Tuesday, April 9, 2024
5:30pm 2024 IAMU Broadband Conference and Expo Opening Ceremonies
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Join as for cocktails and snacks as we kick-off the 2024 conference! |
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
9:00am Kickoff Keynote: Fireside Chat with Gigi Sohn (Pioneer Room)
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Gigi Sohn, AAPB
Join as we chat with Gigi Sohn, Executive Director of the American Association for Public Broadband, about her journey in the telecommunications industry and learn how the AAPB is fighting to ensure the rights of communities to control their own broadband futures. |
10:00am Concurrent Sessions
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NCTC’s MVNO Program (Meadows Room)
Zach Cutrell, NCTC NCTC’s turnkey MVNO service enables members to easily and seamlessly deliver member branded and billed mobile phone services to their customers. NCTC and our industry leading partners have come together to make it simple to offer flexible and affordable plans, the latest devices and world class service and support all under the member operator’s brand. NCTC member operators can now offer double and triple play offers with wireless, broadband and video services. |
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Internet Exchanges, Peering, and the User Experience (Green Acres Room)
Offir Schwartz, Capcon Networks Internet Exchanges and peering have been critical component to the internet ecosystem since the dawn of the internet however, many rural broadband operators have little to no knowledge of how Internet Exchanges work and how they may benefit them to reduce costs and improve their subscriber’s experience. This presentation strives to provide rural broadband operators with a high-level understanding of how Internet Exchanges and peering work, how to access them, what the economics that drive their value are, and what alternatives are available in the market. |
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Tech Talk - Ribbon (John Deere room)
Drew Nelson, Solution Architect, will review the Ribbon IP optical portfolio |
11:00am Concurrent Sessions
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NCTC Connectivity Echange (Meadows Room)
Sally Daniels, NCTC Earn, Expose, Expand: How to grow your wholesale business with automation Earn more monthly revenue by exposing your fiber footprint to expand your wholesale business opportunities for Broadband and DIA NCTC is building the largest, most accurate, quote to order automated platform in the United States. We established the Connectivity Exchange to help our members compete for and win bids to provide Broadband and DIA services to business customers at locations within a member’s established network footprint. |
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Passing the Baton - Preparing for Organizational Leadership Turnover (Green Acres Room)
Stacey Slaughter, NTCI Whether it is from retirement, promotion, or someone leaving your organization, you will eventually need to fill leadership roles within your company. And waiting until the position is open to start developing the next runner in the relay is a sure-fire way to lose the race. This session will explore ways you can be preparing today to pass the baton to the next leader whenever you reach that point in the race. |
11:45am Lunch and Keynote Speaker (Pioneer Room)
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Dr. Matt Behrens, State of Iowa Chief Information Officer
Dr.Matt Behrens currently serves as Chief Information Officer for the State of Iowa where he leads strategic technology initiatives across the executive branch including IT infrastructure, project management, cybersecurity, and statewide IT project management. Dr. Behrens also administers Governor Reynolds' Empower Rural Iowa Broadband Grant Program which has made available over $500 million for broadband expansion in rural and unserved areas of Iowa since 2015. To date, the Empower Rural Iowa Broadband Program has coordinated infrastructure expansion, digital equity, broadband mapping, community engagement, dig-once, and property tax exemption policy initiatives across the State of Iowa. Dr. Behrens also serves on the faculty of the Department of Political Science at Iowa State University where he teaches legal and ethical issues in cyber security. |
Gold Medal Sponsors
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1:00pm Vendor Expo (Northwoods Ballroom)
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Visit our amazing vendors and learn more about the products and services they provide! In addition to our Presenting Sponsor Power & Tel and our Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medal Sponsors, 2024 exhibitors include: Clearfield, Inc.,. University of Northern Iowa Strategic Marketing Services, Ribbon, MP NexLevel, NewCom Technologies, Inc, Murphy Communications, NISC, Priority Electronics Ltd., CBM Inc., HM Cragg, White Construction, netElastic, Dura-Line, Tii Technologies Inc., Hubbel Power Systems, Olsson, Inc., HR Green, Inc., Innovative Systems.
Please visit with all our vendors and thank them for supporting our IAMU community! |
3:00pm Concurrent Sessions
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Managing Multiple Generations (Pioneer Room)
Heather Woody, Professional Business Coaching Seek to understand, then be understood. What would happen if the four generations working side by side UNDERSTOOD? How can we maximize the uniqueness of each generation represented in your workplace impact the results and the experience of your company’s success? How can we capitalize on the wisdom of time and experience while sharpening our edges with fresh perspective and information? |
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Documentation for Operational Efficiency (Meadows Room)
Bryan Rearick, FARR Techologies Mark Baedke, Spencer Municipal Utilities Description coming soon! |
3:45pm Break (Northwoods Ballroom)
4:15pm Building a Healthy Workplace Culture for Productivity (Pioneer Ballroom)
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Heather Woody, Professional Business Coaching
What makes a workplace healthy? Does it just mean that we work in a place where the employee breakroom refrigerator is free from mold and stench? Could it mean that the way that people feel when they come to work and engage in their objectives could be inspiring, meaningful and free from the distraction of unhealthy relationships and demeaning responsibilities? What if we knew how to drive out toxicity and drama? How could people perform if they were held accountable in ways that inspire people to get better every day? |
5:00pm Vendor Expo and Reception (Northwoods Ballroom)
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It's time to network and relax! Pick up a beverage and visit with our vendors! Snacks will be provided as well as bar service.
