The popular Birds-of-a-Feather Roundtables, being held Monday, September 10th from 4:30-5:30 pm are an opportunity for you to meet and dialogue with other attendees on topics of mutual interest in a small group setting. Attendance at each Roundtable is limited so be sure to pre-register now for the topic you most want to attend.

The session topics and moderators are listed below. To register simply send an email to conferences@qeddata.com indicating the topic you would like to register for and your name and company name. You may also call 800.525.5811 ext. 9391.

Sponsored By:
Market Data Retrieval (MDR)

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Adaptive Curriculum: Enhancing learning via online curricula that adapts to the individual learner.
Moderated by: Paul Skiera, Business Development Manager, Sebit, LLC

Online Adaptive Activity Objects will be the focus of this round table. We are defining application of Activity Objects as brief units of instruction that can be used in a class with a projector, Smartboard, or hands-on student activities aligned to standards. Main discussion points will include the following:

• Applications of Activity Objects to different phases of learning cycles (i.e. engagement, exploration, concept development, application, and extension).
• The effect of high quality visuals and interactivity on the motivation and learning of students.
• Strategies for individualizing learning, taking into account classroom goals, teacher preferences, student needs, and abilities (ELL, special needs, etc.).
• Challenges for and opportunities in US schools, including professional development of teachers, marketing, and sales.

Benchmarking –  “The single best way to accelerate the rate of improvement in K-12 education is through widespread benchmarking of best practices.” 
Moderated by: Jack Grayson, Chairman, APQC

Join Jack Grayson and Diane Kline for a discussion for a lively discussion about opportunities with APQC, a 30-year old nonprofit who has conducted five major district-level benchmarking consortium studies over the last two years and due to popular demand, we’re now we’re starting eight more.   Join while you can to be able to:

• Identify best practices
• Develop measures and metrics
• Collaborate with peers and experts
• Compare performance with the best
• Get customized reports that identify specific areas of success or opportunities for improvement

Best Practices in Multi-Channel Marketing
Moderated by: Kathleen Brantley, Leader, Channel Management and Chris Ziemnicki, Leader, E-Marketing Solutions, Market Data Retrieval (MDR)

E-mail. Direct Mail. Telesales. Newsletters and Blogs. Print and Web Advertising...The options for capturing prospects and growing existing customers continue to evolve and expand in a Web 2.0 environment, and finding the right mix to drive optimal results is both an art and a science. 
In today’s competitive environment, our marketing investments need to provide a positive return, yet building the best mix of channels to grow sales– and integrate them – continues to be a challenge.  On top of the myriad of channels available, we need to stay on top of CAN SPAM compliance, budget for postal increases, stay in tune  with what’s on the horizon for NCLB and track education trends as we approach an election year.   And, if that isn’t enough to make our heads spin, marketers face increasing pressures to show a clear return on investments and develop new ways to measure results.

Join MDR to share strategies that work for you, the concerns and challenges you face in a multi-channel world, and to brainstorm solutions that drive results.

Creating pre-integrated ecosystems for K-20 education.
Moderated by: Robert Iskander, CEO, VIP Tone, Inc.

VIP Tone invites all content and software as a service vendors to learn more about the EduTone Partner Program and how to become a member in the EduTone Xchange, a global on-demand integrated services delivery infrastructure.

Common formative assessments - what to do with data?
Moderated by: Patrick Leonard, Vice President Curriculum & Business Development, Qwizdom

Standards-based education and data analysis are requirements in every school accountability structure that has been created in the past several years. NCLB has mandated that teachers, students, schools, districts and state agencies provide information that can show proficiency on key state standards. Publishers and technology companies have been coming up with thousands of products and solutions to help meet these needs. But the new question is - “now what do I do with all this data?” This roundtable will gather industry executives and Key education leaders for a discussion on how to use the assessment data to change instruction and how to gather the data that will actually make a difference in student learning.

The Convergence of Print and Digital in Education
Moderated by: John Williams, Director of Sales, Follett Digital Resources

The line continues to blur between the use of print and the use of digital in education.  With 21st Century skills come print products that point to digital access points and digital products and lesson plans that tie back to printed products. We will discuss the steps publishers need to take to manage the print to digital transition, while striking the desired balance between the two.

