As you might imagine, RIM employees are eager to participate in this world-class customer event. All of us have some reason to go – everything from “I want to follow up in person with customers who downloaded BlackBerry® PlayBook™ OS 2.0” to “I’m presenting to a room of hundreds of people on how to use BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion to deploy an internal application strategy.” So, right around now, there’s an annual “who’s on the list” discussion.

Thankfully, I’ve made the cut once again, and I couldn’t be more thrilled! I’ll be part of the team hosting our annual BlackBerry World tweetup (hashtag: #BBTweetUp) and staffing the ever-popular Social Media Desk in the Solutions Showcase area. The team will be capturing executive announcements, partner developments and customer excitement throughout the event to share with the world on our various social channels.

Although I may or may not have had to provide the event team with a bribe of baked goods in order to attend BlackBerry World, your participation is much more straightforward. Just visit blackberryworld.com/registration – and if you’re a returning alumni or coming with a team, be sure to check out the alumni discount and “3 for 2” group package.

Beyond the simplicity of registration, BlackBerry World offers highly relevant educational content. Last year 96% of attendees surveyed said attending BlackBerry World was important to their organization, and 99% of attendees would recommend BlackBerry World to a colleague. Clearly participants find the content of great value.

This year, we are so excited to share our insights on the mobile industry and update you on the latest technology offerings from BlackBerry that we’re hosting a special program for our partners and customers in the public sector – Government Day at BlackBerry World. Scott Totzke, the Senior Vice President of our BlackBerry Security Group (and a driving force behind Government Day at BlackBerry World) wanted to extend his personal invitation to you. Have a look at his video message:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

So whether you’re one of the thousands of enterprise and small business customers attending BlackBerry world, or an IT leader from a government or public sector agency, BlackBerry World will have something for everyone. We look forward to seeing you in Orlando next week!

Having attended BlackBerry World since the inaugural event (back in the days when it was WES!), I often take for granted that customers (and their bosses) inherently understand the value of the conference. After all, once you’ve attended, you just get it. In fact, based on our BlackBerry World 2011 Survey:

• 96% of attendees stated that “attending BlackBerry World was important to their organization”
• 99% of attendees “would recommend BlackBerry World to a colleague”, and
• 98% of attendees “plan to attend BlackBerry World again” (hopefully taking advantage of the alumni discount!)

But if you’ve never attended BlackBerry World, you wouldn’t know the experience for yourself. So, in addition to my apology, I’ve pulled together some reasons for attending BlackBerry World that you should consider.

Have a look at this presentation for the details: “Roger’s Top 5 BlackBerry World 2012 Attendance Justification Conversations To Have With Your Boss At The Water Cooler”.

Also, the BlackBerry World Conference catalogue covers a broad range of topics — you just might find exactly what you’re looking for. In fact, 84% of the attendees surveyed at BlackBerry World 2011 reported that “the breakout session catalog covered the topics they wanted to hear about.”

But beyond my “BlackBerry World 2012 Attendance Justification Conversations” – and in addition to all the work that goes into scheduling, preparing, promoting, learning from, and implementing various sessions – deep down, I think the single most valuable part of BlackBerry World is the people. I can’t put a price on this, or explain how it happens, but BlackBerry World simply brings so many of the right people together and creates the right environment that ‘magic’ is bound to happen. I’ve personally experienced it every year I’ve attended. You just might sit down to lunch and within minutes realize you’re seated with the one developer that has the exact application you’re after, an industry analyst who consulted on a similar business issue in Europe last year, a manufacturing customer who faced similar implementation challenges, and a system integrator that’s based near your office, but you’ve never run into before! Getting this brain trust together could take months of voicemail-tag and email trails. This fortuitous meeting of the minds can be invaluable. In fact, 88% of last year’s surveyed attendees claimed “BlackBerry World helped them meet colleagues (with whom) they would collaborate with in the future.”

So whether you base your attendance on the content or the networking, there’s something for everyone at BlackBerry World. So consider registering for BlackBerry World today…and if my “BlackBerry World 2012 Justification Conversations” do the trick, your boss might even come along, and maybe your team might then be able to take advantage of the group discount! Of course, you’ll have to be on your best behavior if the boss is beside you – but having them see firsthand the potential positive impact mobile technology can have on your company’s business could be worth the effort!

