Were You a Submitter? If Yes, Thank You! Now What Happens?
Three CS Week educational venues actively solicit abstracts each summer. ENGAGE311 Call for Presentations has been extended to Friday, September 6, 2019. Synergy Groups and Workshop Calls for Presentation are now officially closed. Thank you, gracias and merci to everyone who submitted topics ideas, learning objectives and potential
speakers for:
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- ENGAGE311 extended to Friday, September 6, 2019 -
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- Workshops and Synergy Groups are now closed -
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Planning teams for these three venues are rolling up their sleeves and getting busy. Besides the abstract submissions, they also consider feedback from 2019 surveys and strategic industry input. It’s important work. These groups know their audiences best, they appreciate the need for both fundamentals and trending topics utility attendees want to learn about, and they can connect with respected contacts within the industry who can deliver solid content.
Three teams are set to meet in Fort Worth for the annual CS Week planning meeting on September 5-7, 2019:
- CS Week’s Executive Advisory Panel – This group of more than a dozen industry partners have long histories as CS Week sponsors/exhibitors. They bring global and local perspectives to the table, offering insights from other industries that can and should impact utility customer service. Many CS Week initiatives have come from EAP input, including Innovation Alley which began in 2019.
- CS Week’s Planning Committee – Known as the “PC,” these customer operations professionals hail from a broad spectrum of utility types, service territories and sizes. They work closely with CS Week staff to identify, develop and deliver Conference Workshops and Synergy Groups (Business Process-focused). They are the eyes and the ears at every CS Week Conference, sharing man-on-the-street comments and concerns to continually refine the week-long educational and networking experience.
- CS Week’s Board of Directors – Nine industry leaders serve as CS Week board members. They guide and shape all aspects of this 44-year organization. They wear a variety of hats including ambassador, keynote speaker, venue executive, mover-and-shaker, emcee and champion.
Click each group’s name above for updated photos (available online on our Home/Above Us page in mid-September).
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Online Registration Opens in November
CS Week opens its online registration for CS Week 2020 in November. Watch for emails announcing links to
csweek.org
. Besides Conference registration, attendees can also register for the following venues and reserve their accommodations:
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CS Week has reserved blocks of rooms at these hotels:
- Omni Fort Worth (site of Executive Summit and Key Account Forum)
- Hilton Fort Worth (site of ENGAGE311)
- Sheraton Fort Worth
- Courtyard by Marriott Fort Worth Downtown Blackstone
- The Worthington Renaissance Fort Worth
Please do not give your credit card information to anyone offering lower hotel rates in Fort Worth for CS Week. This is a scam.
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For questions about Registration or Accommodations, please contact
Julie Shankles
, 903-893-3214. Julie is your go-to for the Tiered Pricing discount available to utilities who register at least 3 employees.
CS Week’s Executive Summit and Key Account Forum also launch online registration in November. Those venue managers,
Lisa Collins
and
Rachel White
, are available to assist or answer your questions.
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Open for Nominations: Excellence Awards Recognize Utilities and Individuals
CS Week’s coveted Expanding Excellence Awards have a long history of recognizing stellar operational achievements like major system implementations and innovative customer experience projects that others strive to imitate. Awards are granted in four categories:
Best CIS Implementation
Best Analytics Project
Innovation in Digital Customer Engagement
Innovation in People & Process
Starting in 2019, individual awards were added to the Expanding Excellence Awards menu, and CS Week’s CEO was delighted to salute Darren McIlwraith of Enbridge Gas and Laura Butler of Central Hudson Gas and Electric as the first Distinguished Leader Award and Rising Star Award recipients, respectively.
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opens
September 13, 2019
and
closes January 10, 2020
.
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Rachel White
, the newest addition to CS Week’s dynamo staff, is ready to answer your questions and assist you with tips and techniques to make your submission complete and stand on its best footing.
Email her
or call at 903-821-8647.
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Get inspired by watching the
2019 Awards videos
and consider submitting nominations to salute your utility and its stars!
