Vantage Point 2022 TechAdvantage Preview

February 14, 2022

Fiber for your Members, Fiber for your Future.

NRECA’s TechAdvantage is back, and Vantage Point Solutions is looking forward to catching up with Electric Cooperatives across the county while we gather in Nashville. Here are key areas Vantage Point is focused on ahead of TechAdvantage:

Broadband, but Make it Make Sense

From “we’re thinking of broadband” to “our members are connected,” there are a lot of steps on the journey from broadband planning to deployment; and this pre-conference workshop will touch on the most important: Planning, Technologies and Design, Deployment, and Operations.

As part of the PLANNING session, Vantage Point’s Kristy Szabo will speak on funding opportunities and best practices. In the DEPLOYMENT session, attendees will hear straight from two of our Licensed Professional Engineers: Carmen O’Neill, PE will speak to project and construction management, and Eric Rajchel, PE will discuss aerial/buried cable placement and make ready.

This workshop is open to any Co-op deploying or considering broadband but may be most valuable to those not fully built-out. Sunday, March 6 from 8:30 – 3:30.

Learn more or register: https://www.cooperative.com/conferences-education/meetings/techadvantage/Pages/default.aspx?types=pre-conference-workshop

Fiber for Your Future

“No one ever complains they built the garage too big.” And that same school of thought likely applies to your fiber investments, as well. Right-sizing your fiber is a challenge facing every Co-op – Whether you’re building to provide service to members or for internal communications. If you don’t want to kick yourself in ten years for not putting in enough fiber, this is the session for you. Bill Buchanan, Northwestern REC in Pennsylvania, and Eric Rajchel, PE, Engineer at Vantage Point, will discuss questions and approaches to the future-proofing problem. Monday, March 7 at 9:45 a.m.

Permitting

Permitting questions or challenges? Vantage Point has a shovel for that: We recently introduced our Environmental & Cultural Resources Department to help providers streamline their permitting and proceed to construction more easily. If this is an issue you’re facing (for either Electric or Broadband construction), let’s connect in Nashville.

Workforce

Bright minds throughout the industry are diligently working to resolve the shortage of qualified telecommunications workforce. But what can your co-op do NOW? Hint: Talking to Vantage Point at the TechAdvantage Expo would be a good first step.

Say Hello at the Expo

Half the fun of TechAdvantage is meeting new friends and catching up with old ones at the Expo. Say hello or introduce yourself! You can find us in Booth #2113. Vantage Point will be represented by:

Larry Thompson, PE, CEO
Kristy Szabo, Director of Consulting
Carmen O’Neill, PE, Director of Engineering
Eric Rajchel, PE, Engineer
Darren Dierbeck, Sr. VP of Customer Relations
Kevin Kloehn, VP of Customer Relations
Ginny Gardea, Director of Customer Relations
Karl Hochmuth, Director of Customer Relations
Paxton Davis, Manager of Customer Relations
Jacki Miskimins, Director of Marketing

For more information or to register, visit https://www.cooperative.com/conferences-education/meetings/techadvantage/Pages/default.aspx