt I would have met them on my own. We are fairly isolated geographically. The face-to-face discussions at the Summit helped us learn about them and get actual contacts. Many companies approach us by email, but that is not an effective way to start business conversations. The one-on-one meetings at the Summit definitely made it easier to build a connection.
The quality of attendees was excellent. The delegates had significant knowledge about the industry and it was good to gain some of their insight. There are some significant technological changes occurring in the industry today, and it was helpful to hear how they are dealing with those changes.
The format of the Marcus Evans Summit is unique. Most other events have vendors sitting in booths, and it is up to delegates to walk up to them. The Summit was different. Vendors and delegates had 30-minute, scheduled one-on-one conversations, to talk business and get to know each other. We could continue the conversations over lunch or dinner. We built some very good relationships. Most other events are just vendors trying to sell their products. Overall, the experience with the Transmission & Distribution Summit was very good.
Find out more about the next Transmission & Distribution Summit