Experiencing this extreme business building live at ChannelNEXT19 is the best way to truly understand how it works, but hopefully this play-by-play summary may give you a good idea…
The pre-event meet and greet started at 9 AM as everyone arrived and registered. Based on their interests, delegates are assigned to a peer-group to work the Mastermind sessions over the two days. Everyone reviews the detailed agenda in the 60-page printed guide (which is designed to make action notes on each coach, vendor, topic and workshop).
10:00 AM: Correlating Time with Value. Time is the most valuable asset of any human so why waste any. To help understand the real value of time, Randal Wark demonstrated the “Four Buckets Of Time Vs Value” in an IT business. With this incredible visualization, channel partners could easily understand how to prioritize their time to focus more on the things that will bring them the most return. Investing time wisely can accelerate your success 10-fold and literally make you happier (we plan to do a webinar on this topic so subscribe to eChannelNEWS if you wish to be notified).
10:30 AM: Improve Your Communications. Glynis Devine did an entertaining exercise on the 4 different personas of people. She broke down the characteristics of each and how you should interact and communicate with each other to best get your message across. Vital communication skills if you want to accelerate your success in business and life. Imagine being able to communicate to anyone in a way that they like, to get what you want faster and easier? This same skill will dramatically improve communications between co-workers and facilitate a happier work environment. Every delegate took a test to self-identify their type of persona. It was interesting to see the mix of personas in the audience. All 4 groups were well represented.
11:00 AM: Getting The Most ROI For Your Time. Stop saying you do not have time! Instead, talk in terms of your “Capacity“. Melanie Sodka explained why this slight change in vocabulary can mean a world of difference. We also did a simple exercise to help each person better understand their individual capacity. When you master this skill, you will actually be able to do more of the things you want and less of the other stuff you do not need. The end result is more success, energy, happiness and sanity! Everyone got a tip on how to politely say no to unwanted distractions. This is another important skill to master especially since time is our most valuable resource and it’s definitely limited!
Noon: Eat and drink to fuel up your energy for the first “Mastermind” session!
1:00 PM: Peer Group Collaboration. First Mastermind session for each group of 8 channel partners with one assigned coach to tackle a specific topic. This activity is at the CORE of the experience. Each group works on a different topic to solve their individual pain points with real-world solutions. With the peer-group collaboration and support, the results are amazing. This process is structured to guide the group towards solving big problems. This may be difficult to truly understand fully until you actually experience it live for yourself. To learn more please visit Elite 300 Mastermind.
Click here to listen to what otherS had to say after experiencing a Mastermind session!
2:30 PM: Energizing The Selling Game. Shane Gibson shared the foundations for building the best sales process playbook using his powerful template. With a customized playbook, sales will become sustainable and predictable. It also becomes easier for reps to close more deals faster. It allows reps to step up to close bigger and more profitable deals. Maximizing time and productivity with the right process and tools generates one of the biggest competitive advantages for any company. Shane can help build out any sales process playbook as well as coach reps to become better enterprise hunters. Check out the virtual and live boot camps.
3:00 PM: Human Resources. Marie Wiese, a digital marketing expert and leader in the Women In Tech movement talked about the need and outcomes for diversity in the tech workplace. With today’s growing shortage of skilled talent, smart companies are expanding their reach outside of the usual “pool of candidates” to include more women. TechnoPlanet is all-in to support this next generation WiT movement with many things including the first ever online assessment for employees to measure the level of female-friendliness in the company’s workplace! Sign up to take the free test today! Marie also talked about the female-only Mastermind peer groups to help women collaborate, improve skills and accelerate their success. Check out and subscribe to the WiT news column on eChannelNEWS to keep up to date.
3:30 PM: The Market Potential. Nadia Karatsoreos from Datto wrapped up the first day’s keynotes with a solid educational presentation on the projected growth of the SMB market and what channel partners should be doing now to get a bigger piece of the pie. She also outlined all of the cool tools and research data that are available to any channel partner to leverage for free, regardless of what brand they sell (Nadia had been coming to ChannelNEXT for many years and always believed in partner education. This was her last event stop as she is expecting her baby very soon! We wish her all the very best and look forward to welcoming her back).
4:00 PM: Vendor Showcase in The Lions’ Den. Ten vendors had 3 minutes each to make their pitch to the audience. The audience voted in real time for the vendor that they felt had the best pitch. It is clear that some pitches were better than others, but we thank everyone for stepping up out of their comfort zone to do this on stage. The goal was to quickly showcase a solid group of vendors in a fun way to help channel partners identify some potential opportunities. Getting 3 minutes of undivided attention is big. The winner, ITCloud, got an award and some cash to hand out to the audience. Channel Partners tell us this is the fastest way to get the essence of the product and vendor’s personality.
