2010 CALL FOR CONFERENCE PROPOSALS

The Strategic Account Management Association’s conferences in the U.S. and Europe draw hundreds of individuals and Fortune 500/1000 companies each year to learn and share the latest and most successful practices in strategic customer management. In addition to our forums, web-based offerings, library and publications, the U.S. Annual Conference and Pan-European Conference provide a rich variety of knowledge, best practices and thought leadership to our members and extended community around the key elements and issues in creating and sustaining highly successful collaborative customer-supplier relationships.

At this time we are seeking proposals from practitioners, consultants and academics actively working in or with SAM organizations for our session offerings to be delivered at:

• SAMA Pan-European Conference – London, February 28 – March 2, 2010
• U.S. SAMA Annual Conference – Chicago, May 2010

Deadline for Proposal Submissions: Monday, July 6, 2009

Please use the tabs above to understand the SAM constituencies we serve, the SAM topic areas of focus, our SAM theme for 2010, our speaker requirements and the online form to submit your proposal/s. Questions concerning this Call for Proposals may be directed to Elisabeth Cornell, SAMA Director of Education & Resources, at 312-251-3131, ext. 16 or cornell@strategicaccounts.org or Katherine Gotsick, Director of Operations, at ext. 13 or gotsick@strategicaccounts.org.

SAMA Pan-European Conference

SAMA's Pan-European Conference will be held in London in March 2010 with approximately 100-150 professionals from major national, regional and global corporations, many European based, representing diverse industries (manufacturing to service and high-tech). The event provides an opportunity for B2B decision-making C-level and senior executives, customer managers and other supporting executive and functional professionals to network and share experiences and best practice in strategic / key account management subjects. Sessions also feature leading subject experts and thought leadership in SAM strategy, process and implementation.

SAMA 46th U.S. Annual Conference

SAMA's U.S. Annual Conference will be held in Chicago, Illinois in May 2010 with approximately 400-500 strategic account management professionals, from the executive suite to SAM program management executives to strategic customer managers and supporting professionals. Attending companies represent almost all B2B industries, having new, developing or established strategic accounts programs, and seek to exchange ideas and experiences in executing a corporate strategy for managing their firms' most important customers.

Conference Attendee Job Profile

C-Level and Directors/VPs of Strategic Accounts	39%
National / Strategic / Global Account Managers	35 %
Other Sales & Functional Managers / Executives	17%
Consulting / Training / Academic Experts	9%

Past Conference Attendees At a Glance

3M Abbott Laboratories Adecco ADP AECOM Agility Logistics AIM Trimark Air Liquide Akamai Technologies Alliance Data Systems Allied Electronics Allstate Financial Distributors Amadeus Amcor PET Packaging American Express American Heart Association American Hotel Register Company Amerigas Amgen Anritsu Company APL Logistics Appleton Papers Inc. Applied Industrial Technologies AREVA Armstrong World Industries, Inc. ASHTA Chemicals Inc. Assurant Solutions AstraZeneca AT&T Autodesk Avaya Avery Dennison Bandag, Inc. Barco BASF Baxter Corporation Beckman Coulter Becton Dickenson Belden Boehringer Ingleheim Inc. Bossard AG Bradley Corporation Brady Corporation British Airways Carlson Hotels Worldwide Cascades Boxboard Catalent Pharma Solutions Caterpillar Inc. CH Robinson Worldwide, Inc. Champion Technologies ChemTreat, Inc. Chevron Corporation Cintas Corporation Cisco Citigroup CommScope Compass Group PLC CORT Cushman & Wakefield Day Pitney LLP Dayton Superior Corporation Dealer Tire Deere & Company Dell Inc. Deloitte DHL Donaldson Co. Dow Chemical DuPont Eastman Chemical Company Eaton Corporation Eli Lilly EMC EMD Serono Endress & Hauser S.p.A. Equifax ESAB Evenflo Evonik Degussa International AG Expeditors International Experian FedEx Corporation First American FMC Corporation Franklin Templeton Investments G & K Services Gas Technology Institute GE Healthcare Gemcom (USA) Inc. General Binding Corporation Georgia Pacific Global Crossing Gordon Flesch Co. Graybar Electric Company GSA Herman Miller Hilton Hotels Corporation Hitachi Data Systems Hoffmann La Roche Limited Honeywell HP Hubert Company LLC Husky IMS IACCM IBM IHG IHS Ingersoll-Rand Intervet/Schering-Plough Invensys Invesco Trimark John Deere Johnson & Johnson Johnson Controls Kaiser Permanente Kelly Services

