Interactive Intelligence engaged a group called Drum Cafe to kick off the meeting. It started with the five-member group "calling" us from breakfast with drum calls. As we entered the hotel ballroom, we saw what appeared to be tribal dancing on stage. Finally, on each seat was an (ININ-branded) traditional African drum. Don't think small here. These drums were about 2.5 feet high and 10 inches across.
After managing to get most of the initially extremely skeptical crowd to participate, the Drum Cafe leader helped build the connection between drumming and a partner meeting. With a little training, we were all working together as one, or in groups based on location in the room, with a pretty powerful result. And that was the point - when we all worked together, the results were better.
Interactive Intelligence's messages throughout the first morning of main tent keynotes reinforced the "we're all in this together" theme. Partners, often struggling to move prospects from interest to purchase in these challenging economic times, were told that they have backup.
SVP of Marketing Joe Staples and VP of Sales Paul Weber encouraged partners to use HQ Interactive Intelligence as a resource. For pre-sales consulting support. For ROI analyses. For corporate visits. For meetings with CEO Don Brown. These same partner-support tactics will serve Interactive Intelligence well as they seek to take their products up-market, from the mid-market into the enterprise space.
All in all, the message from Interactive Intelligence management was a refreshing change. Instead of telling partners to work harder and improve their skills in order to sell solutions better, Interactive Intelligence was saying, "We're here to help. Use us."