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6:30pm Vendor Dismissal & Takedown (Northwoods Ballroom)
Silver Medal Sponsors
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Thursday, April 11, 2024
8:30am Customer Satisfaction Champions: Striving for Gold in Business Excellence (Pioneer Room)
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Christy Ryken and Chelsea Morrison, UNI-SMS
Jeff Magsamen, Waverly Utilities Amanda Gloyd, Spencer Municipal Utilities Step into the winner's circle at our Olympic-themed conference session, where we explore the exhilarating journey of achieving gold in business excellence through the lens of customer satisfaction. Join us for an engaging and dynamic session that brings together research experts and a distinguished panel of municipal utility clients who have risen to the top of the podium in delivering exceptional customer experiences. Hear firsthand from our panel of utility clients and discover the research strategies that have helped them up their customer satisfaction game, and learn how to apply these winning principles to your own organization. These experts will share real-life examples of challenges they've overcome and how to translate research findings into actionable insights relevant to their organization’s success. |
9:30am Concurrent Sessions
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Rules of the Games - Regulatory Roundtable (Pioneer Room)
Sean Stokes, Keller & Heckman Law Jill Thornton, Renee Knoop, and Lexie Hagel, Consortia Consulting We're in a very active regulatory environment, especially at the FCC level. During his session we'll discuss important topics for broadband operators, from the sunset of the ACP, the FCC's Digital Discrimination Order, Broadband Labels, cybersecurity requirements, broadband data collection, net neutrality, and more. Bring your questions for our amazing panel! |
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Wi-Fi Theory (Meadows Room)
John Brewington, Calix In this session, John will take a deep dive into the science of Wi-Fi, how the standard for wireless connectivity was developed and evolved, and where we go from here. |
10:30am Concurrent Sessions
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Hanging Up The Gloves-Developing a Video Exit Strategy (Pioneer Room)
Curtis Dean, CBAN Mark Baedke, Spencer Municipal Utilities Eric Lage, Waterloo Fiber If you still offer cable TV, you are probably thinking about dropping it at some time in the future. In this session we'll talk with an operator that still has video, one that launched without it, and a third that has both dropped cable and launched it during his career. |
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Wi-Fi Practice at the Premise (Meadows Room)
John Brewington, Calix In this session, John will talk about how to best deploy reliable, robust Wi-Fi in the home or business. He'll discuss factors that can limit throughput and range and how technicians to successfully navigate some of the challenges involved in making customers happy. |
11:30am Concurrent Sessions
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Creating an Employee Training Regimen (Pioneer Room)
Stacey Slaughter, NTCI Like any athlete preparing for any Olympic event, employees will benefit from a training program designed to help them consistently perform at a high-level, while also supporting the development of new skills. This session will look at ways you can easily deploy a training program to support employee development and growth. |
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World Record Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi 7 (Meadows Room)
Ben Stineman, FuseTechnic Session leader Ben Stineman will outline how Wi-Fi has evolved and how it's gotten to its next generation - Wi-Fi 7. Ben will discuss the use case for Wi-Fi 7 by broadband operators, when actual equipment will be available, and possible timelines for implementaton. |
12:15pm Lunch with Keynote Speaker and Vanguard Awards (Northwoods Ballroom)
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Going to Bat for Independent Broadband Operators
John Higginbotham, ACA Connects John will fill us in on the latest from ACA Connects and be available to answer your questions! Broadband Champions - The 2024 Vanguard Awards You won't want to miss the 2024 Vanguard Awards! This year we're honoring three individuals who have played a vital role in the development and growth of municipal broadband in Iowa. No spoilers, but you will agree that they are certainly worthy of recognition! |
1:30pm The Agony of Defeat - 2023 Retransmission Consent (Northwoods Ballroom)
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Sean Stokes, Keller & Heckman Law
Jeff Magsamen, Waverly Utilities Kurt Ripperger, Indianola Fiber The 2023 round of retransmission consent agreements were the most challenging yet. During this panel discussion, we'll chat with representatives of some of Iowa's municipal cable operators about the process and and what it means not only for the next 3 years but the future of your cable TV operation altogether. Sean Stokes with KH Law will also join us to discuss whether any relief is coming. |
2:15pm MPW Cyber Event - It's Not "If", it's "When" (Northwoods Ballroom)
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Erika Cox, MPW
Erika will share highlights of MPW’s ransomware event that started Friday evening, January 26, 2024. Learn about things that positioned MPW to essentially be “back to business” the following Monday morning, their experience with the threat actor, lessons learned, as well as employee and customer communication strategies to survive a potential public relations crisis. |
3:00pm Broadband Committee meeting and roundtable - Northwoods
Non committee attendees are welcome to participate!
Bronze Medal Sponsors
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