Saint Sauveur, Quebec: April 7th, saw the first of five in-person ChannelNEXT events across Canada for 2022. Here is what a day in the life of ChannelNEXT looks like… Truly, a next level business-building experience for the channel!
The great news is that you can now watch the video recordings from most sessions on www.e-channelnews.com (watch for the upcoming postings).
9:00 AM: We started earlier with a meet and greet over breakfast. It was so good to just see everyone in-person and exchange stories. We all experienced the past couple of years as individuals but we had so much in common. One thing for sure was that we were all tired of working virtually and felt like it was about time to get back on the F2F saddle. Of course, we made the environment as safe as possible and followed all governmental guidelines.
9:30 AM: The livestream started. We kicked off with a welcome and brief overview of the event, the takeaways and what to expect from the emerging channel partner ecosystem. Today, it’s about building your private ecosystem to grow your business and increase your valuation. Expanding your managed services and monthly recurring revenue is the primary end-game.
9:35 AM: It was time for the Town Hall to listen to what the audience had on their minds and discuss the pre-submitted questions. We decided that we will be kicking off every event with a short town hall format to engage with the audience and find out what they are thinking. We leveraged this real-time feedback to steer the conversations and answer their questions throughout the day. See https://www.e-channelnews.com/town-hall-at-channelnext-east-22-building-next-level-msps-in-the-digital-first-economy/
10:00 AM: The panel talk show dug in deeper to the latest challenges and successes of channel partners. What are Successful MSPs doing in 2022 to Scale Business? We invited a Vendor and vertical market MSP to discuss the various perspectives on successes and challenges experienced on the front lines. See https://www.e-channelnews.com/panel-at-channelnext-east-22-what-are-successful-msps-doing-in-2022-to-scale-business/
10:45 AM: Vendor Talk Show and Presentations: We did 5 talk shows with 5 different companies and speakers to explore how they can help scale MSP businesses today. Listen to what each had to say about why their solutions matter and how they work with partners to grow business. Watch all 15-minute talk shows with Datto, Cradlepoint, Sherweb, ITCloud.ca and Barracuda MSP. See https://www.e-channelnews.com/vendor-presentations-at-channelnext-east-22/
12:00 PM: Vendor Marketplace with Lunch (Livestream was paused as attendees enjoyed lunch and browsed the exhibitors). In-person has special benefits in meeting vendors, peers, checking out the latest solutions and winning some cool prizes. Everyone enjoyed the social networking and relationship-building over some good food.
1:30 PM: It was time to enter the Lions’ Den. Livestream was re-started. Every vendor had just 3 minutes to make their case. Watch them all and vote for your favourite. The live audience has already voted but you can check to see if you agree. More importantly, you get to quickly see if a vendor is a good first for you in under 3 minutes! You can instantly request more information from any vendor from within the same voting landing page: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CNEXTEast2022 See videos at https://www.e-channelnews.com/the-winner-of-channelnext-east-22-lions-den-was/
2:00 PM: Masterclass is a highlight at ChannelNEXT as professional coaches share valuable insights for solving big problems facing channel partners. “Attracting and retaining Top Talent – It’s a people problem” was the topic for the first MasterClass. The audience experienced some interesting activities in building team collaboration. Some valuable tips on connecting with people. See https://www.e-channelnews.com/channelnext-east-2022-masterclass-attracting-and-retaining-top-talent-its-a-peoples-problem/
Since finding, hiring and retaining top talent is the #1 challenge of most MSPs (and vendors), we decided to do TWO MasterClasses on the topic but from 2 different perspectives….
2:45 PM: Masterclass Talk Show topic “Secrets to Winning the Battle for Talent in 2022”. One interesting tip that came out from this session is to always be hiring in the same way you would market your business or product. Today, you need to be marketing your company to prospective employees 365 days a year. Watch for an extended webinar coming soon with lots of examples
We also handed out 2 awards as voted by the attendees!
Best Lions’ Den Award goes to “ITCloud.ca”
Best in Show Award goes to Cradlepoint:
The livestream ended for the day…
3:30 PM: We started to wind down the event in the expo area over an open bar and some more social networking and prizes. Everyone built partnerships and stronger relationships with the vendors (and each other)!
4:30 PM: Mastermind Peer-Groups kicked off. This optional activity is at the core of every ChannelNEXT. Attendees gathered in groups to discuss their pain points and collaborate with their peers to find realistic solutions. Guided by a facilitator, everyone came away with some game-changing advice and experience.
If you have never experienced our Mastermind session before then you are missing out on something very big. Something that can actually change your life! Ask about experiencing one of our peer-group sessions that we are hosting everywhere (virtually and in-person). You may want to join a permanent group in your area! Find out more at www.channelpartneralliance.com or simply join the online community for some self-help.
The event wrapped up around 6 PM.
7:00 PM: Dinner and overnight (optional) experience. Attendees had a choice to either go home or stay back for dinner and carry on the conversations. This was not just about business as spouses and partners of the attendees were also invited to partake in the experience. It’s amazing how connections and relationships are made in these fun social activities. Everyone went on for as long as they wished. Our team was there until midnight.
We did not plan anything for the next morning, but we are planning to do something interesting for the upcoming event (s). We understand that not everyone is down for staying overnight, but we now know that most are open to extending the event. With this feedback, we will be making some announcements soon for a second day of the event! Stay tuned.
Normally we do 2-day events but since the pandemic, everything changed. Today, we are doing 1-day events with a carefully selected group of vendors, speakers and content to deliver top-shelf content to build business. It’s IMPOSSIBLE to not get high value ROI. We are building the right-size event with the right amount of premium content wrapped up in an outstanding VIP experience.
ChannelNEXT is NOT a trade show with hundreds of vendor booths. It is not about celebrity speakers. It’s about delivering the best relevant content to help our attendees build a bigger, better, stronger and smarter business. True quality over quantity.
Next up is June 2nd, ChannelNEXT Central 2022 in Toronto. Sign up now to not miss this one!
On June 2, you should plan on staying back for the evening as we will also host the 2021 Reseller Choice and 50 Best Managed IT Companies Dinner Award Gala that we sadly had to postpone from February 3rd. It’s going to be an epic and fun evening. Since all of the awards have already been handed out virtually back on February 3rd, it’s just a great opportunity to celebrate with your peers, enjoy some great food, entertainment and take some pictures. All welcomed, but MUST RSVP as dinner seats are limited.
