Now in its 20th year Service Management Europe is the leading event for the field service community and its conference is the respected platform for the very latest in service thinking. We are now building the programme for this year's conference in October and inviting submissions from the industry. Have you run a successful project that has produced great results? Are you prepared to enhance your standing by telling the industry how you did it? We would love to hear from you if you have. Below is some guidance on what we are looking for. If you still think you would like to get involved give Mark Turner, the editor and conferenbce chairman, a call on 020 8232 2484 or email him at mark.turner@pentoneurope.com. NOMINATION GUIDANCE SERVICE MANAGEMENT EUROPE 2005 4-6 October 2005, NEC, Birmingham Nominations for speakers are now invited. The nomination should include the name and full contact details of the speaker, their company, a proposed title and 150 word synopsis of the presentation. It should be emailed to Mark at the above address or faxed on 020 8232 1650 before March 31 2005. What are we looking for? The conference will run all three days of SME. There are four theatres - each will feature up to six 30 minute presentations daily. On Days 1 & 2 Theatre One will explore operational and tactical issues in general service management from running an engineering team to a reverse logistics network. Day 3 will be run in conjunction with our colleagues at the leading industry association the AFSMI, and will explore the strategic issues and future trends facing the industry. Theatre Two features innovative industry focused streams. Day 1 is for the public sector (including local authorities, housing association, government bodies, non-for profit organisations). Day 2 is for the telecoms industry and Day 3 is for other utilities. Presentations need to be from or about the industry relevant to the day. Theatre Three will examine issues around mobile computing and communications and Theatre Four runs alongside the specially themed exhibition Service Parts Logistics Who is the SME audience? The audience will be senior service managers from a range of industries. They come for ideas, information and inspiration. It might be to catch up with what the leading players are doing, to understand what some of the issues might be if they were considering similar projects or to find some good ideas to apply to their own business. Who should be a speaker? Presentations will only be accepted from practitioners such as service managers and not the vendors of products and services to the field service community. Some thought-leading industry consultants will receive special invitations. The person should have the authority to represent their organisation, detailed knowledge on the project or issue being discussed and overall company knowledge to put the work in context. What should they talk about? Presentations should detail how the organisation has dealt with a challenge or addressed an industry/business issue. The installation of a product or use of a service may be included in this but probably of more importance is the process, cultural and people issues – these are of great interest to other service managers. Clearly it is quite acceptable for a speaker to introduce their organisation and where relevant to their products and customers where it gives a context to the story. But it should absolutely not be used as an opportunity to ‘pitch’ an organisation or product. Speakers are not expected to reveal any confidential information but openness and candour are always appreciated and encouraged. For guidance only typical themes might include: - Field service as part of an integrated enterprise
- Using mobile technologies to manage engineers
- Gaining competitive advantages from service investment
- Using the call centre as an effective first line of support
- Managing mobile resources to cut costs and improve service
- Shaping the engineering team for future challenges
The technical stuff You should have enough interesting material to fill a 30 minute presentation. Visual aids such as Powerpoint will be available. We normally allow a few minutes for questions. There will be a short break between sessions to allow the audience to move between streams. Presentations must be supplied in electronic form at least one month before the event. No fees are offered but any reasonable expenses incurred in taking part in SME will be reimbursed. Talk as normally as possible - avoid clichés, business speak and jargon – keep it real. Stick to the core subject i.e. service, any digressions should be relevant to the audience. Some of the presentations will be digitally recorded for later broadcast on Service Management 365 allowing a global audience to access it. We will ask for your written permission before doing this. Why speak at SME – what’s in it for you? SME is the platform for the field service community and taking part should be considered a mark of recognition of achievement. It is a chance for you to show off your expertise and gain the respect of your peers, but more importantly, it is also a chance for the industry to recognise your team and your organisation as leaders and examples of best practice. Also many previous speakers have reported it is a great learning experience both in outing the presentation together and from contacts made after the presentation. |
