Sixty percent new distributors and twenty five percent new vendors register for Middle East and Africa (MEA) event with over 700 meetings;
Central/Eastern Europe (CEE) event saw increase in thirty percent new distributors, thirty percent new vendors and over 1200 meetings between potential partners
Monte Carlo: Distree Events, organisers of the premier channel events DISTREE, Digital Business Channel and Digital Consumer Channel, has announced the successful conclusion of DISTREE CEE (January 19-22) and DISTREE MEA (January 22-25) where over 114 vendors met over 250 executives from some of the top technology distributors in these regions at the Le Meridien Beach Plaza Hotel in Monte Carlo. The combined purchasing power of the distributors from both MEA and CEE is almost 20 billion. Distree CEE attracted over 427 participants while Distree MEA drew 223 participants.
During the two events, the invited distributors who attend these events as special Distree Event guests met with around 100 existing and potential new vendors from all around the globe to discuss a range of issues important to the technology business including market conditions, industry trends and new products for the channel. The events followed the special "DISTREE formula" which combines a high-level, full service event with the comfort of a world-class venue.
DISTREE CEE VITAL STATISTICS
70 vendors
186 executives
427 participants
1200+ pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings
54 boardroom meetings
Over 13 billion cumulative purchasing power
DISTREE MEA VITAL STATISTICS
44 vendors
100 executives
223 participants
700+ pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings
32 boardroom meetings
Over 5 billion cumulative purchasing power
Farouk Hemraj, CEO for Distree Events said, "The continuing success of our events has shown us how important these "high-growth" markets are for technology vendors. We are continually evolving the format of our events to ensure that we continue to bring value not just to these vendors but also to our invited guests from the channel."
Before the events, distributors and vendors used the special online conference software designed by DISTREE to pre-book one-on-one appointments and boardroom meetings -- a system that helps participants accomplish a full sales cycle in three days. Using this software, there were over 1200 pre-scheduled "one on one" meetings and 54 boardroom presentations during DISTREE CEE while DISTREE MEA saw around 700 pre-scheduled "one on one" meetings and 32 boardroom presentations where vendors get the opportunity to present their latest information to a pre-selected group of potential partners.
"With DISTREE, we wanted to provide the best environment to bring together the top channel partners from each geographical region with the international technology leaders while providing valuable analysis from industry experts," continued Hemraj.
DISTREE once again introduced four new vendors, the winners of the second EUROSTART Award, a special award programme begun by the organisers to recognise and provide a platform for new and innovative vendors within the emerging markets of EMEA. The 2006 EUROSTART Awards, valued at 135,000 (US$180,000), was awarded in three categories covering hardware, software and services under the consumer and business sectors. The winners included Advanced Network Technologies Ltd (UK), NETASQ, (France); Skyrecon Systems (France), and XIRRUS (USA).
In its continuing commitment to the channel, at DISTREE MEA this year, the organisers also introduced the President's Club for the region. Honorary in nature, the Club's role was to serve as an important regional 'Think-Tank' dedicated to defining and promoting a healthy and successful distribution channel for the IT industry. At its first session, however, the founding members of the Presidents Club opted to form a Technology Distributors Association (TDA) as a platform to represent technology distributors throughout the Middle East, Turkey and Africa regions. TDA's initial Executive Committee includes some of the region's leading and most established distributors representing an estimated 25% of the MEA's IT spend.
According to the TDA committee, "the region's distributors are encouraged to actively contribute by sending suggestions and comments to the committee on tda@distree.com".
Hemraj, commenting on the formation of the association, said, "We are excited at the prospect of the region's distributors working together for the benefit of the channel as a whole. As an organiser, we have a commitment to providing the platform for the healthy growth of the region's channel structure. The fact that DISTREE was selected as the launch event for the association underscores the importance of the event to distributors in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa."
-Ends-
About DISTREE EVENTS:
DISTREE EVENTS is a communication company specialized in the planning, organization, staging and management of Information Communications Technologies events. All our events are based on the concept to bring high-level buyers from hard-to-reach markets into productive contact with vital vendors. The team of DISTREE EVENTS has successfully organized such events for the past seven years gathering more than 6000 senior executives from 60 countries.
Our portfolio of events includes:
DISTREE CEE and DISTREE MEA (http://www.distree.com): the key business platform for the IT distribution channels in the Emerging Markets.
DIGITAL CONSUMER CHANNEL: the only high level channel event to reach the top Retailers in 3 specific Regions: CIS (Russia, Ukraine and former USSR Republics); DCC MENA (Middle East North Africa); and Central Europe (from Balkans to Baltics
DIGITAL BUSINESS CHANNEL: The new channel event to reach large corporate resellers, VARs and system & software houses in 2 Fast-Growing Regions: MEA and CIS (Russia, Ukraine and former USSR Republics)
Press contact:
DISTREE EVENTS:
Farouk HEMRAJ,
Tel. +33 1 40 33 33 52,
Email: fhemraj@distree.com
Market Buzz International:
Mita Srinivasan,
Tel: +971 4 3625484,
E-mail: mita@themarketbuzz.net
© Press Release 2006
