The ChannelPro SMB Forum wrapped up its schedule of live conferences for 2018 with a packed house in Long Beach, Calif., where managed service providers, VARs, and integrators gathered to discuss business strategies that they can implement immediately to get on the road to higher profits. It was the last of four live events this calendar year presented by ChannelPro-SMB, the premier source of IT and business insights for SMB solution providers.
“We are thrilled to conclude 2018 on a very high note,” says Michael Siggins, ChannelPro publisher and vice president. “Attendance and sponsor engagement are at an all-time high for our regional events.”
Dubbed the “Roadmap to Profits Tour,” ChannelPro’s 2018 SMB Forum events guided attendees through the service, sales, marketing, and operational practices they need to succeed at every step in the lifecycle of their business.
“The ChannelPro team developed this roadmap after years of listening to many success stories from our readers. We decided to map out their journey and present it to our audience at each tour stop,” Siggins says. “MSPs and integrators may find themselves at different points on our roadmap, and regardless of how far along they are, we show them a clear path to get to the ultimate destination—high profits and a high business valuation. This roadmap is also presented in our online resources, webinars, and our monthly magazine.”
The full-day program for channel resellers, integrators, consultants, and cloud and managed service providers offered interactive, in-depth conversations with channel pros and industry experts who have pioneered growth-oriented and highly profitable businesses. A showcase of SMB vendor solutions provided additional learning opportunities and enabled channel pros to get one-on-one advice on employing new technologies and services to better serve their clients and their own businesses.
The Long Beach event featured three pre-day Business Builder Workshops on Monday, November 5: managed services expert Karl Palachuk’s SMB Roadshow Workshop – The Killer Combo: Cloud Services and Managed Services; Marketopia’s 4u2Grow Roadshow Workshop, presented by Marketopia CMO Andra Hedden; and 5 Steps to Launching Your MSSP Business Even if You’re Not a Security Expert, presented by Steve Rutkovitz, CEO of Choice CyberSecurity, and Mark Smith, business development, EH Media.
In the evening, there was a cocktail reception for vendors, speakers, and attendees.
On Tuesday, November 6, event sessions presented by well-known channel experts included:
- Peer to Peer: Moving Up the Value Stack, in which a panel of experienced channel pros offered advice on moving from IT basics to specialized offerings to pull in real money
- MSP Talk: Operational Efficiency Pro Tips, in which managed services consultants Karl and Manuel Palachuk provided battle-tested advice on selecting tools, hiring techs, managing tickets, and more
- Secrets to Pricing Success, in which Bering McKinley’s Josh Peterson offered an interactive workshop designed to take the mystery out of price setting
- Tech Trends TV Game Show, in which ChannelPro Technical Editor Matt Whitlock guided attendees through the latest hardware trends and profit opportunities, game show style
- Building a Lead-Generation Process, in which Marketopia’s Andra Hedden led a learn-by-doing workshop on creating a process that consistently produces fresh sales prospects
- ChannelPro Quick Hits Bonus Sessions, in which channel pros covered security tips and tricks, getting started with the Internet of Things, and revenue-boosting security services add-ons
“Channel pros are busy people. We make sure to give them an outstanding return on the time they invest with us by offering proven, actionable advice on growing and optimizing a technology services business in every session we present,” says Rich Freeman, ChannelPro‘s executive editor.
At the sponsor showcase, attendees discussed the latest solutions for their SMB clients with leading vendors, and networked with their peers.
Platinum sponsor The 20 delivered the morning keynote. Gold sponsor presentations were given by Avast Business, Continuum Managed Services, Cytracom LLC, Datto Inc., Eaton Corp., Linksys, SherWeb, SYNNEX Corp., TruGrid, and Webroot Inc.
Silver sponsors for the Long Beach event included ADT Cybersecurity, The ASCII Group Inc., ASI Corp., Axiom Memory Solutions, Axis Communications, Beachhead Solutions, Buffalo Americas Inc., Choice CyberSecurity, Collabrance LLC, CompTIA Inc., Dropsuite Ltd., eFolder, Epson America Inc., ESET, ImagIT Solutions, Manual Palachuk International, Marketopia, Mindmatrix, net2phone, RapidFire Tools Inc., Scale Computing, Small Biz Thoughts, SMB TechFest, SolarWinds MSP, Tech Data Corp., and Vijilan Security LLC.
The event concluded with attendees honoring vendor sponsors with the following awards:
- Best in Show – The 20
- Best Hardware Solution – Linksys
- Best Software Solution – Webroot
- Best New Solution – Vijilan
- Best Solution Presentation (Gold/Platinum) – Datto
- Best Solution Presentation (Silver) – ImagIT and Vijilan (tie)
- Best Add-On Product – Eaton
- Best Distributor – SYNNEX
- Best Cloud Solution – SherWeb
- Most Innovative Solution – Choice CyberSecurity and TruGrid (tie)
- Best Revenue Booster – Continuum, net2phone, and SherWeb
- Best Silver Selfie Video – ImagIT
- Best On-Stage Presentation – The 20
- Best Partner Community – Datto
Though the Long Beach event is ChannelPro‘s final live show this year, it isn’t the publication’s last conference of the year. Next month, ChannelPro will conduct the second of its online summit events for 2018. Entitled “New Services. New Opportunities. More Profits,” it will offer concrete advice from an all-star roster of top integrators, vendors, and analysts on adding recurring revenue by capitalizing on today’s hottest new service opportunities. Additional information is available here.
Next year, ChannelPro will be hosting live ChannelPro SMB Forum events in five cities:
- March 6, 2019 – Atlanta
- May 2, 2019 – Chicago
- September 5, 2019 – San Jose, Calif.
- October 4, 2019 – Toronto
- November 6, 2019 – New York Metro
Interested parties should register immediately here.
Interested sponsors should contact Joel Zaidspiner at 561-422-5119 or Lisa Sherman at 917-388-9531. More sponsorship info can be found here.
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