How Tradition + Change = Winning Combination for Protector User Group Meeting

By Amy Oldham
August 26, 2015

One of the things I like best about working at Equinox is the interaction with our customers—we absolutely have the best customers in the whole world! We are committed to their success and want them to know how much we appreciate the relationships we have with them. And that’s exactly why we host a special event for our fraud management customers each year. This fall marks the 17th year we’ve held the Protector User Group Meeting (UGM).

Preparations for the 2015 event have long been underway. The entire team has been working hard to design an event that is educational, interactive, and fun. Our experience hosting this event for the past 16 years has established and shaped many of the UGM traditions that participants have come to love. We’re not content to rest on tradition alone though, because we recognize that there is always room for improvement. One of the key activities of each year’s meeting is gathering attendee feedback. We diligently collect feedback before and during the event as well as at its conclusion by way of a survey.

As a team, the first step in planning the following year’s meeting is to review all the participant feedback. Then we really dive in to determine how to best use that feedback to shape the next Protector User Group Meeting. As my colleague David West noted in the preceding blog, innovation and stability are often viewed as being at odds with one another. Rather than pitting innovation against stability, Equinox embraces them both, pairing the best parts of each for a truly winning combination. That same principal holds true for our Protector UGM—the tradition of excellence we’ve established during User Group Meetings of the past provides a firm foundation for changes/additions that reflect the current telecom landscape and, in particular, our customers’ requests.

So what does this unlikely matchup of tradition and change mean in terms of what you can expect at this year’s UGM? This year’s agenda includes the most popular and highly rated elements (based on attendee feedback), along with the following notable changes and additions:

• Attend on MONDAY through WEDNESDAY (November 16-18) this year. This change allows greater flexibility for those who want to visit Nashville before or after the event. It also accommodates those who could not attend due to schedule conflicts (previously, the event was held Wednesday through Friday).
• Stay near the event venue (Music City Center) in the heart of downtown Nashville if you so choose. Due to record turnout last year, we had to transition the meeting from our office to the Music City Center just weeks before the event occurred. To aide in your trip planning and scheduling, we formalized plans to use this venue before we announced the dates for the 2015 event. You have the option of reserving a downtown hotel or staying at the host hotel.
• You can register for the event online. We respect your time, so we streamlined this process.
• Try something new as we head to Pinewood Social for the group dinner on Tuesday night.
• Submit specific training questions in advance for Monday’s half day preconference workshop. We initially held the training workshop as a last-minute addition to the 2012 UGM. Based on increased attendance and interest, it is now a formal component of the event’s agenda. This preconference workshop, led by implementation and training expert Christi Vanoye, covers tips for proper Protector tuning and maintenance, with time devoted to your specific Protector questions.

As you can see, we’ve worked hard to craft an exciting, productive event for you. Please join us November 16-18 for the 2015 Protector User Group Meeting and experience Music City USA like never before!

About the Author: Amy Oldham is in Corporate Communications at Equinox Information Systems, where she creates and maintains the company’s technical documentation as well as all other customer-facing publications. Amy is also responsible for the company’s newsletter, email campaigns, press releases, and social media presence. When not writing, Amy enjoys spending time with her family, playing tennis, and swimming.
To learn more about Equinox, its products, and the people who power them, visit www.equinoxis.com or call (615) 612-1200.