 Welcome to JSA TV, the use room for tech and telecom professionals. And JSA Radio, your voice for tech and telecom on iHeart Radio. I'm Jamie Scott of the Tire of JSA. Joining me here today, I'm very honored to say we have Ms. Amy Shabanik, she's the exchange director for telecom exchange and CEO exchange. Amy, welcome to JSA TV. Hi, Jamie. Thanks so much for having me. I'm happy to be here. We're happy to have you here. And, you know, we've heard a lot about telecom exchange in the recent years. And now, just in the last few months, we're hearing about this text 2.0. Can you tell us what is text 2.0 and how is that different from telecom exchange? Absolutely. So telecom exchange has been around for over eight years as a leading industry event. But in this past year, we've decided to really change the events to better suit our growing industry. So this event is very forward thinking. It's a new standard for collaboration and networking. So text 2.0 is and how it's different from telecom exchange is it's really we're right sizing the event. We're putting the right people in the room to drive the right conversations and collaborations that we can drive change and look at the future of the tech and telecom industry and as a community make it better and really work together to make it better. So unlike any other event that's out here, we're really pushing for change and really striving to make sure that we come together and agree upon this. And how can we do this? So what we do is we put together the max four roundtables and everybody in the room is invited to be a part of the conversation. So yes, they're still a moderator and they're still panelists up there who are driving the conversation, but everybody in the room is hopefully contributing. So that as a group at the end of the roundtable, we discuss where the topic is where it kind of sits in the industry now and what needs to happen and the result being three to five accountable action items that we get behind that we agree upon. And again, this is a room full of decision makers. So all of these decision makers are in this room. They're saying yes stamp of approval. Let's how can we do this and how can we make changes. So and this is not something that is unattainable, right? So we're not asking to change the world and one event we're taking bite sized, many items that we can just one step at a time keep moving forward. And so at the end, we gather these accountable action items and we put them into a manifesto. And then we have a selfless passionate committee chair from the industry that stands behind that that manifesto develops a committee and helps make ensure that over the next 12 months, we accomplish as many of these items that we can. So we launched this event for the first time in New York in back in June, and it was very well received highly successful. And I'm very excited to see how this continues to grow and and evolve and really again as a community having everyone get behind it and be supporters. So we're really excited for text LA, which is our second text 2.0 event on November 6 and 7 and at the Clinton Paloma house of Beverly Hills. So really looking forward to that event as well. Wow. Okay. So I heard you are doing an event that is hyper focused on changing the industry the next in three to five action items per round table for the next 12 months ahead, driven by thought leaders, decision makers in that room. I love what I'm hearing. And I also hear New York was happened in June. Now LA come November this fall. Why LA? So, you know, LA is really it's a major gateway for networks, you know, with key carrier hotels and data centers located in LA, and of course up and down the West Coast. And then as well as the Trans Pacific connectivity, to Hawaii and Asia Pacific. And of course when you think West Coast, the huge bandwidth traffic consumption from the West Coast content and cloud providers, the OTT all located in LA, and as well as the media and broadcast companies. And LA, you know, it's an expensive city. So historically, it's been neglected by telecom event producers, but it's so critical for our network infrastructure. So we decided that, you know, it's a new great place to meet. And being from Chicago, I personally can't complain about California sun during November. So it's definitely a draw and we are really looking forward to it. Yeah, I love that. Of course, sometime in November is always needed for many of us who don't live out in the West Coast already. But but also I love this idea of connecting where the networks are literally located and where people are one cross connect away and these big carrier hotel towns like LA, New York. So I see where you guys are going. That's that's an interesting model. And certainly, you know, it's a it's a difference. It's a marked difference in the events that we're seeing these days in the telecom and tech space, you know, I mean, I think a lot of a lot of events are just completely different. This is perhaps a response to what you're seeing currently in the event space here. Yeah, yeah, you know, a lot of events typically seem to be very, you know, silent, very targeted, you know, stay within their their parameters here. So it's, you know, what that does is it drives your competitors into the same space. So, you know, what we do with techs is we look at the entire ecosystem. So we get multiple voices and perspectives all up and down the OSI stack. So data center and our operators, dark and lit fiber providers, hosting security providers, and the concept players and large enterprise network operators that are driving the traffic spikes. Plus, another other events, really, they don't promote their attendee lists like we do. So ahead of time, we provide an opportunity for our attendees to have access to the other attendees that are attending our event via our app. So, you know, we've always historically been industry matchmakers. But this, you know, our latest app and online system is really the most innovative and data driven. And we give you the opportunity to walk into the event and know that you have a prospect meeting set up. So that really ensures that you are getting the most out of your event investment. Yeah, I love that as, as a way to tell my CFO, hey, I already have