Digital Content for 21st Century Learning
Moderated by: Karen Cator, Director, Educational Leadership, Apple Inc.

This discussion will focus on the development and distribution of digital content for mobile devices such as iPod.

Effective Business Partnerships: Must-Have Strategies for Accelerating Business Growth
Moderated by: Dr. Phyllis Hillwig, Chief Operating Officer, Words & Numbers

“Collaboration is one of the untouchable skills in the new flat world.” – Thomas Friedman, “The World is Flat”

As the global economy advances, businesses need to move at the speed of light to stay up with the changes. Strategic partnerships, strong networks, and alliances keep businesses focused on what they do best, while staying nimble enough to add capacity and move quickly depending on needs. Join Dr. Phyllis Hillwig, Chief Operating Officer for Words & Numbers, as she summarizes her findings about inter-business collaboration for the educational publishing industry. Find out why:

1. Your biggest competitor can also be your strongest ally.
2. Your network may be worth as much or possibly more than your company’s products and services.
3. Staying small is better.
4. It’s still all about a handshake

When time is of the essence, learn how to quickly identify the key companies to collaborate with and build a bullet-proof network that guarantees you growth and success. In less than seven years, Words & Numbers has grown to become the largest editorial outsourcing group in the industry by studying and executing business practices through noted books such as “Blue Ocean Strategy”, “The World Is Flat”, “The Goal” as well as many others. Share and test your business savvy as you decide on the best practices that work for your organization.

How To Ensure Successful External Content Development
Moderated by: Nancy Garrity, Director of Educational Technology, Brown Publishing Network

Whether you are a publisher in need of excellent content from an outside developer or a developer hoping to build a trusting, long-term relationship with a publisher, this session is for you. Exchange ideas and real-world examples of how publisher-developer communication can make or break budgets, schedules, and product quality. We’ll discuss the key steps that ensure a successful experience for both publishers and developers.

How to work successfully and productively with an executive search firm.
Moderated by: Loretta Berardi, President, Berardi & Assoc., a div. of Solomon-Page Group, LLC

This Roundtable would cover the following subjects:

1. How to choose the right firm--questions to ask before you sign a contract.
2. Initial expectations:  What information should you expect to receive within the first two to three weeks after the search is initiated?
3. How long should a search take from initiation to completion?
4. How to create a true strategic, consultative partnership with the firm.
5. How to write a successful job description and where a good search consultant should help in the process.
6. The interview loop--who should be in it and why.
7. How to sell your company and the position to prospective candidates.
8. Reference checking--who should conduct the reference checks and what information to expect.
9. Salary negotiations-How to negotiate through a search firm to get your top candidate to accept the position.
10. Counter offers--how to prevent them from happening.

IGNORE THE FUTURE AT YOUR OWN PERIL! If you're betting your company's success on an accurate view of the future, you need to attend this session!
Moderated by: Tom Greaves, CEO, The Greaves Group

The K - 12 market is littered with the burned-out wreckage of companies that either didn't know enough about future trends, didn't act on them in a timely manner or thought they could power the direction of their company through sheer will and/or ego.  Don't become "road-kill"!  Attend this session and learn more about the future from the pros.  All attendees will receive one Prilosec tablet!  In addition, if you purchase America's Digital Schools 2007, we'll give you ADS2006 at 50% off!  

In the Trenches of 1-to-1 Initiatives: Successful Bidding and Implementation
Moderated by: Dzana Homan, President/CEO, FutureKids, Inc.

In this spirited roundtable, we'll discuss the environment of today's 1-to-1 education initiatives and provide partnering and bidding strategies for success. Lead by Ms. Dzana Homan, CEO and President of Futurekids, we'll guide the discussion through the labyrinth of complex and sometimes daunting RFPs and give you tips and suggestions on how you can come out ahead. The 21st Century Classroom is the way of the future and 1-to-1 initiatives offer an incredible opportunity for those in the educational market.

