ASCII Edge

ASCII EDGE

THE MSP CONFERENCE 2023 CHICAGO

SEP 20 & 21 - GREATER CHICAGO AREA

FRESH CONTENT FOR GROWING MSPs

20+ BUSINESS STRATEGY SESSIONS

Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds

Keynote

"How AI is Disrupting Industries and How it Will Change the MSP Industry"

Making national news, now ex-Google engineer, Blake Lemoine saw first-hand the cutting edge of AI and where it will lead. As AI disrupts industries, it remains an open question how much the daily life of IT professionals will change in the coming years as a result of artificial intelligence.  New tools for artistic creation, network planning, customer service and even assistants for writing code are becoming available and offer broad sweeping promises of productivity increases through automation and big data analysis.  We’ll separate fact from fiction, highlighting both the incredibly impressive advances being made in some areas as well as the areas in which the promises of automation are likely to be underwhelming.  Armed with a little understanding of how to leverage these technologies they will provide many opportunities for growth and prosperity.

for MSPs

Register today

Fresh Content

Content focuses on helping MSPs build a better business and realize any revenue opportunities they may be missing

Discover Opportunities

Meet with over 30 technology providers in a business setting geared to help move your business forward

Expand Your Network

Come together and learn best practices while networking and discovering new revenue streams

Interactive

See how you compare with your peers, as we poll the audience live on key business indicators

For MSPs

Our events are open to all managed service providers, (MSPs), who manage SMBs in North America

Perks

Grab a headshot from our professional photography gratis plus win a chance at over $10K worth of prizes

Speakers

Featured MSP Speakers & Industry Sessions

Brian Johnson

CEO, AVC Technology

MSP Session: “Growth Through Process – Fundamental Building Blocks MSPs Need to Achieve Repeatable Growth YoY"

Ken Wong

Founder & CEO, DragonTek International

MSP Session: “Winning Business Leveraging the Security Conversation"

David Stinner

Founder & President, US itek

MSP Session: “A Blueprint to Solve Talent & Hiring Challenges at 25% of the Salaries Your Competitors are Paying”

Keynote

"Creating Superfans: How To Turn Your Customers Into Lifelong Advocates"

Entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and fan-engagement guru Brittany Hodak shares the proprietary five-step SUPER Fan System she developed running successful campaigns and products for globally known brands including Walmart, Disney, Amazon, Katy Perry, the Boston Red Sox, and more. With her trademark mix of humor and sharp business insights, she combines entertaining stories from her years of working with major stars like Dolly Parton and KISS with case studies of familiar brands and companies to illustrate the effective and easy-to-master system for transforming customers into passionate advocates of your brand.

Agenda

11:00 – 11:45 AM

Located in

Mahogany Ballroom I-IV 

Badge Pick-Up & Lunch

Start networking over lunch with MSP peers from all over the region

11:45 AM – 12:05 PM

Jessie Devine

VP, Channel Development
 

Welcome to ASCII Edge - the MSP Conference

Day 1 kick-off as we discuss our new format and audience interaction

12:05 – 12:20 PM

Eric Pinto

Senior Director – Channel & Product Strategy

Opening Doors & Revenue through Compliance Risk Analysis

Effective risk management strategies help recognize potential opportunity and identify security concerns. MSP’s must be able to pinpoint challenges and understand tools to support them. Join SOCSoter to understand why compliance risk analysis and comprehensive systems monitoring is the best practice; required for maintaining customer information, and the service providers who support them. Today’s challenges require complex, layered solutions. SOCSoter’s award-winning, multi-signal platform is designed to ensure regulations are followed, helping businesses achieve compliance objectives. A year-long coaching program for MSPs to maintain compliance is more attainable than ever before.

12:20 – 12:40 PM

Donovan Pedrero

Huntress

Why Hacking is One of the Fastest Growth Industries

presented by Huntress

12:40 – 1:00 PM

Morgan McBride

Nerdio

Modernize your MSP: Building a Profitable Cloud Practice

The rapid pace of technology and evolving end user computing needs are significantly impacting the MSP landscape — where some are thriving, and others are struggling to keep up. Learn how any MSP can modernize, automate, secure and cost-optimize their existing practice using native Microsoft technologies including Azure, Intune, Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), and Windows 365.

1:00 – 1:25 PM

Ken Wong

DragonTek Intl.

Peer Session “Hacker’s Perspective: Is Your MSP Ready for Me?"

It’s known that smaller businesses have smaller IT budgets, which often leaves little room for IT security. MSPs need to have a closer look at themselves on how to best protect themselves as well as their own customers. Ken Wong, Founder/CEO of DragonTek International and Security Expert, will provide some insights in today’s cybersecurity standards from a hacker’s perspective and key areas MSPs need to focus on to better protect their operations.