Kennametal Kimberly Clark KONE KPMG Kraft Foods Lafarge North America Lanier Worldwide Legrand Lexmark International Livingston International Logitech Maersk Line Manpower Inc. Marriott International McKesson Medrad, Inc. Merial Select Inc Metavante Metso Automation Michelin Microsoft Mimeo Mine Safety Appliances Minnesota Power MobiNiL ModusLink Corporation Mohawk Industries Molex, Inc. Morningstar Ventures Motorola Murata Electronics Nalco NEXANS North Highland Novozymes Oakwood Worldwide Office Depot OfficeMax Oppenheimer Funds Orica Owens Corning Parker Hannifin Penske Truck Leasing Pfizer Animal Health Pfizer Canada PharMerica Corp. PHH Arval Philips International BV PLM Trailer Leasing PolyOne Corporation Procter & Gamble Promega Prudenti QUALCOMM Qwest Communications Randstad RedPrairie Corporation Rexam Ricoh Roche Diagnostics Rochester Midland Corporation Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. RR Donnelley Sandvik Coromant SAP Satyam Computer Services Schlumberger Schneider Electric Seko Worldwide Shell Chemical Sherwin Williams Siemens SKF Smith & Nephew Sodexo Sonoco Southwest Airlines Spherion Staples Starwood Hotels & Resorts Stora Enso Suez Sun Life Financial Sun Microsystems, Inc. TALX Corporation TATA Consultancy Services Tektronix Communications Telenor ASA Teradata tesa AG Tetra Pak International Textron The Bank of New York Mellon The New Yorker Thomson IP Management Services TIC Holdings, Inc. Time Warner Trane Commercial Systems United Airlines United Behavioral Health United Healthcare United States Postal Service UnitedHealth Group University of Phoenix UPS Veolia VeriSign Wachovia Corporation Wartsila Corporation Waste Management, Inc. Watlow West Pharmaceutical Services Weyerhaeuser Xerox Zurich Financial Services

Conference proposals will address one or more topics or subtopics within one of the following Focus Areas and respective audiences. These Focus Areas are part of our SAM knowledge architecture and the primary building blocks for implementing and sustaining a successful corporate strategic customer management initiative. On the proposal form, you will be asked to identify a specific Focus Area/Audience.

ESSENTIALS OF STRATEGIC ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT: FOUNDATIONAL

AUDIENCE: New and developing strategic account managers and anyone new to strategic account management or transitioning from a sales to SAM role; Directors and executives revisiting the fundamental skills and competencies required for the SAM position.

This track includes an introduction to strategic customer management through an understanding of:

• The customer perspective and changing competitive landscape
• The role and key activities of a strategic account manager
• Strategic customer analysis
• Strategic account planning
• Customer-driven solutions development
• Measuring your solution’s impact on your customer’s business
• Orchestrating basic operational alignment
• Building and managing a multifunctional team
• How SAMs are measured: delivering to company and customer metrics
• Personal skills of a SAM – i.e. strategic thinking and leadership, team management, financial/business acumen, communication, customer orientation, strategic negotiation

ESSENTIALS OF STRATEGIC ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT: ADVANCED

AUDIENCE: Senior-level strategic / global account managers (>5 yrs.) and multifunctional / global team members; and, managers and executives seeking to raise the level of their SAMs’ competency and performance to the next level.

This track addresses the strategy and discipline of SAM process and practices, focusing on the key issues and areas of authority of seasoned strategic / global account managers and teams for:

• Embedding a customer-supplier co-creation process
• Breaking through internal barriers to customer alignment
• Ensuring customer business value
• Collaborative account team planning
• Coaching to global team performance
• Using executive sponsors
• Strategic opportunity management
• Using web technology for team and customer communication and collaboration
• Facing the toughest global account management challenges

STRATEGIC ACCOUNTS PROGRAM DESIGN, STRUCTURE & MANAGEMENT

AUDIENCE: C-level officers governing and leading executive engagement in their SAM organization; Directors, VPs and other senior executives planning, accelerating or restructuring a SAM program as well as those charged with helping to design, structure and manage program operations.

This track covers best practice and thought leadership in the strategy, decision-making and infrastructure of a strategic accounts organization from inception to mature, fully functional national / multinational and / or global programs:

• The corporate strategy for customer management and business case for change
• Planning and launching a new SAM program
• SAM organizational models
• Customer segmentation and coverage
• Strategic account portfolio review including strategic selection/deselection
• The internal communication strategy for gaining and sustaining buy-in
• Diagnosing and reinvigorating a stalled SAM program
• Strategic pricing issues and the role of the SAM
• CRM and SAM knowledge management
• C-level / executive sponsorship programs
• Managing customer loyalty
• Institutionalizing a customer-driven innovation process
• Elevating the SAM position
• SAM program metrics
• Managing the SAM program office
• SAM program case studies at small, medium and / or large companies

MANAGING THE SAM TALENT

AUDIENCE: HR/learning and development professionals; Directors of SAM programs; Managers of SAMs focused on the critical HR functions needed to support a SAM program and strategic account manager position.

