“It was always an expensive trip to go to a show to host customers,” says Peter Kaufmann, president of ADSS Global, a Sage reseller based in Miami and Exton Pa. Concerning problems in attracting users to Summit as a stand-alone show, “A lot of it had to do with costs and a lot to do with location,” says Kaufmann. He says the D.C. locale provides a good destination for companies and families. But it was reseller support that made Microsoft’s Convergence conference a success. Top resellers bring prospects as a way to close deals and clients as a way to deepen relationships. Sage’s problem with its separate user show was most of its customer bases had no tradition of attending a Sage conference, with the exception of Timberline users and they represented a disproportionate segment of attendees. Another issue relates to the size of the target customer. Blytheco CEO Steve Blythe said most of his company’s 60 users that are attending come from companies that user MAS 500. Bigger companies probably simply have more money to spend on conferences.