1:25 – 1:45 PM

Al Alper

CyberGuard360

How To STAND OUT From Your Competition

Let’s face it, to a layman all IT companies are the same. It’s why “traditional” marketing is all about timing; they hurt (a.k.a. their network crashed, or their IT guy isn’t responding, or…) and you happen to be there when they need it fixed. But chance encounters like that are few and far between. So how can you make it so that it’s YOU they think of when they need help instead of relying on a chance encounter? In this session, we’ll learn how to create and build trust in the minds of your prospects, so that YOU are the go to person when they need help. presented by CyberGuard360

1:45 – 2:05PM

James Gartner

D&H

Strategies to Best Package Services to Accommodate Future Needs

The way MSPs bundle their services plays a significant role in their client’s ability to scale with demands of growth or decline in an unpredictable economy. Offering a flexible and adaptable solution building and selling framework not only satisfies clients, but it also creates significant growth opportunities for your business. Join Jim Gartner from D&H for a session that discusses the benefits of offering flexibility in service delivery and consumption models, Everything-as-a-Service, and a framework for best positioning services as a true attach to hardware and software.

2:05 – 2:35

Located in

Mahogany Ballroom I-IV Foyer
 

Break & Networking Time

Refuel time

2:35 – 3:00 PM

Interactive

Industry Panel
 

Quiet Quitting - How to Inspire, Motivate and Keep Staff

Industry Expert Panel with Binox MSP, Devolutions, and Viirtue

3:00 – 3:20 PM

J. Colin Petersen

Founder & CEO
 

The Secret to Recruiting, Hiring, Training, and KEEPING Great Level 1 Technicians

MSP’s all experience similar frustrations hiring L1 tech’s. They want too much money, they have trouble Googling simple error codes, and just as they get their “sea legs,” they end up quitting. While you might think you know why they quit, what matters is knowing the real reasons why, or why you can’t seem to find good ones in the first place, and what you should do to mitigate that. In this session, you’ll learn the secrets I’ve used myself to hire great L1 techs who love what they do.

3:20 – 3:30 PM

Located in

Mahogany Ballroom I-IV  Foyer 
 

Business Card Exchange

Get your networking vibe on

3:30 – 3:50 PM

Jennifer Pierce

Galactic Advisors

The Security Conversation and How to Get Client Buy-in

Imagine being handed a sales process and strategy that just worked. Something you could use without having to research, learn, test, and improve? A process that works to get executives on board and investing in the security solutions you know they desperately need. I have that process, and, in this session, I will share my secrets to using third-party security assessments to change the way you connect with executives -imagine 83% close rates. I will also give you a formula to packaging your security stack that will save you time. Plus, learn the one call you need to make this quarter to reinforce your position as a highly valued consultant. We will even give you a list of CEO’s top 10 objections to investing in security solutions and how to overcome them.

3:50 – 4:10 PM

Dave Nankervis

Chief Revenue Officer
 

The MSP Revenue Roadmap

A comprehensive guide for MSPs to successfully transition from an owner-centric sales approach to building their first sales pod, enabling them to effectively scale their sales team and drive revenue growth.

4:10 – 4:30 PM

Michael Crean

CEO
 

[Leadership] "What Organizational Maturity Means Today: Essential Practices and Skills"

Organizations large and small struggle to understand what “maturity” means in terms of IT and security operations. In this session, we’ll discuss some case studies about organizations that have varied levels of maturity. This isn’t about CMMC or CMMI, but more of a conversation about steps organizations need to take to implement policy-based and useful architectures and procedures.

presented by Solutions Granted

4:30 – 4:55 PM

David Stinner

President & Founder 
US itek

A Blueprint to Solve Talent & Hiring Challenges at 25% the Salaries Your Competitors are Paying

If you are struggling with staff quiet quitting, leaving for a better job during the great resignation, or your staff asking for more money than you can afford, this session is for you.  Did you ever say you cannot find the right staff?  Do you have staff that is lackluster or doesn’t show up for work?  Do you need admin support staff for billing, marketing but don’t know where to start? Do you need more technical staff but cant afford more people?  What if you could do it for 25% of what you think it will cost. In this educational session you are going to learn the Top 10 Proven Things to address all these topics and more,  discussed by an MSP who solved these problems. 

4:55 – 5:05 PM

Reece King

Amazon Business

The ASCII Group & Amazon Business

presented by Amazon Business

5:05 – 5:30 PM

Located in

Mahogany Ballroom I-IV 
 

Day 1 Wrap Up, Voting & Vendor Networking

More networking and time to meet with our great sponsors

5:30 – 6:30 PM

Located in

Mahogany Ballroom VII

ASCII Member Closed-Door Meeting

Private peer meeting of ASCII Members

6:30 – 8:30 PM

Located in

Mahogany Ballroom V-VII
 

Evening Networking Reception

Enjoy food and drink as continue to network

Greater Chicago Area
September 21 & 22, 2023

Hyatt Regency Schaumberg
1800 E Golf Rd, Schaumberg, IL 60173

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