Roberto Medeyros
Last year, Novell held a tour called Seeing Is Believing in several cities throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. This tour, which featured technical seminars about Novell products, offered so much useful information that Novell's End-user Services team wanted to give Latin American users the opportunity to participate as well. By working with the local Novell sales offices and NetWare user groups, Novell's End-user Services team succeeded in bringing the tour to Latin America. In December 1997, this tour visited the following cities:
The highlight of the Seeing Is Believing tour was a series of technical seminars that Novell's corporate integration managers presented. The corporate integration managers conduct corporate briefings for Novell's key customers and work with Novell product groups to develop training sessions for Novell's field sales systems engineers.
The tour included the following technical seminars:
Although Novell's End-user Services team organized the technical seminars, the Novell sales offices and NetWare user groups in Latin America were responsible for organizing other aspects of the Seeing Is Believing tour. For example, these Novell sales offices and NetWare user groups rented the necessary facilities, set up audiovisual equipment, and provided simultaneous translation services for the seminars, which were presented in English.
Organizing the tour was a daunting task for all of the local NetWare user groups, each of which relied on a dedicated group of volunteers to coordinate various event management services. In addition, each NetWare user group had to find ways to cover the costs of these event management services.
Several NetWare user groups, such as NetWare Users International Argentina (NUIA), decided to raise money by charging users for admission to the tour, offering user group members a significant discount. Some NetWare user groups did not charge an admission fee and raised money in other ways.
For example, NUI Uruguay raised money by organizing an exhibit in conjunction with the technical seminars held in Uruguay. Many local vendors paid for a booth at this exhibit, and users visited the booths during break times. NUI Uruguay also offered two of its own seminars, which were sponsored by Cheyenne Software (a division of Computer Associates) and Teledata (a local vendor). The seminar sponsored by Cheyenne Software discussed auditing and migration solutions for NDS, as well as tools for designing NDS trees. The seminar sponsored by Teledata offered strategies for implementing a secure network.
Thanks to the hard work of Novell's End-user Services team, the local Novell sales offices, and the local NetWare user groups, the Seeing Is Believing tour was a great success in Latin America. In Uruguay alone, more than 180 users attended the technical seminars. Not only did these users receive valuable networking information, but they also discovered that Novell and NetWare user groups can help them do their jobs better.
Roberto Medeyros is president of the NetWare user group in Montevideo, Uruguay.
NetWare Connection, February 1998, p. 48