The week of Channel Expo 2008 is finally upon us. Tension is running high in the CRN office as the final preparations take place in the run up to the event, and there will be a collective sigh of relief when Friday rolls around and we have a few weeks’ respite before starting all over again.

Interest in Expo has exceeded all our expectations and we are now running at over 5,500 pre-registrations ­ nearly 2,000 more than last year. However, there is still plenty of room should anyone decide at the last minute to come along and capitalise on the benefits on offer. So do not give up.

The event has certainly been a challenge for the CRN team this year, with a lot of hard work put into its organisation. We are all excited to see the fruits of our labour become a reality in offering delegates unique sales and networking opportunities.

We now have more than 100 exhibitors taking part in the event and a host of exciting new features including New Product World, which will feature eight, 15-minute product demonstrations each day.

Then there is the CRN How to Sell Theatre with a jam-packed education programme covering hot topics such as security, audiovisual, storage and virtualisation, green IT, print strategy and fixed-mobile convergence. Each discussion has a panel of experts ready to take questions from the floor.

We also have keynote speaker Nick Leeson, the famous rogue trader, who will be talking to delegates on both days about risk taking and ensuring the proper security measures are in place.

Finally, we have a host of meeting and general networking areas, such as the Dealmakers’ Arms bar, to allow those all important business deals to be done.

The CRN editorial team will also be there, so we look forward to catching up with you all in sunny Birmingham.

Sara Yirrell is editor of CRN