5:00 PM: Speed Introductions. This is always a fun reception and activity. Vendors are at their stations and channel partners move every 3 minutes. This rapid exchange between vendor and channel partner helps both parties to quickly figure out the business potential. This happens over an open bar so it is also a great way to wind down the day and relax after 6 hours of deep work.
From 10 AM through 6 PM there is only 30 minutes in breaks. It sounds extreme and it is, but the sequence and type of content are important to guide the delegates towards real success.
7:00 PM: Fun Times and Networking: Three hospitality suites are opened. Each with its special selection of foods and open bar. Each with its own entertainment. Lifeboat/Unitrends had the “Pub” theme and TV for the big NBA playoff game between the Toronto Raptors and Golden State Warriors (This was an insane game as the Raps lost by just ONE point to win the NBA playoff! UPDATE: The RAPS won the NBA in game 6! WOW!). Asigra was all about magic and I must say, the magician freaked me out with one of the “tricks” that he did with me. I will just say that it was impossible! The third suite was co-hosted by Channel Partner Alliance, ECO Products, WIT and Purplesoft. They had the most elaborate and well stocked bar hosted by Tony from CPA. They also had a musician and karaoke. Delegates moved from suite to suite, eating, drinking, networking, taking pics and enjoying the entertainment until midnight. It is good to work hard and play hard! Many friendships and partnerships were formed!
DAY 2 of Extreme Business Building
7:30 AM: Breakfast with Randal. About10 years ago Randal Wark came to a ChannelNEXT event and said that the experience changed his life. He went through his journey and why he is now so passionate about helping other channel partners to succeed. He is currently working with partners to help them grow business and become happier. In many ways, Randal could be the “poster child” of a typical VAR/MSP as he spent 20 years living as one before he sold it. Randal’s journey was the catalyst to make the decision to do what we are doing today to support channel partners. Our mission is to help channel partners to become bigger, better, stronger and smarter. I urge every channel partner to take their first step by taking the free best business practice test! This will help to better understand your business strengths and weaknesses. If you are ready to accelerate success and change your life, then take the big plunge!
8:00 AM: Mastermind session #2. Each group tackles a different topic. This second coach-led peer-group collaboration helps them to solve more pain points with accountability. There will also be post-event follow ups by peers and coaches to ensure the agreed actions are accomplished. As the channel partner understands the true power and benefits of being in a Mastermind group, the next step is to join a permanent like-minded group of peers to work on improving best practices, 365 days a year!
10:00 AM: Vendor Solution Showcase: Twelve educational workshops on a wide range of topics are available for the channel partners to select according to their specific interests. Workshops included: Making big recurring revenues with ERP solutions without doing any heavy work, Building a Managed Print Service Practice, Selling IT Security, Storage, BDR Solutions, Building a bigger book of Microsoft business and many more! These educational sessions deliver deep insights to partners so they may build a more profitable and successful business. Each delegate could only attend 4 out of the 12. Simply not enough time to do more!
Noon: Lunch and Expo Lounge and Prizes! This is the final segment of the event. Delegates come together for the last time to enjoy lunch, browse all of the vendor booths and win some cool prizes (nice rewards for surviving the program). This final networking opportunity allows everyone to get more information and make plans for next steps. Delegates also vote for… Best Mastermind Session (Glynis Devine won), Best Workshop (ITCloud won), Best New Vendor (Asigra won) and Best In-Show Vendor (Datto won).
As you can see the agenda is jam-packed from the time that delegates arrive to when they leave! Every minute is carefully planned to deliver powerful knowledge that truly matters mixed in with some good fun. Going through these two days of extreme business building will definitely generate significant benefits for each delegate, however, this is only the gateway to the full annual Elite 300 Mastermind program. This takes extreme business building to the next level, but it’s much less intense as everything is spread out over a year.
That is roughly how we do Extreme business building at ChannelNEXT19! If you want to receive the 60-page conference guild to review all the details request a free e-copy!
Post event activities:
2:30 PM The Women In Tech planning session started as we ramp up this mission. More to come on this important topic. All delegates may also do an optional 3rd Mastermind session or join a permanent Elite 300 Mastermind peer-group for extreme business building 365 days a year!
Browse the ChannelNEXT19 stories on eChannelNEWS to see more highlights on all the attending vendors and video interviews.