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Survey comments from CS Week 2019 reinforce the buzz that attendees were more satisfied with the number and quality of exhibitors in 2019. Because CS Week offers various sponsoring and exhibiting opportunities to fit all budgets, manpower and strategy issues, vendors can intensify their brand and product visibility through CS Week Conference, whose goal is to plan and deliver an annual event, one that exceeds expectations. Many vendors, new and long-term, understand that exhibiting/sponsoring CS Week is an essential, productive element of their marketing, sales and client support programs.
Sponsorships allow for advance, premium booth locations.
Vendors, click below to register your company on CS Week’s distribution list and receive information early and often as you plan for your engagement in Fort Worth.
Learn more about how industry partners support CS Week. View the 2020 Prospectus
Online
or
Download
it.
Questions? Email
Gail Farmer
or call her at 903-821-8623.
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Interested in being on our distribution list?
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DATE: Thursday, September 12, 2019
TIME: 11 am, Central
Join the City of Baltimore 311 as they discuss their center's journey to applying for and receiving the 2019 CS Week 311 Award of Excellence, including tips and pointers for the application process.
Register today
for this educational opportunity, especially if your utility is interested in submitting an Award of Excellence application in the future.
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Registration Opens in September
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ENGAGE311 DATES:
May 18 – 20, 2020
Get a jump on your travel/training plans this year by registering early for
2020 ENGAGE311 in Fort Worth!
Next year set for the Hilton Fort Worth Hotel, the ENGAGE311’s three-day customer service center training and networking extravaganza attracts industry professionals from mature companies as well as those just starting 311 operations. The opportunity to learn from experts is one of the key draws of ENGAGE311.
Registration opens soon, so keep an eye on our
website and your emails.
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2020 Sponsorship/Exhibiting Doors Are Open for ENGAGE311
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Did you know ENGAGE311 has its own exhibit hall dedicated to products and services for municipal 311 and customer service centers? 2019's EXPO311 featured 12 industry partners, strategically located in the foyer outside the general sessions ballroom. Click
2019 Sponsors
and
2019 Exhibitors
to see the vendors who supported this year’s event.
Besides exhibiting, sponsors lend their support in other tangible ways like underwriting the keynote speaker and demoing success stories.
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Sponsorship and exhibiting opportunities are now open for 2020. For more information about what partnering with CS Week means to these vendors’ marketing, sales and support programs, click
2020 Sponsor Prospectus
or
2020 Exhibitor Prospectus
.
ENGAGE311 Manager
Amber Wiens
is available to answer your questions and to share examples of the value proposition sponsoring and exhibiting brings to companies. Email or call her at 903-821-8721.
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Attendee surveys submitted after CS Week workshop presentations are tabulated to reveal the highest rated workshops annually. These are reprised as CS Week Success Stories, encores if you will. The third in the 2019 CS Week Success Stories series is:
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The Path to World-Class Contact Center
Date: October 8, 2019
Time: 2:00 pm, EST
Speakers:
Alandya Brutton,
Mgr, Customer Service
,
Gainesville Regional Utilities
The demands of our customers are forever changing. Utilities are often the slowest organizations to adapt. Our lack of agility and flexibility in a changing environment where our customers expect interactions with their utility to be the same as with Amazons of the world prevents us from reaching a world class status. This presentation will discuss how to transform a contact center from the 20th century to the 21st century and make it into a World Class Organization concentrating on people, process and technology.
Read the objectives for this Contact Center workshop and
REGISTER
today.
The five-part 2019 CS Week Success Stories’ encore webinar series kicked off after Conference 43 with:
Enjoy them all, plus catch up on previous years’ Success Stories now, later or again
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Nominations Are Open! Apply for LeadNext
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Are you coachable? Do you have a desire to learn more about the interconnectivity of the customer experience lifecycle? Can you see yourself partnered in a learning/networking relationship with a seasoned utility professional? If you answered “yes” to any or all of these questions, maybe LeadNext is for you.
LeadNext classes of 12-14 participants begin and end at back-to-back CS Weeks, starting for example at CS Week 44 in Fort Worth, TX and ending after CS Week 45 in Tampa, FL. To apply, nominees must have their utility’s executive and financial support.
Want to discuss what LeadNext has meant to former participants? Email
Lisa Collins
or call her at 903-821-8675.
