D&H Canada has run an annual Technology Show in the Toronto area since it first came to this country. But for the first time, it’s taking the show on the road, with plans for an edition of the event May 1 in Montreal.

The format will be familiar to those who’s attended the distributor’s previous events – A handful of vendor seminars in the afternoon, followed by a multi-vendor technology fair, food and drinks in the evening. As is typical for D&H’s events, the focus will be on it being a selling show.

“For selfish reasons, we want to educate [our customers,]” said Greg Tobin, general manager of D&H Canada. “But if we don’t sell more products, then we ultimately fall short.”

The show, which will be targeted towards D&H customers and prospects within a three-hour radius of Montreal (which includes both Ottawa and Quebec City), will feature at least two vendor seminars, Tobin said.

• Cisco Canada’s Bob Martin will address BYOD with a focus on the business opportunity and architecture; and
• HP Canada’s Ira Weiss will discuss the next generation of workstations from HP and how to find higher-margin workstation opportunities.

Beyond that, Tobin expects a “scaled-down” version of the show floor experience for the Toronto-area events, including 25 or so vendor partners, and “a special gift” available from the D&H booth.

While it is the distributor’s first foray into doing a multi-vendor event outside the Toronto region, Tobin said it’s far from a sign that D&H wants to take the traditional multi-city roadshow approach common among other large distributors. He said that D&H’s strength is in small resellers, and particularly with solution providers from small town and rural regions. To reach that base, the company runs a series of “single-vendor, single-solution” City Dinner events, that bring together 30 to 40 solution providers with D&H and a vendor sponsor for the evening equivalent of a “lunch-and-learn.”

“I don’t see us going into a traditional five-city tour, or anything like that,” Tobin said.

The Montreal Technology show is slated for May 1 at the Hotel Sheraton Laval.