Increasing the size of the pie: Adding live, online education services to curriculum products, books, software and computer-based resources to increase program effectiveness and profitability in a teamed approach.
Moderated by: John Stuppy, President, TutorVista.com

It has often been said it takes a village to raise a child.  But we have also known it takes an entire school system in the broader sense to teach a child.  This system includes books, curriculum, teachers benefiting from professional development, reference materials, computer access and many approaches and tools to facilitate discovery and learning.  Rather than think of a school system as being a fixed “pie” that must be sliced and divided between education vendors, are there ways to increase the size of the pie and deliver more engaging and effective resources to students?  In this round table we will explore areas where services have been bundled with products to increase student success while also generating increased sales opportunities for partnering companies.

Integrating Digital Visual Instruction into the K-12 Curriculum
Moderated by: Andrew Schlessinger, Founder and CEO, Library Video Company and SAFARI Montage

Students in K-12 schools today have increasingly responded better to digital visual instruction. Join Andrew Schlessinger, Founder and CEO of Library Video Company and SAFARI Montage for discussions on how visual media is being used in today’s classrooms. 

The Latest Trends in Education Funding
Moderated by: Jennifer House, President, RedRock Reports

No description available at this time.

One to one learning: What is it? Who is it for? And why does it matter?
Moderated by: Mary Catherine (MC) Desrosiers, Sr. Vice President, Strategic Relationships and Business Planning, K12 Inc.

With one-to one-learning possibilities evolving in the market through ubiquitous internet access and wireless technology appearing in homes and classrooms, true individualized learning is now become viable on a scaleable basis.

In this session we will scratch the surface in a group discussion on key questions such as:

• What is one to one learning?
• Can 1:1 physically coexist with 1: many in classrooms?
• Who benefits most from 1:1 approaches, and are they worth it?
• What does 1:1 learning mean for the evolution of the role of the teacher?

This session will be facilitated by Mary Catherine (MC) Desrosiers, Sr. Vice President, Strategic Relationships and Business Planning for K12, Inc. Ms. Desrosiers was one of the original employees at K12, Inc. responsible for establishing early core competencies for the company and specifically driving the product and systems development. Ms. Desrosiers brings over 20 years of experience in product development and in the last 7 years at K12. She and her production teams have created over 90 products and 11,000 lessons. She is currently leading a new division at K12 focused on business planning and establishing strategic partnerships.

Product Management:  Changing the organizational paradigm of educational publishing
Moderated by: Willa Perlman, Managing Partner, Ligature Partners, Inc.
Anna McCormick Kelch, Managing Partner, Ligature Partners, Inc.

As executive recruiters who specialize in the education sector, we are seeing many companies turning to a more customer-centric product strategy and management process. The pressure to provide “complete solutions” for schools has been a challenge for publishers to respond to given traditionally silo’d product development, sales, and marketing organizations. Publishers are addressing this organizational challenge in different ways but the common thread is an interest in bringing in executive talent with some new skill sets. Some call it “product management” some call it “product strategy” some call it “product marketing/product strategy” but they all really mean the same thing – someone who can develop a lifecycle strategy for products that is market driven.  The ideal candidate profiles vary but they are fairly consistent in requiring someone who can manage a P&L so that the strategy and the subsequent product/project management is undertaken within the context of a specific investment strategy, a return on investment, and within the context of the overall company strategy. We will describe our perceptions of the types of executives that appear to be in demand to help companies move toward more customer-centric performance and where they are likely to be found. We will also facilitate a discuss on how our roundtable participants are addressing this issue, where they are finding talent, how they are training existing staff to work within the parameters of a more customer centric develop process, and what this might mean for the future.

Sharing ideas for marketing education products to consumers.
Moderated by: Chuck Grant, President, Hotmath, Inc.

Reaching consumers, parents and students, effectively and efficiently for education products has always been challenging. New Internet-based approaches are evolving so fast that it seems impossible to keep up with what works and what doesn’t. There must be more than Search Engine Optimization but it’s hard to identify things that work. Attendees at this session will share their experiences and ideas for ways to be more successful and approaches that didn’t work. These will include “new media”, “old media”, and guerilla approaches like stimulating teacher recommendation.