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Four Post Conference Videos Offer Rear and Horizon Views
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CS Week brings thousands of utility and industry professionals to great cities. 2019’s video focuses on Phoenix, AZ.
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Fort Worth, TX, aka Cowtown, welcomes CS Week in 2020. Visit the sights and sounds early and often in this lively city of contrasts!
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Listen to utility attendees as they reflect on takeaways from CS Week 2019 and its extended value when they return to work.
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Hear the how and why from vendors who enthusiastically sponsor and exhibit at CS Week.
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Visit the Resources tab at
www.csweek.org
to see CS Week’s 5-year library of Perspectives and Highlights videos.
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Spice Up Routine Meetings with 2019’s Executive Perspectives Video Series
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Every summer, CS Week offers short, focused interviews between CS Week board member Todd Arnold and respected industry executives on timely topics facing utilities. Check out the titles below to see and hear what’s on their minds. Interviews are available as webinars or new this year, as podcasts.
Whether as meeting openers or closers, discussion starters or to learn others’ perspectives, make time for the 2019 Executive Perspectives video series.
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Episode 1:
Customer and People Strategies Are Linked at Southern Company Gas
Louise Scott,
VP, Customer Experience,
Southern Company Gas
Episode 2:
Partners: Austin Energy and Community Agencies Build Successful Customer Assistance Program
Gerardo (Jerry) Galvan,
VP, Customer Care Services,
Austin Energy
Episode 3:
Woke: TECO’s Customer Transformation Dawns Diverse Insights
Monica Whiting,
VP, Customer Experience,
TECO Energy
Episode 4:
Intuitive, Flexible, Sustainable: Three Key Must-Be’s for GRU’s New CIS
William (Bill) Shepherd,
CCO
, Gainesville Regional Utilities
Episode 5:
“Alexa, Save Me $20 on My Electric Bill.” Aclara Exec Explains How.
Frank Brooks, Jr.,
VP Product Management,
Aclara
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CS Week Wants to Help You Publish
YOUR WORK!
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With its growing library, CS Week Publishing stands ready to help utility professionals, like you, become published authors.
- You own and keep your copyright - unlike many publishers.
- CS Week brings the editing, design and publishing skills that enhance your work and make it ready for print and electronic publication.
- CS Week markets your work to its clients at numerous events.
- CS Week distributes your work through its annual Conference, website and national distributors.
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Shop these CS Week Publishing hardcover and e-book titles at Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Additional titles are in the works.
Have questions about getting started? Contact
Lisa Collins, CS Week Education Director at lcollins@csweek.org or call 903-821-8675.
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Oncor Returns As
2020 CS Week Host Utility Sponsor
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CS Week is pleased to partner again with Oncor, its 2020 CS Week Host Utility Sponsor. Look for Oncor, whose corporate headquarters are located in Dallas, in the following roles:
- Thursday General Session keynote speaker
- Exhibit Hall booth and representation
- Venue welcomes and intros
- Panelists and presenters
- Logistical support
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Stay In-the-Know: Check Out CS Week’s Website Updates
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CSWEEK.ORG
is your one-stop-shop for information about all things CS Week. After each Conference Week and through December annually, pages are updated to reflect the upcoming week-long schedule, its high level agendas and workshop lineup, plus need-to-know information for those planning to attend CS Week, this year in Fort Worth, TX.
And that’s just the proverbial tip of the iceberg! Click on the Homepage’s black horizontal bar subjects and drill down to reveal a wealth of options and extras.
- Learn the demographics of Who Attends CS Week and Why They Attend
- Review guidelines and use online forms to submit an abstract for ENGAGE311
- Understand which CS Week Conference venues best meet your educational and networking needs. Consider adding College and Synergy Groups to your CS Week 2020 schedule
- Watch Expanding Excellence Awards winner videos to inspire your utility’s nomination to salute an important company initiative/program/project implementation and to recognize individual leaders and stars in your organization (nominations open in September annually)
- See which industry partners support CS Week as sponsors and exhibitors
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CS Week | 903-893-3214 | info@csweek.org | csweek.org
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