Have you registered for BlackBerry® World™ 2011? There are a lot of things that are new for this year, so you definitely won’t want to miss this year’s conference:

New Format for General Session – We’re hard at work on plans for two general sessions at BlackBerry World (one on Tuesday May 3rd and one on Wednesday May 4th). This year we’re taking a slightly different approach to the Tuesday general session – expect to see a lot more product focus and a lot more demos! I’m excited to see the BlackBerry platform innovations being showcased by Research In Motion® (RIM®) and some of our key partners.

On Wednesday, we’ve invited Malcolm Gladwell back as a keynote speaker. Malcolm received rave reviews when he spoke at WES 2009 and we’re thrilled that he will be returning to speak again this year.

Hot New Products – All eyes are on the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet, which will be available in stores in the U.S. and Canada just a couple weeks before the BlackBerry World conference. We’ll have focused sessions, onstage demos and lots of hands-on time in the BlackBerry Booth to give you every opportunity to see what this amazing tablet has to offer.

Showing Appreciation for our Alumni Attendees – We’ve designed some special extras just for our alumni: an exclusive breakfast on Wednesday, special VIP Lounge access, and Line Jumper privileges in the General Session.

Universal Studios Florida® Hosts the BlackBerry World Party – As mentioned in my previous post, we are going offsite for the party this year. Whether you’re into the rides or just want to sit back and enjoy some musical entertainment, this is going to be a party to talk about!

BlackBerry Channel Partners Get More – Look in the session catalog for an expanded list of breakout sessions for our BlackBerry Channel Partner community to help partners do more business than ever before. For the first time, there’s a special focus on partners who market to consumers and the tools that can help them succeed.

Register now for your BlackBerry World Full Conference Pass and you’ll save $200 USD off the onsite rate—but hurry, this special discount rate is only available until April 1st.

What are you looking forward to the most at BlackBerry World 2011?

Our attendees tell us that one of the most valuable aspects of our BlackBerry® conferences is the networking they do with other BlackBerry platform customers and partners. At BlackBerry World™ 2011, you’ll find many informal opportunities to network with your fellow attendees – over breakfast or lunch, while you’re waiting for a breakout session to begin, on the shuttle buses between hotels, or while you’re grabbing a coffee at the Dev Lounge. You’ll also be able to participate in a few planned activities designed to help you connect with our sponsor partners and your peers.

The first official event of the conference is the BlackBerry World Welcome Reception, held the evening of Monday, May 2nd in the Solutions Showcase. This event is the kick-off for the week, and is your first chance to see what our sponsors have been working on all year. You can grab some food and refreshments and begin to explore all the demos and solutions brought to you by BlackBerry partners from around the world. The Welcome Reception is one of my favorite events of the conference – the buzz in the air is so energizing and there’s a sense of anticipation as everyone begins to come together. It’s a great way to start things off!

Then, after the first day of sessions is over, you won’t want to miss the BlackBerry World Party, held Tuesday, May 3rd from 7:00-11:00pm. This year, for the first time, we’re taking the party offsite to Universal Studios Florida. As a ride junkie, I’m super excited about the chance to hit the roller coasters! If thrills aren’t your thing, we’re also lining up some great musical performances to entertain you while you mix and mingle over food and drink with your fellow attendees. It’s going to be tough to fit everything in! Details on entertainment will be announced soon so keep checking at the BlackBerry World website.

Ready to network? Drop a line in the comments to introduce yourself and let us know if you’re attending BlackBerry World!

Having organized and attended my share of conferences, I’ve found that there are two things every great conference has to deliver. First, the content presented should be timely and relevant, so you can walk away equipped with the information and resources to do your job more effectively. And second, you should be able to connect with your fellow attendees to make new contacts, learn what’s working for others, and get inspired to see what else is possible. Today I want to share how we’re aiming to meet the first goal with the BlackBerry World™ conference. I’ll talk about networking opportunities in a future post.

Content truly is the meat of our conference, and we’ve been working hard over the past few months to bring you a great lineup of breakout sessions that speak to all facets of the BlackBerry® solution. Sessions are available for customers and channel partners in eight different tracks:

WES tracks, for customers:

• Mobile Strategy: The Key Trends Shaping Decisions in 2011
• Mobilizing the Enterprise for Business Impact
• BlackBerry Products and Deployments
• BlackBerry for Your Organization and Industry

Channel tracks, exclusively for BlackBerry Channel Partners:

• Tapping Into the Consumer Market
• Targeting the Enterprise Opportunity
• Gaining Competitive Edge in the Small to Medium Sized Market
• Everything BlackBerry

The session catalog can be found on the BlackBerry World website, with more sessions being added over the next few months.

What are you looking forward to experiencing at BlackBerry World? Let us know in the comments!

Hi everyone, my name’s Sarah and I’m a member of the Corporate Marketing Group at Research In Motion® (RIM®) – you may have read my past post on the Inside BlackBerry® blog. I’ve seen a lot of changes over the years and been part of many great projects, but my current role – leading the BlackBerry World marketing team – is perhaps my most exciting role as I get to connect directly with customers like you.

It’s been a fun and busy few months ramping up to open registration. For those of you who were familiar with our Wireless Enterprise Symposium (WES), you will be interested to know that we have decided to move forward with a new conference, BlackBerry World, which will contain the WES content.

As of today, you can go to the official BlackBerry World website and register to join us at BlackBerry World 2011, to be held May 3-5 in Orlando, FL. If you buy at the early bird rate you’ll save $400 off the full conference pass – but this special rate ends February 25th, so be sure to buy your conference pass before the prices go up. As a new offer this year – because we know people have busy schedules – you now have the option to purchase a one-day pass for Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday (your choice), if you cannot make it for all three days.

Part of the movement from WES to BlackBerry World reflects the shift in focus – we’re calling BlackBerry World a “360-degree view of all things BlackBerry,” which speaks to the broad range of BlackBerry topics that you’ll be able to explore. But BlackBerry World is also your chance to go really deep on the topics that interest you most. Looking for a new application to mobilize your sales team? The partners in the Solutions Showcase can help you find the right approach. Are you a new BlackBerry administrator? You can immerse yourself in technical sessions, administrator training and certification, and the Hands-on Labs. Want to know everything there is to know about BlackBerry® Mobile Voice System? Need a demo of BlackBerry® Presenter? Wondering how you can manage individual-liable devices in your organization? You’ll get the answers to all these questions at BlackBerry World, along with all the hands-on time you can handle with the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet and our full range of BlackBerry smartphones.

I’ll be keeping you posted over the coming weeks as things progress, but we’re excited about how things are shaping up! Will you be there this year?