2008 RICA Annual Meeting Agenda

Tuesday, May 27

5:00pm             Registration Open

Wednesday, May 28

7:00am             Registration Open

7:00am             Breakfast (Exhibits open)

8:00am             Welcome

8:30am             General Session Keynote
                          FCC Representative - invited

9:30am             Refreshment Break (Exhibits open)

9:45am             Advocacy Overview
                          Steve Kraskin, RICA Legal Counsel
                          Tom Smith, RICA Legislative Counsel
           
11:00am            Air wall movement break

11:15am            AD HOC Committee Roundtables
                          Ron Strecker, USF Ad Hoc Committee
                          Rick Vergin, Wireless Ad Hoc Committee
                          Terry Wegener, Video Ad Hoc Committee

12:30pm           Lunch (Exhibits open)

2:00pm             Breakout Sessions

Wireless – Getting Your Arms Around It
Are you having a difficult time getting your arms around wireless services?  In this session we will dig into the importance of market research.  It’s vitally important for you to know your customer market, what services potential customers are demanding, and what services your company must offer to stay in the wireless game.  How important is bundling wireless with your other telco services?  It might just be what sets you apart from the national providers. We will examine successful wireless bundles and the importance of branding your wireless services.  It’s time potential customers know what you have to offer over the national providers and this session will get you started!
Jerry Wilke, RTG

Generating Revenue on Video Offerings
Building your video offering as a revenue stream can be challenging, especially with limited resources and without a familiarity with the medium.  In this session, we’ll explore how partnering with multi-media vendors can help boost revenues, expose your customer base to regional ads, and build value in your video offering.  We’ll also talk about creative ideas telco marketers can use to bring in ad revenue on their own.
Walter Baker, PrimeMedia

Challenges of Network Node Interoperability
As you transition your network to IP, you’re faced with the challenges of interfacing new soft switches, access equipment, and transport networks.  Many vendors are offering solutions but interfacing their equipment with others often falls well short of your expectations.  How do you apply pressures to vendors to fix their problems?  Who has system integration and performance responsibility?  Does IP mean that you must give up the performance standards you historically built your networks upon?  Find out what others are doing and come away with some answers to your questions.
Ron Ellis, Nex-Tech, Inc.; Frank Sarvis, HTC Communications, Inc.; CHR TBD
                       
3:15pm             Refreshment Break (Exhibits open)
           
3:30pm             Annual Business Meeting
                          Presentation of Spirit of RICA Award
                          Presentation of Associate Member of the Year Award

6:00pm             Welcome Reception (Exhibits open)

Thursday, May 29

7:00am             Breakfast (Exhibits open)

8:00am             General Session Keynote

9:00am             Air wall movement break

9:15am             Breakout Sessions

Building the Case for Backhaul
Does your wireless service option (or that of your competitor) offer you a new line of business behind the scenes?  Backhaul can be a new source of increasing revenue as some of the other streams appear to be drying up.  This session will help you understand the opportunities that exist and how you can make the most of them.
Edgar S. DeLong, Jr., Level 3 Communications

Cyber Marketing 101
One of the hottest marketing topics in our industry is marketing in cyber space. This session will give you a 30,000 foot view and then drill down to the basics of launching a cyber campaign.  Learn what is needed to get started as well as what the future in this area may look like. Topics will range from a basic online presence to creating active databases for assistance in a viral marketing campaign. This session will feature one of the Southeast’s fastest growing interactive ad agencies which specialize in direct-to-consumer interactive marketing. Their clients generated over $80,000,000 in online sales in 2007.
Scott Brandon, Brandon Advertising and Public Relations

Meeting the Video Challenge - End to End
Regardless of your ecosystem vendors, many carriers find themselves facing unique dilemmas when deploying video.  Whether it’s issues with encoding, middleware or set-top boxes deployed across copper, fiber or HFC, video still presents challenges for many deploying TV services.  During this session hear about the experiences and challenges of RICA members who are deploying these technologies and how they are effectively delivering video.
Gary Burke, PTSI; Charlie Cano, ETEX Telecom

10:30am            Refreshment Break (Exhibits open)

10:45am            Breakout Sessions

The Business Balance – Products, People and Projections
As a company leader, you’re probably losing sleep worrying about declining revenues, increasing costs, employee issues, and the overall challenges of leading during trying times. This session will help you gain perspective, learn from the success of others, and energize your enthusiasm to fight another day.

Retransmission Consent         
If you offer video, or are thinking about offering video, it’s been on your mind. The issues surrounding retransmission consent are numerous and complex.  This session will help you navigate the path.  Matt Polka brings the experience and expertise of the American Cable Association to RICA’s Annual Meeting.
Matt Polka, ACA

What’s Next for Wireless?
Now that the last major spectrum auction is over, what’s next for the wireless industry?  Are you positioned to benefit from 700 MHz, AWS or 3G cellular spectrum and technologies? Will these valuable spectrum bands only pay off in the retail market? Are you prepared to support the future transport needs of broadband wireless providers?  Join the discussion of the next steps for the wireless industry and learn how you can be a player and where the technology is headed.
Karen Twenfafel, TCA; John Coultas, Soma; Speaker TBD

12:00pm           Lunch (Exhibits open)

2:00pm             Roundtable Discussions
Here’s your opportunity to discuss what is on your mind.  What are your concerns, ideas, theories?  What works?  What doesn’t?   Take advantage of this time to interact with your counterparts from other companies.
Marketing – led by Hillary Cherry
Management – led by Paul Waits
Technology – led by Barry Moore

3:30pm             Refreshment Break (Exhibits open)

3:45pm             What the Future will Bring
Technological changes in all areas of our lives are increasing at exponential rates.   The telecommunications marketplace is no exception.   Who really knows what the future will bring?  The keynote session will investigate some of the market and technical trends in an attempt to project the future of communications and the potential impact on your rural telecommunications business.
Rick Overman, CHR Solutions

6:00pm             Thursday Night Activity
Take a break after a long fruitful day and enjoy a entertaining evening out.  Tommy Gun’s Garage offers food, fun and a uniquely “Chicago” Experience.  Tickets to this event are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.  Get yours (which includes transportation, dinner, and the show) for $120.00 per person.

Friday, May 30

7:00am             Breakfast (Exhibits open)

8:00am             Broadcast Signal Carriage:  A Near-Term Outlook and the Need for Reform
For smaller cable and telecommunications systems, carriage of local network broadcasters provides the core of a viable video service.  At the same time, broadcast signal carriage remains one of the most heavily regulated, and contentious, aspects of the video business.  Chris will provide his insight into key issues surrounding broadcast signal carriage, including the upcoming round of retransmission consent and the DTV transition.  He will also discuss efforts by others to seek reform of the broadcast signal carriage laws and regulations to ease the burdens on smaller distributors and their customers.
Chris Cinnamon, Cinnamon-Mueller

9:30am             Break

9:45am             Advocacy Strategy and Call To Action
This session is an interactive discussion regarding where RICA should and will expend it’s resources to advocate on behalf of its membership.  Be sure your views are heard and learn what you can do to be effective in your own grassroots efforts as well as RICA’s association efforts.
Led by Steve Kraskin, RICA Regulatory Counsel, and Tom Smith, RICA Legislative Counsel

For additional information relative to the RICA Annual Meeting, please contact the RICA office at (866) 472-1209.