The world’s largest fiber broadband event delivers workshops and sessions to uncover solutions and opportunities for expanding broadband universally

The Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) today announced the Pre-Conference Workshops and Breakout Sessions scheduled for Fiber Connect 2024. Fiber Connect is the largest fiber broadband event in the world and will be held July 28-31 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn.

“Our 2024 conference theme is ‘Accelerating Our Fiber Future,’ proving that with fiber, there are no limits on what communities, municipalities, economies, and people can achieve,” said Evann Freeman, EPB Vice President, Government & Community Relations and Fiber Broadband Association Conference Committee Chair. “Our pre-conference workshops and breakout sessions will explore best practices for deployments, financials, how to navigate public policy, middle mile opportunities, network operations, and more. These standing-room-only sessions dig deep into the challenges, solutions, and opportunities that our members and the broader industry face every day.”

FBA’s Pre-Conference Workshops provide insights for operators just starting to investigate and plan their fiber expansion, as well as tackle the issues and challenges community broadband operators have ahead of them as municipalities, utilities, and cooperatives look to advance their fiber plans. Pre-Conference Workshops take place on Sunday afternoon, July 28. This year’s workshops include:

• FTTx and Wireless Projects – Cost Effective Project Management and Supply Chain Solutions is sponsored by Wesco. This hour-long session will discuss how deploying a broadband network is not one size fits all. Attendees will learn how wireline and wireless deployments professionally planned can help navigate many delay challenges and deliver reliable, high-speed connectivity to your community on time and on budget.
• Integrating Innovation: Pioneering Fiber Broadband Solutions, presented by Adtran, includes a mix of case studies, interactive panel discussions, and demonstration stations that showcase cutting-edge developments and collaborative strategies in fiber broadband. Five sessions will explore network efficiencies, speed to market strategies, partnerships, technology trends, value-add revenue opportunities, and more.
• Community Broadband: Muni, Cooperative, Utility Broadband Flex Their Reach features five fifty-minute sessions designed to address the opportunities, challenges, and stakes for municipal and utility broadband operators as each looks to address unmet needs in specific markets, leverage fiber broadband to extend traditional services and impact communities.
• FBA Fiber Broadband Starter Toolkit features five fifty-minute sessions designed for those thinking about deploying a fiber broadband network and for those who have just started building. Attendees can expect to get a 360-degree view of what it takes to deploy fiber. This workshop provides answers from some of the best in the industry, and attendees will walk away feeling more ready than ever to deploy connectivity in their communities.
• Leading a Top-performing Team with AI-powered Coaching, presented by Siro, is an hour-long session tailored for team managers who want to use cutting-edge technology, HR and Training professionals who develop onboarding programs, and sales reps who are interested in personal development.
• Navigating Trident, presented by Trident Products, is an hour-long session about design principles of locating, grounding, and identification of broadband networks to optimize locating accuracy and damage prevention.

Breakout sessions include seven topical tracks on Monday and/or Tuesday afternoons. More than 138 industry experts are coming together to discuss:

• In The Dirt: Deployment Opportunities and Challenges will feature sessions on permitting and locates, innovative construction and deployment techniques, rights of way/access, outside plant, urban and rural challenges, workforce development, and optimization.
• Network Operations: The What, When, and How of Expanding Fiber Footprints will feature sessions on in-home experience, homes passed-to-homes connected best practices, first-time broadband customer acquisition, and technology options for 1G+ fiber services.
• Middle Mile: Keeping It All Connected will feature industry trends, challenges, innovative technology approaches, federal funding mechanisms, permitting and other local deployment challenges, and public/private partnerships.
• Public Policy: Balancing Federal and State Funding Options sessions are designed to explore the various federal and state funding programs and how each can be leveraged by operators to help close the digital divide.
• Service Provider Ecosystem: Delivering Excellence at Every Point sessions will focus on system integrator/engineering firm/construction, BSS/OSS, mapping and outage management, service provider and vendor relationship best practices, project/process/data management, implementation best practices, and digital customer engagement.
• Fiber Financials: The Economics of Fiber Broadband sessions will focus on federal and state grant applications, public/private partnerships, federal funding mechanisms, and compliance.

To learn more about Fiber Connect, visit the conference website here or subscribe to FBA’s Fiber Forward Weekly newsletter here to stay updated on conference news and more.

About the Fiber Broadband Association

The Fiber Broadband Association is the largest and only trade association that represents the complete fiber ecosystem of service providers, manufacturers, industry experts, and deployment specialists dedicated to the advancement of fiber broadband deployment and the pursuit of a world where communications are limitless, advancing quality of life and digital equity anywhere and everywhere. The Fiber Broadband Association helps providers, communities, and policy makers make informed decisions about how, where, and why to build better fiber broadband networks. Since 2001, these companies, organizations, and members have worked with communities and consumers in mind to build the critical infrastructure that provides the economic and societal benefits that only fiber can deliver. The Fiber Broadband Association is part of the Fibre Council Global Alliance, which is a platform of six global FTTH Councils in North America, LATAM, Europe, MEA, APAC, and South Africa. Learn more at fiberbroadband.org.

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