The 2019 ChannelPro SMB Forum wrapped up its year-long tour of four live, full-day business-building events with a standing room only crowd in Newark, N.J. With a 2019 theme of “Bigger. Better. Business.” the jam-packed day featured presentations from some of the brightest minds in the industry who shared their insights on the hottest tech solutions in the SMB marketplace today.
IT consultants, VARs, integrators, and managed service providers of all types who are looking to grow their business participated in interactive sessions, networked with peers, and got detailed information on the latest technology trends and solutions.
“Bigger is certainly better when it comes to profits, scalability, and market valuation,” says ChannelPro Publisher Michael Siggins. “Our tour this year was focused on helping our attendees successfully grow their business. As usual, we did it with the help of an amazing group of expert coaches and vital vendor and distributor support.”
Also featured this year at all four event locations was a free pre-day workshop on The Building Blocks of a Mature MSP. Hosted by The 20, Cytracom, Compliancy Group, and Deep Instinct, the workshop covered the top challenges MSPs face, go-to-market strategy, adding monthly recurring revenue, developing stickier client relationships, and more.
This year’s educational sessions included:
MSP Pain Point Clinic: Managed services consultants Karl and Manuel Palachuk helped members of our audience tackle real-world business challenges like pricing, hiring, and getting paid on time.
Get Ready for Managed Everything: Our panel of experienced MSPs conducted a fast-paced panel discussion of real-world opportunities in hardware as a service, communications as a service, disaster recovery as a service, and other cloud and noncloud solutions.
Sales Tip Shootout!: In this highly interactive session, three leading sales consultants provided concrete advice on challenges that channel pros face every day, from landing appointments and overcoming objections to cross-selling services and beyond—and attendees got to vote on the best tipster!
Peer to Peer: Winning in Cybersecurity: Attendees listened in on one-on-one conversations with channel pro peers about proven best practices for launching a security practice, selling security services, and more.
IoT Playbook: Getting Started in the Internet of Things: ChannelPro’s Mark Smith took a step-by-step look at how solution provider Luis Alvarez, of Alvarez Technology Group, launched a hugely profitable IoT device management practice.
Tech Trends 2019: Let’s Play the Feud!: This interactive, game show-style session tested attendees’ knowledge of the latest trends in SMB hardware while competing with fellow audience members for prizes.
“The feedback from attendees about the content at all four of our 2019 SMB Forum events was tremendous, which is gratifying for the team here at ChannelPro that put so much effort into creating it,” says ChannelPro Executive Editor Rich Freeman. “It’s great to know that so many people left our shows with proven, actionable business growth ideas that they were excited to put into action immediately.”
Top sponsors for Newark were Diamond sponsor SYNNEX, Platinum sponsor The 20, Titanium sponsor Dell Expert Network, and Sapphire sponsor Datto.
Newark Gold sponsors included: Axcient, Compliancy Group, Cytracom, Eaton, Epson, Ingram Micro, Secure Now!, SherWeb, SolarWinds Passportal, Tech Data Security Solutions, Vade Secure, and Webroot.
Silver sponsors in Newark included: The ASCII Group, Buffalo Americas, bvoip, ChannelOnline, Choice Cybersecurity, CloudOak, CompTIA, CompuLocks Brands, Deep Instinct, DocuWare, Domotz, ErickSimpson.com, ESET, Files.com, Hornetsecurity, Kaseya, Liongard, Manuel Palachuk International, Marketopia, Nexogy, Nfina Technologies, RapidFire Tools, Ritalia Funding, RocketCyber, SaaSMax, Scale Computing, SKOUT, Small Biz Thoughts, SMB Nation, SMB TechFest, Sophos, Tech Data, Unitrends, the Wiser Agency, and Zomentum.
The event concluded with attendees honoring vendor sponsors with the following awards:
- Best in Show: Datto
- Best Cloud Solution: Datto
- Best Hardware Solution: Eaton
- Best New Solution: Domotz
- Most Innovative Solution: Files.com and Vade Secure (tie)
- Best Partner Community: SYNNEX
- Best Software Solution: Sophos and Webroot (tie)
- Best Revenue Booster: Compliancy Group and RapidFire Tools (tie)
- Best IoT Solution: Domotz
- Best Add-On Product: SolarWinds Passportal
- Best On-Stage Presentation: The 20
- Best Solution Presentation (Diamond/Platinum/Titanium/Sapphire/Gold level): Datto
- Best Solution Presentation (Silver level): Zomentum
- Best Distributor: SYNNEX
- Best Silver Selfie Video: Liongard
Next up is ChannelPro’s Managed IT Service Provider (MSP) Online Summit 2019, an all-day virtual event on December 4. Register here.
New for the 2020 ChannelPro SMB Forum is the addition of a fifth live event. Dates for the 2020 SMB Forum tour are as follows:
- Dallas – March 5
- Washington, D.C – May 6
- Raleigh, N.C. – July 8
- Boston – September 3
- City of Industry, Calif. – November 5
Attendance and sponsorships are filling up fast. Find more information here.
Finally, ChannelPro is growing its online-only summits as well for 2020. Online summits for next year include:
- IOT Online Summit – †March 25
- Canadian IT Service Provider Online Summit – June 3
- Cybersecurity Online Summit – August 5
- Cloud and Managed IT Services Online Summit – December 2
For a full list of locations and dates go here.
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