Guest Column: The Independent Show 2023 is More Than Ever
By Lou Borrelli, CEO of NCTC, and Grant Spellmeyer, President and CEO of ACA Connects
It’s no secret: there’s a race to get the entire country, especially rural areas, connected. And today, connected means on every device. Everyone with skin in the game may have a different hand to play, but one thing is certain—the smaller, mid-sized and independent parties involved are already working tirelessly to get much of the critical work done.
In the coming days, “more” is a word you might hear a lot in relation to these folks. Why is that? From July 30 through Aug. 2 will be The Independent Show 2023 (TIS), the largest in-person and invite-only event designed specifically for independent broadband and communication service providers serving communities across North America and U.S. territories. It is the only show where distributors, tech companies and programmers all come together, strut their stuff and bring their families.
We anticipate more than 1,000 NCTC and ACA Connects’ members representing operators, municipalities, telcos, native nations, and vendor and programming partners. Attendees will be able to do, see, learn and experience more than ever before. It’s a time for learning from one another and to gain the necessary tools needed to thrive and lead in years to come.
This year at TIS, we’ve expanded to the Minneapolis Convention Center, which is a manageable drive for many of our members. It will be bigger. We will have more than 50 sessions and 100 speakers, double the number we had last year, and attendees can now choose between concurrent sessions.
For the first time, we’re including outside companies, with fresh ideas, in a Solutions Showcase. We’ve got compelling speakers, such as former Rear Admiral and Top Gun Pilot, Michael Manazir, who will deliver a message about leadership during trying times, as well as author of “Zconomy,”Jason Dorsey; video and streaming trendsetter Evan Shapiro; AI Chat GPT expert & best-selling author JJ Delgado; CMO & best-selling author from Franklin Covey, Scott Miller; American Chef Andrew Zimmern; HGTV star Jasmine Roth; and Comedian and TV Personality Orlando Leyba.
We’ll have several big family events planned too, including taking over the NFL Vikings’ Stadium, as well as a tour of Prince’s home and studio, Paisley Park, and an excursion to Mall of America.
With the $42 Billion BEAD funding and other initiatives like the Affordable Connectivity Program being put forth, we’re optimistic that soon most, if not all, remaining households in the country will have access to Fiber. This may not happen in the next 12 months, but many more places, particularly in remote areas, will see internet speeds raised in coming years. We’ll have sessions to help our members compete for and leverage government funding for connectivity and navigate other pressing issues like retransmission consent negotiations.
NCTC and ACA Connects’ members are in all 50 States and U.S. territories. We have over 40 million broadband customers, and we’re in more than one third of all connected US households. This makes them a vital force for supplying broadband. To this end, at TIS we’ll unveil news about our MVNO program, which will launch in the field soon.
Most of all, at the root of NCTC, we’re dedicated to helping our members get the best deal possible for all programming.
The simple truth is that the human contact and the networking that made our business and our industry what it is, is still important. And that is what we’re most focused on: the level of engagement, the excitement and yes, the learning that comes out of it. The more we can encourage this, the more we can all thrive.
