The Telecommunications Industry Group - whose membership consists of the CEOs of the major telcos bar TelstraClear and 2degrees – is planning a mega conference for March.In sponsorship documents obtained by Telecommunications Review, and headed ‘Answer the Call’ conference organisers aim attract over 750 business people and over 2000 members of the public (including secondary schools and university students) to a two-day event to be held at SKY City convention centre on 18 and 19 March 2010. There are several sponsorship packages, which range from four Platinum packages at $65,000 each, through to $7,500 to sponsor the ice cream for afternoon tea on day one.The document reads: “The conference is not so much about high-tech hardware (although there’ll be plenty of that). It’s more about how telecommunications is opening up a whole new world of opportunity, linking devices and applications with needs – and unleashing some amazing possibilities for businesses, consumers and society in general.”The TIG was formed earlier this year and appointed as its inaugural Chief Executive Rob Spray (pictured here). In the July issue of Telecommunications Review, Spray says that improving the image of the telecommunications industry is a high priority and he mentioned events as one area in which to engage the public. “When I’m working on running an event I’ll build teams from the people inside the operators and get them to do the work for me. When I’m working on a business case, I’ll use business people from the companies. I’ve got a pretty strong workforce inside my members; I’m going to use them.”When TR contacted Spray yesterday to ask about the upcoming conference he didn’t wish to comment. It’s understood the official launch will be later this week.The TIG enters the events market at a time when many existing operators are struggling to survive. Some established conferences have merged or been reduced in sizes, as has been the case of the Brightstar annual Contact Centre and IT Helpdesk Conferences (see yesterday’s report here )Earlier this year TUANZ, which in the past has staged six major events a year for telecommunications users in the education, contact centre and industry space, announced it was outsourcing all its premier events – bar its Telecommunications Day – to IDC.TUANZ CEO Ernie Newman had no comment to make about the upcoming TIG event, other than to wish the organisation well. “Good luck to them; it’s a very competitive market.”Members of the TIG are BayCity Communications, CallPlus, CityLink, Compass Communications, FX Networks, Kordia, Telecom (Group), Woosh, WorldxChange, Vector and Vodafone.
