Resilience and Community
The competitive landscape for channel events is intense, with many choices for both partners and vendors, leading to heavy competition and limited resources for exhibitors. Despite these challenges, ChannelNEXT celebrated its 24th year of success and delivered an outstanding experience to the attendees. Many video news interviews coming soon.
A significant challenge this year for Quebec was addressing language translation. We implemented a real-time closed-caption system for speaker translation into French. While not flawless, this system significantly improved accessibility. Additionally, some sessions were conducted in French by bilingual speakers. We are committed to further enhancing these language translation capabilities.
Key Successes and Attendance:
This year, we saw an encouraging 94% show-up rate among registered attendees, demonstrating strong support from channel partners in the region and motivating our continued efforts. A suggestion from Barb Paluszkiewicz, one of our board advisors, to place the panel discussion on the future of channel partners and the MSP Town Hall at the beginning of the event was very well received.
Local speakers contributed more than two-thirds of the content, which allows partners to continue leveraging the support and connections long after the event. The primary takeaway for attendees remains the importance of building a stronger professional network to benefit their businesses throughout the year.
Outlook:
For the first time in 24 years, channel partners were charged a fee to attend. Next year, we plan to increase reliance on attendee ticket sales to sustain the high value ChannelNEXT provides to the region by reducing dependency on vendor sponsorships. Our goal is to continue delivering over 80% non-sponsored and unbiased content.
Congrats to Stephen Nichols Country Manager for Acronis for winning Best In Show. One of the very best channel advocates in the country!
Congrats to newcomer Inscora for winning Best Lions Den
Key Insights:
A very big thank you to the vendors who supported ChannelNEXT East this year, demonstrating their commitment to the regional market and offering outstanding solutions. We encourage all attendees to support these companies: Acronis, Leaseweb, Pax8, AvePoint, ITCloud/App Direct, Dell, CyberPower, Inscora, and our partners ContentMX, Simple Mystery, GoWest, Channel Partner Alliance, and Cybersecurity Defense Ecosystem. If you would like to receive a free copy of the digital guide, just ask.
Vendors showcased outstanding solutions in cybersecurity, AI, data sovereignty, cyber insurance, hardware, power management and more.
It was heart-warming to see the strong support from MSPs in the channel community, including Chris Fabes, Andy Larin, Simon-David Williams, Audrey Shink, and Yannick Thibodeau. Expert sessions delivered high-value content and insights on strengthening cybersecurity practices, excelling in the AI sector, governance, improving business valuation and profitability, leadership, and customer acquisition/retention. Powerful and practical insights that could significantly impact their companies. Some offered some deep discounts to get started. The session on nurturing personal relationships at home was highlighted as an important factor for success, happiness and mental health.
ChannelNEXT’s core mission has always been to connect members in our community to build relationships in an enjoyable experience. Based on feedback, we believe we achieved another “home run” in this area.
More to come…
Watch for upcoming eChannelNEWS interviews at www.e-channelnews.com and remember to subscribe (and safe-list our email address to ensure you receive them)
We hope channel partners who missed this event will join us next year or consider a road trip to the next event (Toronto, May 28-29 see https://www.channelnext.ca/event/channelnext26-central/).
As always, a special thank you to our awesome event team and fellow emcees for creating a wonderful experience for all. None of this would be possible without you.
Stay safe, healthy, and prosperous until we meet again!
Julian Lee
Publisher
