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Eduard Blonk is the Managing Director of Sales at Betradar. This will be Eduard’s fourth ICE Totally Gaming conference. You can catch up with him and the rest of the Betradar and Sportradar team at the ExCeL centre (S1-150) next month. In the final few weeks before ICE, we took a moment to ask about his ICE experiences and routine.
SBC: How I prepare for ICE
Eduard: Generally, my preparations begin as much as 6 months before ICE kicks off, with my first meetings with the marketing team on stand design and the requirements I have from a Sales perspective. Closer to ICE, we have been defining the product and service highlights for 2017 and we have already started booking meeting slots with customers and partners at our stand.
SBC: What I’m doing at ICE 2017
Eduard: My objective is to meet as many of our customers and partners as possible.
As MD for Sales, I will do my best to carve out some time for each of them and support the sales team where needed in their individual conversations. I always hope that I can be involved in conversations that close a deal or partnership- it’s a real buzz if we can get a few of those over the course of the event!
SBC: What I’m looking forward to at ICE 2017
Eduard: Besides of course meeting our customers and industry companions, ICE provides a pretty rare opportunity to bring together our sales team from every corner of the world, from all of our offices. It’s great just to spend some time with them face to face. It makes the formal exchanges so much smoother, but also allows us to let our hair down as a team.
SBC: Where you will usually find me at ICE
Eduard: I will be pretty much rooted to our booth at S1-150, looking to sit in on discussions where possible and welcoming those who are passing by.
SBC: Favourite ICE memory
Eduard: There are many! But the adrenaline rush I get from being in the thick of things at ICE and meeting so many people in a hectic three days, especially at the beginning of the year, really energises me for the coming year each and every time.
SBC: Typical post-ICE activity
Eduard: It’s a bit of a Betradar tradition that after the show is done, we all come together at the hotel for a debrief. Once that is done, we follow the debrief with an open bar till very, very late…