How do you justify conference attendance? Do you have a budget for the year? Per Person? Per topic? What do you say to convince your boss to approve BlackBerry World attendance? I’m sure your peers could benefit from your experience!

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

It’s clear that MDM is a major item on the horizon and will be an integral part of IT project plans in the immediate future.

There are, of course, several sessions throughout BlackBerry World™ that touch on MDM, specifically BlackBerry Mobile Fusion. To get the most out of your time with the BlackBerry product experts, you’ll want to come prepared, and deploying BlackBerry Mobile Fusion in your environment in advance of the conference is a step in this direction. Getting your hands on the product, rolling up your sleeves and digging in allows you to prioritize your questions and make the most of the Research In Motion® (RIM®) experts and technology peers from other companies that you’ll have access to on site at BlackBerry World.

How are you preparing for BlackBerry World? Have you downloaded BlackBerry Mobile Fusion yet?

Sessions are one of main reasons BlackBerry World™ attracts so many attendees. People who’ve been to this conference before tell me they learn so much more by hearing BlackBerry® product news first-hand and directly engaging with the experts. I want to give you an inside look at some of the outstanding sessions we have in store for you this year – so you can register before the conference fills up!

You can already review and search all of the posted BlackBerry World 2012 sessions, but the sessions that stand out for me focus on some of the really hot topics.

If you’re interested in the future direction of BlackBerry® Enterprise Server – and managing BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets and non-BlackBerry devices along with your deployment of BlackBerry smartphones – you’ll want to attend the sessions on BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion. There are good overviews like Introduction to BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, as well as more in-depth sessions like Support iOS and Android Devices with the New BlackBerry Universal Device Service.

BlackBerry is universally popular and continues to help change the way people work. The Sociable Organization: Social Networking and its Impact on Enterprise Collaboration looks at the influence of consumer social media on enterprise collaboration and how BlackBerry PlayBook tablets and BlackBerry smartphones can help businesses collaborate more effectively. The BlackBerry Office: Replace Laptops and Desk Phones for Your Mobile Workforce shows how unified communications technologies like BlackBerry® Mobile Voice System, which puts your corporate desk phone and its functionality on your BlackBerry smartphone, can help to increase freedom, productivity and security, while reducing costs.

Of course, everyone is anticipating the arrival of the hot new BlackBerry® 10 OS – including all of us here at RIM! Many sessions this year touch on the opportunities this new platform will offer. At BlackBerry World, you can get a head start on your development plans by attending Everything You Need to Know about Creating a BlackBerry 10 App.

Lastly, the BlackBerry World team is a big fan of sharing know-how so you get the most from your BlackBerry products and devices. The 10 Best Features of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (You May Not Know About) is crammed full of tips to help ensure that you’re using the features available from this technology to help save you time and simplify deployment. And since BlackBerry App World has a dizzying array of choices, The Best BlackBerry Business Apps for 2012 highlights the choice apps for employees looking for productivity-enhancing tools.

These sessions are only open to BlackBerry World attendees and don’t get repeated throughout the year. Make sure you register now so you don’t miss your chance to access BlackBerry insights you can’t get anywhere else!

What sessions are you looking forward to attending? Let us know in the comments!

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Hi! I’m Wes, and I work for Research In Motion® (RIM®) and I’m a BlackBerry® Segment Leader for Public Sector – which means I spend the majority of my time thinking about how mobile solutions can make a difference in government agencies today. Of interest to others in the same area of occupation is this year’s Public Sector Forum at BlackBerry World™, being held on May 5th, 2011. This annual event focuses on best practices in wireless mobility, networking with peers and the future of the BlackBerry solution for the Public Sector.

In particular, there are two breakout sessions I’d like to highlight:

WB22: Public Sector Leaders in Mobility

Meet the finalists of the Public Sector Wireless Achievement Awards in an interactive discussion on managing large-scale BlackBerry deployments, delivering mobile applications, and meeting business needs with mobility. In this session, we’ll cover the following topics: responding to the demand for mobile access to organizational data, deploying mobile applications, scaling deployments from small user groups to an enterprise-scale user population, balancing security needs with user demands and what makes a successful deployment.

