The all-new 2022 ChannelPro SBM Forum tour, taking place in-person in six cities throughout the U.S., kicked off in Newark, N.J., on March 8-9. The two-day event series from The ChannelPro Network features workshops and educational sessions designed to provide actionable, business-building advice for integrators and managed IT service providers. Each event also offers time for networking with peers and a vendor expo hall.
See the gallery of photos from the event here.
The educational sessions, all of which feature industry-leading experts and channel professionals, address the top issues MSPs care about—recruiting and hiring, security, growth strategies, sales and marketing, and making money with Microsoft Azure. The sessions are delivered in interactive, informative, and fun-filled formats attendees won’t find at any other industry event.
“Live events are back!” says Jeff O’Heir (pictured above), ChannelPro’s event content director and community manager. “We couldn’t be more excited at ChannelPro to roll out a brand-new tour with timely, thought-leadership content that addresses strategies and solutions channel pros need in 2022 and beyond.”
New this year are hands-on workshops for attendees. On the pre-day Tuesday in Newark, Titanium sponsor Dell Expert Network conducted a sales and marketing workshop that included a Dell Solutions showcase of the latest technology, games, and a cash giveaway.
The main day throughout the year features a social media workshop led by experts from channel legend Janet Schijns’ JS Group. On Wednesday, Barbara Goworowski, chief operating officer, coached attendees on proven, practical techniques used by social selling masters. Attendees also get free access to an extensive series of online follow-up lessons.
The rest of the educational sessions included:
The Security Slam—In an edge-of-your-seat session, cybersecurity service providers Lawrence Cruciana, Eric Fiske, and Bruce McCully told true-life stories of incredible hacks, unforgiveable customer errors, and high-stakes incident responses—experiences attendees can apply to help protect their clients more effectively. Judge and cybersecurity expert Jayson Ferron presided over the storytellers.
Peer to Peer: Winning with Microsoft Azure—Carl Mazzanti, CEO, president, and chairman of MSP eMazzanti Technologies, shared his experiences providing Microsoft Azure services and solutions, and outlined what to offer and where to begin to profit from Microsoft’s public cloud platform.
The Employee Recruitment Dating Game—In a Sixties-style game show that had audience members laughing and cheering, MSP business owners Mike Bloomfield, Seana Fippin, and Charles Henson used their best recruiting skills to woo a potential job candidate during an “interview.” Their fun session showed audience members ways to overcome real-world employee interview challenges.
Managed Services Strategy Survivor—The fun continued as three of the industry’s top managed services consultants, Rayanne Buchianico, Abe Garver, and Reed Warren, fielded tough questions about the M&A strategy and more that today’s MSPs need to survive in a changing market. A good time was had by all, even the ones who got voted off the island! A great way to wrap up a great day.
Attendees also voted to award vendor sponsors in the following categories:
- Best Cloud Solution – CaaB
- Best Hardware Solution – Zyxel
- Best New Solution – Dark Cubed
- Most Innovative Solution – Gradient MSP
- Best Partner Community – Huntress
- Best Software Solution – IT Glue and Egnyte (tie)
- Best Revenue Booster – Dark Cubed and Huntress (tie)
- Best Add-on Product – Cytracom
- Best On Stage Presentation – Rick Jordan
- Best Expo Hall Presentation (Gold and Above) – Gradient MSP
- Best Expo Hall Presentation (Silver) – Quickpass and Perimeter 81 (tie)
- Best Distributor – TD SYNNEX
- Best Product/Tech Support – Cisco
- Winner ROI Lightning Round – Zyxel
- Best Vendor Participation – Trend Micro
- Best in Show – Huntress
“The recent ChannelPro State of the Channel Survey found MSPs and integrators optimistic about business in 2022, and we share that optimism as we kick off a great year of events that will help attendees build on that momentum,” says Rich Freeman, executive editor of The ChannelPro Network.
Thanks to our pre-day and Titanium sponsor Dell Technologies/Dell Expert Network, Diamond sponsors Cisco and Gradient MSP, Platinum sponsor IT Glue, Premier Gold Sponsor Huntress, and Gold sponsors Aparavi, Axcient, CaaB, Carbonite/Webroot, ConnectWise, Cytracom, Dark Cubed, Egnyte, Ingram Micro, MyCloudIT, Rick Jordan, Sophos, ThreatLocker, and Trend Micro.
And thanks to our Silver sponsors Choice CyberSecurity, Impartner, Perimeter 81, QNAP, Quickpass, SuperOps.ai, TD SYNNEX, US Signal, and Zyxel.
Next up on the ChannelPro SMB Forum tour is May 4-5 in Chicago. To register, go here.
And don’t miss ChannelPro’s Cybersecurity Online Summit: Protect and Profit taking place on April 6. To register, go here.
For more information on all ChannelPro events, go to ChannelProEvents.com.
