For this portion of the two-part assignment, you will conduct research and create a memorandum in which you will inform me regarding the following: Progress of your research. Some topics you might address include: whether you feel you’ve found a sufficient amount of information; where you located the information you’ll use for this assignment; whether there is additional information you would like to locate. How you have approached the group aspect of this assignment. Did you assign roles (a leader, an organizer, a deadline tracker)? Did you assign tasks to each member, or did you work collectively to locate information? Did you create a schedule? What you’ve learned so far about collaborative projects. What has worked very well? Has anything surprised you? Would you do anything differently in a future collaborative project? The Assignment Scenario. You are employed in the technical writing and educational division of a software development company that services the convenience store retail and petroleum wholesale industries. Your firm services and/or partners with over fifty private organizations in industries such as network solutions, data collection device development, data analytics, convenience store chains, petroleum retail vendors, and supply chain automation. Your team’s responsibilities include hosting an annual Users Conference for your clients. The annual Users Conference maintains a dual purpose: first, to launch new software products and updates to existing flagship products and provide training to customers and partners who rely on your products and tech support packages. The Users Conference has historically always been an in-person event at various locations across the . and other countries. Due to restricted travel and varying levels of mobility during 2020-2021, your annual Users Conference has not taken place since 2019. Upper-level leadership agrees that the Users Conference’s value resides largely in its networking and relationship-building outcomes; however, the executive team cannot agree on modality (virtual or in-person) given the impact of Covid-19 on travel and conflicting input from clients regarding preferred modality. Your task. For this portion of this assignment, your team will conduct research that will assist the executive team in determining the location and modality of this year’s Users Conference. Suggested areas of consideration include: Recommended location. Recommended modality. Facts to consider. Your company’s primary customers/partners include: Acumera (TX); Core-Mark (IA); Datalogic (., Europe, Asia, Australia); Fintech (FL), IRi (IL, AR, NY, OH, PA, Puerto Rico); KeepTruckin (. [NY, TN, CA], Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Pakistan, Taipei, Vancouver, 5 remote locations); Kii Corporation (Tokyo Headquarters, CA, Hong Kong); Microsoft Corp. (WA); Nielsen (America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East & Africa); Transflo (FL); Zebra Technologies (IL), Avalara (North America, Europe, India, Brazil); Creative Energies (UT, WY, ID); Dataccuity (OR); DTN (MN); Dover Fueling Solutions (TX); Gilbarco Veeder-Root (NC); Mcci (FL); NCR/Radiant Solutions (GA); P97 Networks (TX); Pinnacle Corp. (TX); Schneider Electric (France); Tokheim (TX); Verifone (CA); Avatas (MA); DataServ (NE); Intevacon (GA); PayActiv (CA); TeamWorks (NC). Current travel and/or accommodation restrictions. Your company’s people-first approach to servicing “today’s digital economy with exceptional customer service.” PLEASE NOTE that you are not required to share your research in the Memorandum that is due this week! The only issues that need to be addressed in this week’s Memorandum are identified in Number 2 of Instructions. Submission For this part of the assignment, you will submit one document for the group–the memorandum described under Number 2 of Instructions. Please note that the due date has been extended to what would typically be the end of the grace period; no additional grace period is in place beyond that extended due date for this assignment.
