McLeod Software announced that its 2009 McLeod Software Users’ Conference will be held Oct. 21-23 in Birmingham, Ala., at the Sheraton Birmingham Convention Center. Charles “Shorty” Whittington, longtime McLeod Software customer and chairman of the American Trucking Associations, will be the keynote speaker.
“Customers who attended last year’s event in Nashville indicated via a post-conference survey that, while they truly enjoyed the Gaylord Opryland experience, they preferred to meet in Birmingham to give them the opportunity to see more McLeod employees and visit our headquarters office,” says Mark Stephens, director of special events for McLeod Software.
As president of Grammer Industries, Whittington has been in the transportation industry for more than 30 years. In addition to serving as ATA chairman, he serves on boards for the Indiana Motor Trucking Association, the Agricultural & Food Transporters Conference and the National Tank Truck Carriers, and is active in many state propane and fertilizer trade associations. He recently served on a government-negotiated rulemaking entity involving a safety issue with tanker trailers, one of only five successful such missions of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
In addition, the User’s Conference has been expanded to three days by adding a full day of optional in-depth software training. Classes in carrier operations, brokerage operations, data management, accounting, billing, settlements and more will be held on the third day of the conference. This extended training opportunity goes hand-in-hand with the 2009 conference theme of “Knowledge You Can Use.”
“Although some transportation conferences have seen a decline in attendance over the last eight months, we expect our attendance to be as strong or stronger than at our previous conferences,” Stephens says. “Our customers know that when business is slow, our Users’ Conference offers great opportunities for them to take the time to learn more about the comprehensive software they already have. We are calling these specialized classes ‘Digging Deeper.’ Our goal through these classes is to add to our customers’ software knowledge to help them work smarter and more efficiently — something all will recognize as extremely important in these times.”
The Users’ Conference also will provide a host of nationally recognized industry speakers, new customer breakfast-roundtable discussions and many other chances for customers to broaden their knowledge of both the software and the strategies and tactics it takes to succeed in today’s challenging business environment.
McLeod also will demonstrate its new products, modules and interfaces, including updated versions of its LoadMaster and PowerBroker software programs, new reporting capabilities, new EDI enhancements and document management solutions, as well as new interfaces with additional industry partners. The Users’ Conference will be the first time many of these products will be shown publicly, the company says.