So, your customers want digital resources?
Referencing, managing, and delivering digital instructional assets
Moderated by: Michael Jay, President, Educational Systemics Inc. and partners

This session is a “must” for core publishers, supplemental publishers, and curriculum and management system providers.

An ever-increasing number of school districts are requesting instructional materials in a digital form. To a large extent this reflects increased emphasis on addressing the needs of every learner through strategies such as differentiated instruction. These strategies require both core and supplemental resources – print, software, videos, etc. to be searchable and easy to find in the instructional context in which educators look for resources.

This sounds good in theory, but how do we, as educational publishers and management system providers, make this happen? Using and managing the right metadata can help. In this session we will reveal some emerging market requirement and new solutions to assist content publishers, learning management tools, and educational institutions in addressing these issues.

Teachers as Ambassadors: Relating to and Leveraging Your Customers
Moderated by: Paul Kuhne, Vice President of Marketing, Communications and Customer Experience, BrainPOP

How do you turn your most effective salespeople with a lowercase “s” into an effective national network of ambassadors without crossing the line? How do you structure your sales and client relations practices to identify teachers that can serve your sales efforts at all levels? How do you leverage teachers in the sales, implementation and retention process effectively as unofficial/official members of your team? Are there incentives that are more appropriate and motivating than others? How do you harness their first-hand depth of knowledge about the educational community and your product to sell your services successfully? How much business savvy do you look for and when do you look to actually hire teachers? Are there ways to determine who's sincerely interested in helping your customers find value and derive satisfaction? How do they operate in tandem with or lieu of sales and client relations teams? A free-form discussion about ideas, challenges and best practices across the industry with Paul Kuhne, Vice President of Marketing, Communications and Customer Experience at BrainPOP.

Trade offs between developing your own software versus outsourcing
Moderated by: Dr. Michael Liu, CTO, Flatworld Software Corporation

If you have any of the following issues:

• Too busy with your current operation to do anything else
• Shortage of skilled and dependable programmers with domain knowledge
• Having trouble developing cross-platform or web enabling your products
• Too costly to customize the products
• Having headaches to maintain and test constantly changing systems

come to find out if outsourcing is a viable solution for you.

We will use real stories to discuss how to avoid the pitfalls of outsourcing or issues such as piracy.

Web 2.0 and PR
Moderated by: Charlene Blohm, President, C. Blohm & Associates, Inc.

Web 2.0 technologies are dramatically changing the media landscape and organizations must alter their public relations strategies to stay relevant. More than 40 percent of Internet users in the U.S. read blogs, and 10 percent post regularly to a formal blog to communicate with people who share common interests. In addition, mainstream media outlets are using social media to find story ideas and encourage interaction with their audience. How can education companies embrace social media? What can they learn from listening to online conversations? In this session, we’ll discuss why organizations’ public relations strategies and tactics must change, and how they can seize the opportunities social media have to offer.

Web Widgets for Educational Use
Moderated by: Edmund Fish, CEO, ePals Inc.

What is a Widget?  A widget is a third party item embedded in a web page, providing quick access to frequently used information. Widgets change how we interact with the Web, at home and in schools. Though commonly thought of for quick access to frequently used information, such as ESPN scores or weather forecasts, widgets can also be used as great education tools. Ed, the CEO of ePals, Inc., and formerly of AOL, will share his experiences around creating and using Question & Answer, Contextual Search or even Feedster type widgets in educational settings. Come learn about widgets, share info on your favorites, and how you think widgets could be used in schools.

When is the Right Time to Sell Your Company, and How Do You Do It?
Moderated by: Marti Frucci, Managing Director, DeSilva and Phillips

We’ll discuss many aspects of selling your company, including:

• Timing – What are the signs, both business and personal as well as market dynamics, that signal a good time to sell?
• Preparation – What should I do with my company to best prepare it for a sale? 
• Marketing My Company – What is the process?  How long does it take?  What are the advantages and disadvantages of a broad auction versus a negotiated or preemptive transaction?  How are outside advisors involved?
• Potential Buyers – Who are they?  How can I identify them?  What are they looking for?