ITA Bulletin
The Bimonthly Newsletter of Indiana Telecommunications Association
April 2008
 

Annual Convention

The 2008 Convention will be held June 3-5, 2008 at fabulously remodeled French Lick Resort Casino. Visit their website to see the wonderful, first-class historic renovation: www.frenchlick.com.

The Convention Committee, chaired by Mark Dickerson, Pulaski White RTC, met recently to put in motion the program for 2008. It’s shaping up to be an interesting and informative, not to mention fun, meeting, including a Keynote Address by Inside INdiana Business host Gerry Dick and a Tabletop Showcase during the Welcome Reception.

For additional information about the convention program, please visit the Convention website.

Click HERE to Register

Convention Sponsorships
The convention provides many opportunities to increase visibility for your company through sponsorships. Please consider sponsoring an event at the annual convention! The Convention Sponsorship Opportunities form can be downloaded HERE.

Call For Award Nominations
A call for nominations has been issued for ITA Awards to be presented during the Annual Convention in June. The ITA Awards, created specifically for employees in our industry, are significant and very meaningful to the individuals who receive them. Please take some time to reflect on a deserving person whom you might nominate for an award. Please note that the nominations should state specific ways in which the nominee meets criteria for the award.

The ITA Awards include Distinguished Service, Pacesetter, Advancing Technology, and Humanitarian. Category I and II members are eligible for consideration for all awards; Category III members are eligible for Pacesetter and Humanitarian Awards.

The Awards Committee will get together in May to consider nominations and determine recipients. The Awards nomination form can be accessed HERE. The deadline for nominations is May 1.

Midwest Expo Planning Begins
OCTOBER 28-30, 2008

Exhibitors from last year’s Midwest Expo have already been offered the opportunity to place a temporary hold on preferred booth locations for the ‘08 show. At this time, 93 booths have been reserved for the Expo to be held October 28-30, 2008 at the  Grand Wayne Convention Center. Booth registration will be online and is expected to be available in late June.

Over 65 program proposals have been received and the Expo Committee, chaired by Lou Mize of ElectriCom, has already begun creating a meeting agenda.

 

Expo Sponsorships

The Midwest Expo also provides opportunities to increase company visibility to attendees from Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois through Sponsorships. An Expo Sponsorship Opportunity order form is available HERE!

 

Spring Meeting, April 23-24, 2008

The first ITA meeting of the year was held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Bloomington, Indiana on April 23-24. If you attended the meeting, be sure to fill out the meeting survey, located here:
http://www.itainfo.org/meetings/springmeeting/springmeetingsurvey.htm

 

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Notes from Indiana's Lieutenant Governor, Becky Skillman

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Recently, I had the opportunity to speak at ITA’s December Conference in downtown Indianapolis. It was great to see so many enthusiastic Hoosiers who are part of a dynamic industry. I enjoyed sharing with you a bit about what is going on at the Statehouse, and what Governor Daniels and I have been doing to benefit Indiana’s infrastructure.

We have talked a lot in the past few years about upgrading Indiana’s transportation infrastructure through our Major Moves plan. But, last year we made groundbreaking progress aimed at improving Indiana’s information and telecommunication infrastructure. Indiana’s Telecom Reform Act was the most comprehensive deregulation law in the nation.

This bill has made way for economic growth in a variety of industries, most importantly telecommunications. Passing the 2006 Telecom Reform Act, balancing our state budget and improving our credit rating has made Indiana a national leader in economic development. Since January 2005, more than twenty Information Technology companies have chosen to expand or locate in Indiana. These companies, including IBM, Interactive Intelligence and ExactTarget, have created more than 7,000 new jobs and invested $157 million in our communities. Across all industries, Indiana has closed 465 competitive projects, bringing nearly 57,000 new jobs and more than $14 billion in capital investment.

It comes as no surprise that many of these companies list infrastructure – both transportation and information – as a main reason they choose to do business in our state. Our recent deregulation reform is one of the most pro-business telecom laws in the nation, as it prevents government regulations from slowing down progress.

We want Indiana to be a leader in the information age. I’m proud of the work the Indiana Telecommunications Association is doing to improve their industry and stay on pace with other states. It’s one more way we are moving Indiana forward.

 

 

 

Becky Skillman
Indiana Lieutenant Governor

To sign up for regular updates from Lt. Governor Skillman on the work of the Daniels Administration, please visit http://www.in.gov/lgov/contact/emailUpdates.html

 

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If you'd like to submit information for the newsletter, please email
Krista Edstene at krista@itainfo.org.
Be sure to put ITA Newsletter in the subject line.
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