For more details, view Session WB22 in the online session catalog.

WB24: Security in Government Roundtable

In this session, the Research In Motion® (RIM®) security group will discuss the current state of wireless security. As smartphones are more frequently used in Public Sector organizations, maintaining appropriate controls while giving employees the flexibility to fully leverage wireless technology is a challenge. This session will cover governance, regulatory concerns, best practices and industry trends that will assist your organization
in managing growth. Join this session to discuss security challenges and how controls in the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server – as well as third party solutions – can help to address these needs.

For more details, view Session WB24 in the online session catalog.

We’ll also be doing a general overview of BlackBerry solutions used in the Public Sector – sharing some insight into wireless trends and how different mobility solutions can help to drive your business needs (Session WB21). Also, the hot topic of Applications at Work in the Public Sector will explore how organizations at the federal, state/provincial and local levels of government are using the BlackBerry solution as a complete mobility platform (Session WB23).

If you’d like to find out more about our public sector offerings, check out the video above for a look at how the Baltimore Police Department is using BlackBerry today.

If you have questions about applications and deployments, hardware and software, and mobile solutions for field service to emergency responsiveness – we’d love to meet you this week at BlackBerry World 2011!  Register now, and we’ll see you soon!

The BlackBerry World™ conference is coming up fast (May 3-5 in Orlando, Florida), and resident “Nursing Expert” Sara and I have been busy working away at our sessions for the healthcare professionals attending this year!

I’m looking forward to presenting using the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet in Clinical Environments on Tuesday May 3 at 2:15 pm – here’s a description of the session:

The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is changing how clinicians access Electronic Health Records, view diagnostic images and earn their continuing medical education credits. When coupled with Clinical Collaboration tools on a BlackBerry® smartphones, such as receiving alerts and unified communication solutions, the change in workflow is compelling. In this session you will learn how mobile solutions are making a difference in today’s healthcare organizations and you will hear first-hand experiences of customers with successful deployments for clinical teams.

• See the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet at work in a clinical scenario
• Understand how it helps increase the speed of responses, helps decision-making and improves the quality of care
• Hear about the full range of BlackBerry solutions for healthcare

Directly following that session, Sara and a few of our partners will be sharing “Clinical Collaboration on the BlackBerry platform – Nursing and Hospital Workflow” at 3:30 pm:

‘Clinical Collaboration’ on the BlackBerry platform means enabling nurses to access patient data, receive alerts and notifications, access reference tools, and collaborate with team members with voice or secure text. Hospital efficiencies can be improved including better communication, more efficient use of hospital equipment/space and improved patient care. In this session, learn how Wi-Fi® and SIM Optional/Dual-Mode BlackBerry smartphones are impacting healthcare organizations. You will have the opportunity to hear first-hand customer success stories of BlackBerry solutions for Nursing and Hospital Workflow and discuss healthcare application vendors.

• See the latest mobile applications leading healthcare customers have deployed on BlackBerry smartphones
• Discover best-practices for device consolidation on the BlackBerry smartphone
• Take the opportunity to talk to healthcare technology innovation leaders and discover opportunities to make positive communication changes in your healthcare environment
• Further your knowledge of Nursing and Hospital Workflow application vendors

So, the countdown is on! We’re really looking forward to connecting with healthcare innovators at BlackBerry World and discussing options for improving patient care through mobilization. Only four days until BlackBerry World begins, so be sure to register today!

What are you most interested in checking out at this year’s event? Is there anything in particular you’re looking to learn about? Let us know in the comments section of this post!

One of my favorite parts of WES – now the BlackBerry World™ conference – has always been the “Solutions Showcase”. Yes, the parties and concerts are fun and the keynotes are inspiring, but what really sticks with me is the exciting amount of innovation to be discovered amongst partners!

