A Tale of Two Conferences: Cisco, HP Schedule Rival Global Partner Events

Archrivals Hewlett-Packard and Cisco have scheduled their annual partner conferences for the same time at locations within walking distance of each other, and the companies are actually are showing signs of cooperation as they help solution providers work out their attendance plans.

The HP Global Partner Conference 2014 is scheduled to run from March 24 to March 26 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, the Cisco Partner Summit 2014, scheduled for March 24 to March 27, is being held just 1.5 miles away at Las Vegas' Venetian Hotel.

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Having rival partner conferences held in such close proximity can actually be very convenient for partners, said Mark Gonzalez, regional vice president of sales at ePlus, a Herndon, Va.-based solution provider and partner to both companies.

"The OEMs would rather have us to themselves," Gonzalez said. "But with travel funds not as readily available as in the past, we kill two birds with one stone. One trip, one travel budget."

Most companies provide a good calendar of events and breakouts for their partner conferences, letting attendees pick and choose what the want to attend, Gonzalez said.

"So there should be no problems for us," he said. "There may be an issue with the keynotes. But both vendors have partner pavilions. And both have partner parties. We can go to one on one night and the other on the second night."

Glen Jodoin, vice president of marketing and operations at GreenPages, a Kittery, Maine-based solution provider and partner to both companies, told CRN via email that his company's plan is to divide and conquer for registration and attendance.

"Because the meetings are both at the same time we can make meetings at both so it is not the worst situation. On one hand we miss general sessions. ... On the other hand we have a larger presence for strategic meetings at both."

Rather than point fingers at each other over the scheduling, HP and Cisco both told CRN they are working together to help partners who are looking to take advantage of both their partner conferences.

NEXT: Coordination, Not Finger Pointing, Between HP, Cisco

Page Murray, vice president of channel marketing at HP, told CRN via email that having the two events scheduled at the same time and in the same city was just a coincidence.

"When it was apparent they were the same week, both companies have been working together and adjusting the events to minimize the impact," Murray wrote.

Both HP and Cisco will need to work around executive commitments, secure event space that can accommodate an event of this size, and more, Murray wrote.

"We know this isn't ideal for some of our attendees, and we're working closely with Cisco to ensure key sessions do not overlap. We appreciate our partners being understanding and flexible. We believe this shows HP and Cisco working together to do what's right for our partners in a suboptimal situation," he wrote.

A Cisco spokesperson told CRN via email that having overlapping partner conferences was not planned.

"Cisco negotiates for hotel and conference space at least a year in advance of each major conference, sometimes two years, so we didn't know until a while ago that HP was also that same week. We apologize for any inconvenience, and hope it will be possible for media to move quickly from one to the other for key events," the spokesperson wrote.

Page wrote that a global partner conference, with an emphasis on "global," takes a lot of coordination.

"Unfortunately, in this case, we overlap with Cisco. This isn't the first time and certainly won't be the last that one of our events conflicts with a competitive event," Page wrote.

That is certainly the case. HP and Cisco in 2010 also held simultaneous partner conferences, although the Cisco conference that year was in San Francisco while the HP conference was in Las Vegas.

PUBLISHED FEB. 4, 2014