IT vendors put faces to the names of customers at Liberty’s IT Services Fair

• Companies like Blackboard, Top Hat and Adobe Creative Cloud had tables to hear suggestions and comments from student and faculty customers.
• Liberty service centers allowed students to learn more about the IT services offered to them.

Representatives for many of Liberty University’s major technology vendors gathered in the Alumni Ballroom at Liberty’s Montview Student Union on Oct. 20 to sponsor and host the annual IT Services Fair.

The IT Services Fair is an event designed to expose the Liberty community to the technology products and services provided to them by companies such as Blackboard, Pearson MyLabs, Adobe Creative Cloud, Top Hat, Dropbox and countless others.  Representatives from each of these companies travelled from across the United States and hosted booths to get face time with students, staff and faculty.

The event was free to the Liberty community. Each student was given a sheet of paper as part of an IT Fair game called Vendor Bingo.  Each white circle on the sheet represented a table at the event, and a vendor would fill the space with a colored stamp when a student came by their table to ask questions.

“Vendor Bingo was an idea I got from a conference I attended,” says Carolyn Peck, program director for IT Promotions and Events.  “It helps ensure people are participating and speaking to vendors.  The purpose of the event is not just for people to get free food.  The purpose of the event is for people to engage in conversations with vendors to communicate their technical needs.”

At each of the vendor tables was a colored banner featuring the vendor’s logo and an interactive showcase of various services provided by that vendor.  Many of the vendors were service centers based at Liberty, such as the IT Marketplace and Liberty’s Technology Education Center.

One of the vendor representatives, David Guthrie stood at the table showcasing Liberty’s Technology Education Center and discussed some of the unique services that it provides such as technology training and certifications.

“We literally have hundreds of certification tests that we offer to the community and to students,” Guthrie said.  “We can help students looking to get certified for Adobe products, Microsoft products or anything like that.  It doesn’t matter if they are a nursing major or an engineering major.  We charge very little, and I can almost guarantee that our prices will be cheaper than anywhere else within an hour’s drive.”

Many of the vendor stands at the event were easily recognized by many students – vendors such as Blackboard and Top Hat, whose services students use almost daily.

“The vendors really want to hear feedback,” says Peck.  “They often don’t have an opportunity to have face-to-face conversations with their customers.  This event gives students the opportunity to say ‘Hey, I love your service, but my actual need is such-and-such,’ and the vendors can take that advice back with them to their company.”