There was a time when I knew all the Alliance Members by heart – but that was when there were fewer than a hundred. Now, with thousands of partners – not to mention registered developers (corporate and individual) – all producing an increasingly diverse set of applications distributed through the BlackBerry App World™ storefront, in-house or direct, the character of the Solutions Showcase certainly has changed!

In addition to the Welcome Reception held in the Solutions Showcase on Monday May 2nd, I like to hit the showcase in between breakouts to stretch my legs and see what’s going on. Aside from reading the full list of sponsors, I wanted to get a better sense of what I could look forward to seeing this year, so I had quick chat with our Alliances Enterprise Solutions team. As expected, every conceivable category of business need seems to be addressed at BlackBerry World: vertical solutions, custom development, field automation, workflow management, and hundreds more.

Here are just some of the solutions that I’m personally looking forward to checking out during my time at BlackBerry World:

• Anomalous Networks – Addressing the bane of most ITC managers (and parents of teenagers), they address “bill shock” through a Telecom Expense Management tool for consumers and enterprises. As their tagline says, “If it is on the bill, it is too late!”
• OpenText – This is a platform designed for rapid design/deployment of enterprise mobile services. This takes mobility out of ‘connect my latest gadget’ land and into a more strategic arena, which makes me happy!
• Syclo – Focused on extending back end systems like SAP, IBM® Maximo and Oracle, this is your typical independent software vendor from five years ago – with one big difference. Back then, ISVs typically had maybe a dozen clients. Syclo, however, boasts success with over 750 organizations in 37 countries! They also feature a “SMART Approval Manager” which looks like a ‘Prêt-à-Porter’ tool for mobilizing basic business requests: expense approvals, timesheets, PO’s, service reports, and so on.
• Grabba – Their attachments are designed to enable interaction with Barcodes, RFID tokens, Mag-Cards/Smartcards, Fingerprints, OCR, Signature Capture, IR and even Zigbee. At BlackBerry World, they’ll be running sessions related to m-commerce and m2m. Given that they previously been involved with our work in the vertical markets, I’m keen to explore their solutions in greater detail.

Make the most of BlackBerry World and plan ahead – I know I will. What business problems are you looking to solve? Are there any partners you’re specifically hoping to connect with? I’m keen to hear about your interests, so let me know.

We are all very busy here preparing for the BlackBerry World™ 2011 conference, coming up soon on May 3-5! Small and Medium-sized Business mobility is always a popular topic of discussion at the conference, and this year we have added more SMB sessions, tracks and content than ever before. There are multiple sessions being held for our Global Retail Channel partners and our IT Value Added Resellers, as well as for the Small & Medium-sized business owners and IT decision makers who will be with us in Orlando.

If you’re an IT decision maker within a small business attending BlackBerry World, I’d like to point you to this session in particular: BlackBerry® Solutions for Your Business (WA28) – taking place Wednesday May 4 at 11:15 a.m.

BlackBerry Solutions come in all sizes and adapt to various business needs, whether you have a large, medium or small business. This 90-minute session will provide perspective on how BlackBerry Solutions work across a number of messaging platforms, both on premise and through third party providers. Attendees will learn more about solutions that are designed for small businesses running Microsoft® Exchange, Windows Small Business Server, IBM® Lotus® Domino®, MDaemon, POP3, IMAP or web-based email. Also, the session audience will hear about collaboration tools and applications that are ideal for businesses.

This session will additionally cover the following points:

• Learn more about MDaemon® Messaging Server, BlackBerry® Edition (in the meantime, you can check out our blog post about MDaemon!)
• Hear about a new small business extension of BlackBerry® Internet Service
• Get an overview of BlackBerry® Enterprise Server Express

Also new this year at BlackBerry World, we’re offering one-on-one sessions for our SMB attendees to meet with a BlackBerry small business solution consultant, in order to talk about your business challenges, your current mobile solution and how we can help. If you’ve registered for BlackBerry World as a business under 500 employees, we’ll be sending you an email inviting you to set up a one-on-one session some time during the conference. This is a great opportunity to ask all those questions you have directly to a BlackBerry expert, so please take advantage of the invite – we are looking forward to meeting you.

Time to get back to conference prep! See you soon at BlackBerry World!

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!