When Microsoft launched the Microsoft Partner Events (MPE) Web site, located at microsoftpartnerevents.com, the idea was to create a platform of solutions and services that Microsoft's industry partners could use 24 hours a day as self-service support for their Microsoft-related happenings.

Today the site is used by more than 2,700 partner organizations across the United States to facilitate events as diverse as wine tastings, golf tournaments, harbor cruises, classroom training sessions and banquets, as well as traditional technology briefings held at hotels, conference centers and offices. In less than two years since the site was created, partners have used it to manage more than 6,600 events.

“There was one event that went from one side of Niagara Falls to the other,” says Michael Moore, a program manager with MPE. “We’re consistently amazed by the creativity that partners have shown and the events they’ve produced. Because we keep the definition of ‘event’ kind of neutral, the site can be used in a lot of different ways, and so you see that creativity come out.”

Primarily created as a tool to provide Web-based event registration, e-mail reminders and participant tracking, microsoftpartnerevents.com also provides a content library of more than 50 topics, and helpful articles with advice for partners on marketing their events, presenting event content and driving demand through the recently added Partner Readiness Center.

“The Partner Readiness Center is a new feature designed to help partners plan and execute successful events through a series of trainings on organizing an event, along with templates, timelines, checklists, and other handy tools,” Moore said. “Additional resources help fine-tune soft skills such as marketing, sales and presenting, and show partners how to improve the quality of leads.”