This track covers the building blocks of aligning critical HR functions to SAM implementation. Successful execution of the corporate strategy for strategic accounts depends upon identifying, developing, managing and retaining strategic account manager talent.

• Building a scalable SAM competency model
• Identifying and selecting SAM talent
• Strategies and programs for assessing and developing strategic account managers
• Leveraging web technology for blended-learning curriculums
• Aligning SAM / Team incentives and rewards
• Coaching and managing to exceptional SAM team performance
• Measuring SAM performance

GROWTH, PROFITABILITY, PRODUCTIVITY, EFFICIENCY: ACHIEVING RELEVANT BUSINESS OUTCOMES INTERNALLY AND WITH YOUR STRATEGIC CUSTOMERS

….is the theme for SAMA’s 2010 conferences with the intent to keep corporate decision-making and strategic customer management initiatives focused on the desired business results. SAMA is about building individual and company capabilities around the way businesses go to market with their most important, most complex customers, employing the best-equipped talent with the infrastructure and processes necessary to maximize the opportunities for realizing successful customer business outcomes such as business growth, cash, ROI, minimized supply risk, improved processes, and supplier business outcomes such as market share growth, profitability, cash and customer loyalty.

For this year’s conferences in Europe and the U.S., SAMA seeks both subject experts (academics / consultants) and practitioners from various business enterprises to bring concrete case study examples, real world experiences and instructive lessons to proposed sessions for these events.

HOW WE SELECT SPEAKERS

SAMA seeks company practitioners – senior executives, managers as well as strategic / global account managers and other key supporting professionals – with successful practices and concrete examples illustrating key elements of SAM. SAMA also seeks consultants and academics with leading knowledge and expertise in specific SAM areas of individual and / or organizational competency. Practitioner, consultant and academic speakers are evaluated and selected according to the following criteria:

1. Relevance of the content to specific strategic account management topics
2. Effective organization of the content
3. Value and applicability to business practices
4. Speaker communication & presentation skills / ability to engage the audience

Speakers are selected on the basis of the above criteria, not on the basis of sponsorship, membership or other affiliations.

PROPOSAL DEADLINE

Monday, July 6, 2009 – last day to submit proposals Final decisions will be made by September 25th for both conferences

CODE OF CONDUCT

SAMA promotes non-commercial, professional practices in all its activities. SAMA members and attendees have the right to expect the same at all SAMA-sponsored events. Presenters are expected to refrain from soliciting or communicating with attendees unless prior approval is granted by SAMA. Failure to abide by this rule may result in a loss of speaking privileges and future speaking opportunities.

SAMA speakers are expected to use material and language that does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, physical ability or sexual orientation. Speakers should also respect the diversity of attendees who represent a variety of cultures and often speak English as a second language.

During sessions, speakers are not permitted to promote or sell their products or services, or denigrate competitors. However, speaker brochures and information may be placed at the back of the room for interested attendees.

Speakers who meet the educational needs of the audience build credibility and interest in the presenter, the presenter's employer and SAMA.

CONFERENCE SESSIONS

Most sessions are 90 minutes or 3 hours in length and may be offered twice over the course of the conference in order to accommodate all of the attendees. SAMA will determine the dates and times each session is offered. Please be prepared to speak on two different days as sessions are not always scheduled for the same day. If you know of a limitation regarding this decision, please let us know in the "Additional Comments" section of the proposal form.

COMPENSATION

Complimentary conference registration is awarded to those speakers who are selected to present and confirmed to attend. As a non-for-profit association, SAMA does not provide honoraria for speaking, and presenters are responsible for their own travel, hotel and other expenses.

SLIDES AND HANDOUT REQUIREMENTS

If your proposed session includes PowerPoint slides, they must be submitted prior to the conference for SAMA review and approval. SAMA will schedule a conference call with the speaker should questions arise or modifications be warranted.

Speaker handouts for attendees must match slides delivered at the conference. SAMA has gone "green" and no longer prints hard copies of handouts for attendees. However, speaker handouts are posted online on a secure web page for attendees as well as compiled on a conference proceedings DVD for sale post-conference; and, approximately six months after the conference, handouts are added to the SAMA virtual library for members only.

SAMA will add a copyright to the bottom of each page of a speaker's handout to copyright the compilation of the conference documents, though such a claim does not extend to the materials themselves.

All sessions will be audio recorded and available for sale. Speakers will receive a complimentary MP3 of their presentation.

SUBSTITUTION

Speaker substitutions are subject to SAMA approval.