these prospect meetings in my calendar in their calendar. And we're just going to go ahead and rock it out. That's, it's definitely easier to sign off on that, that flight and expense bill than, than just going to walk the floor. So I love that you guys do that. And I'm glad you kept that essential one on one networking part, you know, from previous telecom exchange event models to today. So that's great to hear. And, you know, you guys also mentioned that sort of your, your expertise in the event industry over the years. Can you provide us perhaps some best tips for event marketing today? I know, I know there's a lot of things that we look for as, as network operators, as carriers, as data center operators. What are the events that we need to be looking out for? What is some qualifications that these events really should have when it comes for me to lay down a couple of dollars and invest in my brand at these events? Can you give us some guidance there? Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, my top three, I'll say, I'll narrow it down to three, although I'm sure I could give you a top 10 list very easily here, because, you know, I think that there's so much to be gained from these, these events, especially the, the great ones such as, you know, text 2.0. But, you know, my top three, I would have to say is the ability to meet one-on-one. You know, you have to be able to meet with prospects and customers, partners. It's, it's not just about being in a room full of your peers, you know, which, and again, it's then it becomes the same from event to event to event. If you're meeting with just your peers, the same people and same talking heads, you know, we need to make sure that you're, there's different, the ability to have different people and network and meet new people and again, potential business opportunities. So again, that's a classic mistake. I feel like a lot of event producers in our industry make filling their room full of peers, but that doesn't enable opportunity. The second tip I have is the ability to connect to media, to be able to promote your breaking news if you wish. It's, you know, really important, especially if it is a room full of prospects and customers and you connect with the media and they're announcing your news, it's a great opportunity for you to, for your name to visibly be out there in front of these potential clients. And third and definitely not last is the ability to be viewed as a thought leader. I think it's important to really let your voice be heard and, you know, be helping to drive the agenda for the coming months ahead and, you know, not just not to be backseat, but to be active, right, to be one of the people that your voice is being heard amongst the industry. And so all of these things, these top three things is what the thought process behind Text 2.0 as we sat and said, you know, what are the best things? What are, you know, what could people really invest their brand into? And we came up with it, you know, a list and we made sure that Text 2.0 was a part of that, that, that bill. So I would, you know, investing in your brand will, through Text 2.0 is something that we wanted to make sure that people, you know, gain the most from. And so here we are looking forward to LA, looking forward to LA and providing that opportunity to companies. Yeah. And I just love your tips, you know, ability to connect with your prospects, your customers, your partners, not just your peers, but to connect with your media and be a thought leader, drive that conversation. And that's really sort of a nice lead into talking about CEO exchange. Can you tell us a little bit about what is CEO exchange and how does that further drive that Text 2.0 message? Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So CEO exchange is an online 24-7 meeting platform, again, for C-level. So we've taken Text 2.0 and that, that thought process of making it decision makers. And we've taken it and we've put it into an app. So it was, it's the same online meeting system as you see for our events. And we've created that so it's all year round. It's not just on an event by event basis. So it continues that conversation so we can continue to talk to each other about how the industry is moving, how it's changing, how it's developing. We can always make sure we can post on there about educational papers, you know, staying in front of the trends, really. And again, it's the right people in there. So it allows you to network and meet people through, via this platform throughout the year. And again, what it does then as well is it takes what we talk about at Text 2.0 and it allows us to continue it. So it bridges that gap. So we, we don't just go, okay, in June we're talking about these roundtables. In November we're talking about these roundtables. And then in between months they get forgotten. We want to make sure that they stay relevant, that we continue to drive this change by staying on the forefront of the industry. And so we decided to create CEO exchange so we can again bridge that gap and just make sure that, you know, we build our community and we all stand behind the mission of us trying to invoke change. That's so critical. I often see these spikes that happen right during these key events in our industry where we're all jazzed up, we're at the worlds, we just got back from PTC, IGW, telecom exchange would have you, and then all of a sudden, you know, it's just goes right back into business as usual. And we forget about all those great connections and conversations. Maybe we reconnected the next year in the next event. But it's this like up and down spike. And I always wonder, gosh, if our industry could talk more, communicate more in between those events, that there would be more of us stepping up, you know, stairway to heaven type of approach versus these spikes that that can feel like we're not actually getting anywhere. So I love this idea, Amy. Okay, so JSA TV watchers out there. Two things to check out. The telecom exchange.com and for CEO exchange, what is it, Amy? The CEO exchange.net. The CEO exchange.net. Well, wonderful, Amy, as always, to talk with you. And thank you for all your insight. And thank you viewers for tuning in to JSA TV and JSA Radio. Happy networking.