In an effort to continue to bring you value-added services to help you grow your business and be a stronger force in the industry, SIIA has teamed up with the BLEgroup to co-sponsor industry leading focus groups in conjunction with the Ed Tech Industry Summit in May. The focus group panels are composed of knowledgeable education decision makers from states, intermediate units and large school system. The purpose of these panels is to help technology firms develop and deliver high quality products and services that improve instruction and management in K-12 schools. We believe that these panels can be of great value in helping you be successful in the market place.

The educational decision maker panels will be provided by the BLEgroup. The BLEgroup is composed of 40 working CIOs and instructional leaders from state education departments, large urban school systems, leading edge technology using school systems and intermediate units, throughout the U.S. The BLEgroup is well known for the quality of the focus groups that it provides panels to over 60 firms per year. These panels provide three things:

• Insight and reaction from expert purchasers and users on current and proposed products
• A cost effective way to get exposure to the market
• Advisory board functions on an ongoing basis at a reasonable cost - from very high quality educators.

Please see ETIS Education Leader Panels for further information. It is a presentation about the CIO and curriculum leader panels, the BLEgroup, and the benefits for firms in the k-12 education market.

There will be a $1,000 early bird discount for SIIA members who commit prior to April 10, so contact the BLE Group soon!

In addition to the panel, all participating firms will receive:

• A 5-8 page focus group report on the panel detailing key findings;
• A dinner for all of the firms who participate - where you can network and get more time with the educators

If you are interested in discussing the viability of a panel for your firm, please contact Eliot Levinson at the BLEgroup, eliot@blegroup.com tel. 202.966.9800.

See recent issues of Supertechnews, the BLEgroup quarterly newsletter with information on education technology products for education decision makers. This will provide an even deeper understanding of the BLEgroup's approach to educational products and the k12 markets.

http://www.blegroup.com/supertechnews/jun04.htm (integrated educational poratals)
http://www.blegroup.com/supertechnews/jan05.htm (professional development)