ASCII EDGE
THE MSP CONFERENCE 2023 CHICAGO
SEP 20 & 21 - GREATER CHICAGO AREA
FRESH CONTENT FOR GROWING MSPs
20+ BUSINESS STRATEGY SESSIONS
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
Pre-Day/Wednesday
September 20, 2023
Main Day/Thursday
September 21, 2023
Located in
Badge Pick-Up & Lunch
Start networking over lunch with MSP peers from all over the region
Jessie Devine
Welcome to ASCII Edge - the MSP Conference
Day 1 kick-off as we discuss our new format and audience interaction
Eric Pinto
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.
Donovan Pedrero
Why Hacking is One of the Fastest Growth Industries
presented by Huntress
Morgan McBride
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.
Ken Wong
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.
Al Alper
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
James Gartner
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.
Located in
Break & Networking Time
Refuel time
Interactive
Quiet Quitting - How to Inspire, Motivate and Keep Staff
Industry Expert Panel with Binox MSP, Devolutions, and Viirtue
J. Colin Petersen
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.
Located in
Business Card Exchange
Get your networking vibe on
Jennifer Pierce
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.
Dave Nankervis
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.
Michael Crean
[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
David Stinner
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.
Reece King
The ASCII Group & Amazon Business
presented by Amazon Business
Located in
Day 1 Wrap Up, Voting & Vendor Networking
More networking and time to meet with our great sponsors
Located in
ASCII Member Closed-Door Meeting
Private peer meeting of ASCII Members
Located in
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
Sponsors
Official Sponsors
Diamond Sponsors
Platinum Sponsors
Gold Sponsors
Silver Sponsors
Bronze Sponsors
Start Up Sponsors
Meal & Technical Primer Sponsors
Media Sponsors
