Hey, Friends, Foes, Wizards, Warlocks, & Jellycat Enthusiasts!
I’ve spent the past few weeks bouncing between three conferences, and at this point my brain is approximately 93% caffeine and 7% “what time zone am I in?”
So naturally… it’s time to write a blog post. Let’s just jump right in!
Right of Boom – “Waking Up In Vegas” by Katy Perry
If you’ve ever worked a conference in Vegas, you probably know the drill… big city, bright lights… and a whole lot of distractions. Vegas events are often difficult and can be frustrating (and are usually some of my least favorites). They’re expensive, everyone is running on very little sleep, and there’s always something competing for attention.
For me personally, Vegas has also just become… exhausting.
This year’s Right of Boom? Super solid, with a little extra unexpected fun thrown in!
We got to reconnect with friends we didn’t expect to see thanks to another event taking place in town. There was actual time to hang out (shoutout to the tiki bar and matching shirts). The overall vibe and feedback about the event felt really positive, which brings me a lot of joy because this is personally one of my favorite events (yes, even though it’s in Vegas).
And that last point matters the most IMO. You could tell the organizers are listening to feedback and actively improving the event year after year.
Right of Boom brought back the vendor dinners, again, which y’all know I absolutely love! I must shout out our own Anna Lang for planning our vendor dinner, and our assigned attendees for all showing up! We had one guy say, “this is one of the best experiences of my whole life”. If you find these to be cumbersome or a pain, you are underutilizing these opportunities. Branch out from Top Golf and take people for a one-of-a-kind experience!
From a business standpoint, Right of Boom has always been a strong event for us. But beyond ROI, it just feels like a conference that’s trying to get better and succeeding.
We’re planning to be back next year… assuming they’ll have us.
Zero Trust World – “All Mixed Up” by 311
Next, we go to The House of Mouse, Orlando.
Zero Trust World was a new event for us, and we were excited to be there! Especially since we brought along our newest community team member, Kayla Carline, as an introduction to the world of channel events. (She absolutely crushed it, by the way… even if she wasn’t fully prepared for just how much standing and talking is involved.)
If I had to sum up the event in one word, it would be disjointed. That’s not just my take; it came up in conversations with several MSPs when I asked them how to describe the event in one word.
The audience and the expectations of the event didn’t exactly line up like we thought it would. Our team went in believing this was a 60% MSP / 40% Internal IT & Enterprise attendee breakdown. Once we got there, we were told the breakdown was the opposite.
Now, for us, that’s not a dealbreaker… It did create some confusion and friction when we were in the booth, as we constantly recalibrated conversations on the fly, the standard story didn’t land like it usually would, and we spent time explaining things like PSAs and RMMs to attendees.
To be completely clear, that’s not a bad thing… It was just different and we would have been better prepared had we known the numbers ahead of time. Next time, we’ll be better prepared. 😊
The biggest gap wasn’t just audience mix; it was lack of crossover. It didn’t feel like the different groups (MSPs vs enterprise) were really interacting with each other. And if you’re going to run a cross-industry event, that intermingling should be intentional. IMO, more structured opportunities to connect those groups would go a long way. Maybe bringing the vendor dinner idea from Right of Boom to Zero Trust World and mixing the attendees assigned to each vendor could help.
IT Nation Connect Europe – “Jubel” by Klingande
Finally, we made it to one of my favorite places, London! This was the ImmyBot Krewe’s first time at IT Nation Connect Europe, and overall, it was a nice experience.
I’ve always enjoyed smaller, more intimate events, where attendees are open to having longer conversations and not just running through booths to grab swag. The attendees were incredibly friendly and curious. We had so many great conversations with people who knew us, who had never heard of us, and who heard stories from peers… And people who just wanted to check-in with Anna on how she likes ImmyBot. That kind of environment is perfect for relationship-building.
Like with every show, there were some things that could be improved, right? Food wasn’t opened early for vendors, so many of us were eating at the booth (if at all), the evening event ran out of food (there’s a theme here…). And, just personally, my energy levels were not where they should be due to coming directly from another event in a different time zone… But, that’s on me and not ITN.
By the final night, I skipped the closing party and opted for a quieter dinner with a small group and honestly, that ended up being one of the best parts of the trip. We talked about life, work, mental health, the event, and everything in between. Often the most valuable moments happen outside the official agenda.
Having so many vendors coming over from the states, I would love to see some more intentional introductions to the group. Y’all know I’m not afraid to introduce myself and strike up a conversation, but I witnessed a few people who stuck to the edges and tried to bring them into the conversations where we could… But, I’d love to see some thought put into introducing the attendees to the vendors in a more intentional way. Maybe it could be small group dinners or curated meetups… really anything that encourages people to step outside their usual circles. The potential for connection is ABSOLUTELY THERE, we just need to encourage it a little more.
Throughout the three events, community stood out as the common thread and matters as much as anything else an event provides.
Right of Boom nailed it with intentional connection points. Zero Trust World has potential but needs better audience integration. IT Nation Europe offers a strong foundation, with room to encourage more mixing.
As for me? I’m tired… I am le tired… Very tired. But I’m also insanely grateful for the conversations, the people, and the chance to keep learning and changing how we show up in these spaces.
On to the next ones. ❤
Tara Rummer
MSP Channel Captain, Cruise Director, Queen of Sparkles
