ChannelPro-SMB, the premier source of business and technology insights for channel partners serving the small and midsize business market, rode the waves into SoCal with its ChannelPro SMB Forum event on May 4.
With a 2016 theme of “Channel Fitness Tour,” these live events aim to deliver the sales, marketing, and operational insights attendees need to turn their businesses into lean, mean, money-making machines.
The full-day, live event for channel resellers, integrators, consultants, and cloud and managed service providers offered interactive, in-depth conversations with some of the industry’s top channel pros who have pioneered profitable and “fit” businesses from cloud and managed services. 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 customers.
The event kicked off on Tuesday, May 3, with an all-day MAX by LOGICnow RM technical training workshop, followed by a welcome cocktail reception hosted by CompTIA.
On Wednesday, event sessions presented by well-known channel pros included:
- Pump Up Your Managed Service Revenues, with panelists Ro Kolakowski, Dave Seibert, Erick Simpson, and Zack Schuler
- Bottom-Line Finance-Strengthening Exercises, presented by Erick Simpson
- Cloud Sales and Marketing Fitness Secrets, with panelists Gil Cargill, Manuel Palachuk, Mark Woldman, and Gary Beechum
- Business Process Optimization Lightning Round! presented by Karl Palachuk and Manuel Palachuk
- Gear Guide: 2016 Hardware Trends, presented by ChannelPro-SMB’s Matt Whitlock
In addition, Peer-to-Peer sessions were conducted by channel pros Ro Kolakowski, Cloud Sales and Marketing; and Dave Seibert, Business Processes.
At the sponsor showcase, attendees were able to discuss the latest solutions for their SMB clients with leading vendors as well as network with peers.
HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise presented the Platinum sponsor keynote. Gold sponsor presentations were given by Cytracom LLC, Data Deposit Box Inc., Datto Inc., Eaton Corp., LOGICnow Ltd., and StorageCraft Technology Corp.
Silver sponsors for the event included ASCII Group Inc., Autotask Corp., Axiom, Buffalo Americas Inc., Cargill Consulting Group Inc., ChannelOnline, Clio, CloudPlus, Clover Imaging Group, CompTIA, Crexendo, Hostway Services, Impartner, Infinite Ops Inc., JoomConnect, LeaderCast, Manuel Palachuk International, MeetingSense, Ninja MSP, Ninjio, Pax8 Inc., SaasMAX Corp., Small Biz Thoughts, SMB Nation, SMB TechFest, SPC International, Tech Data Corp., Tigerpaw Software, TruMethods, Vertical Axion, Vertiscale, and Xcellerate.
Gear Guide and Tech Trends product sponsors included: Bass Computers Inc., Eaton Corp., Gigabyte, HP Inc., Intel Corp., Linksys, and Lenovo.
The event concluded with attendees honoring vendor sponsors with the following awards:
- HP Enterprise – Best Hardware Solution
- Datto – Best Cloud Solution
- CloudPlus – Best Selfie Video
- Cytracom – Best Partner Program
- Cytracom – Best On-Stage Presentation
- LOGICnow – Best Showcase Presentation (Platinum & Gold)
- LOGICnow – Best in Show
- StorageCraft – Most Innovative Solution
- Data Deposit Box – Best New Solution
- CloudPlus – Best Showcase Presentation (Silver)
- Tech Data – Best Distributor
- StorageCraft – Best Software Solution
The next ChannelPro SMB Forum events will be held in the D.C. area on September 14 and the Boston area on November 3. To ensure that everyone at the ChannelPro SMB Forums can freely participate in the conversation, seating at each event has been limited. Interested parties should register immediately at http://www.ChannelProForum.com.
“By participating in the ChannelPro SMB Forum, channel partners have a unique opportunity to learn about today’s top IT trends from colleagues who have learned by doing and paved the way for their success,” says Michael Siggins, publisher of ChannelPro-SMB and an event host. “They can also take advantage of the showcase of vendor solutions that will enable them to meet the growing IT needs of their SMB customer base.”
Interested sponsors should contact Joel Zaidspiner at 561-422-5119 or Lisa Sherman at 917-388-9531. More sponsorship info can be found at: http://ChannelProForum.com/sponsors/how-to-sponsor.
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