Coming off the heels of a very successful ChannelNext East in Vaudreil, Quebec in late March, the TechnoPlanet team brings their venerable channel roadshow to Central Canada with a stop in Niagara Falls, Ont. next week, June 4 – 5.

And TechnoPlanet president Julian Lee is promising it will be the biggest and best ChannelNext event to date.

The spring event in Quebec included Xerox launching its managed print program, the introduction of a new VAR-specialized social media program, and a new testing facility for solution provider sales professionals, among other announcements.

So what’s on tap for Niagara Falls? Lee isn’t letting the cat too far out of the bag, but read on for some hints, plus an exclusive special offer for ChannelBuzz.ca readers.

As one would expect, the big trends of the day will be heavily featured: cloud, managed services, BYOD and mobility, by more than 30 vendor sponsors. Expect to hear from major vendors and longtime ChannelNext participants like HP and Cisco, as well as getting a chance to meet new and upcoming Canadian vendors, including WebMonocle and ZeroSpam.

Here are some other tidibts to expect at ChannelNext:

• What is the Canadian Office Products Association doing there as a sponsor? According to Lee, getting the long-serving trade group for office products retailers to the show isn’t about convincing VARs that they want to sell office goods – but it does represent an opportunity for solution providers to get in on COPA’s benefits packages, a value proposition that Lee says can offer ROI in less than 30 days. Certainly something to take notice of.
• And while Hartco has long attended ChannelNext in its VAR capacity, this year, the word is Hartco will be on hand with “two hats” on. While half the team is there to meet with their vendor and distributor partners, could it be that the other half will be there to get VARs signed up under its MicroAge franchise banner? Stay tuned for much more on that.

All this – and much more – takes place next week at the Marriott Gateway on the Falls Hotel.

“But,” you say, “I’m not signed up for ChannelNext.”

Not yet, perhaps. But it’s not too late to check the event out.

A special offer for ChannelBuzz.ca readers

Although the “standing room only” signs were out early for what Lee describes as the biggest ChannelNext event to date, we’ve made special arrangements for you, our ChannelBuzz.ca readers.

Lee has extended an invitation to ChannelBuzz.ca readers to come on down and check out ChannelNext in person on Tuesday June 5 – drop by for an 11:00 am seminar, stick around for lunch, and take in the Solutions Expo to meet the 30-plus vendors and distributors in attendance.

Looking for more? Although the show is very full, Lee has hinted that he’ll be willing to have a handful of the right channel partners for the full June 4 – 5 event, including afternoon sessions, dinner and hospitality suites on the 4th, and the full day on the 5th.

To get involved, just head over to ChannelNext’s Web site and register for the event – use the Priority Code “Cbuzz” when registering.

If you want to attend both days, please indicate that in the registration form, and the ChannelNext team will work with you to make it happen if at all possible.

Thanks to Julian and the team at TechnoPlanet for making this special promotion available to ChannelBuzz.ca readers, and have a great time at ChannelNext in the Falls!