DIALOG: The
Unconference
Dialog: a conversation between people
Unconference: a participant-driven conference centered on a theme or purpose
Unconference: a participant-driven conference centered on a theme or purpose
A unique online event entirely based on dialog between MSPs and experts.
April 28th, 2020 at 12:00 PM EST
Register Today!Brought to you by
Covering the business issues that YOU want to hear about right now—issues that are important and relevant to your company TODAY.
We know your time is precious, so we won’t waste it. There will be no infomercials and no sales pitches.
You'll get solid business advice and strategies that you can implement right away to grow and maintain your company.
You'll get solid business advice and strategies that you can implement right away to grow and maintain your company.
Do you have…
● Legal questions about contracts and liabilities in a pandemic? We have it covered.
● Tax and financial questions? We’ve got that covered too.
● Questions about how to manage and motivate your sales team during a pandemic? Join us and get answers.
● Anxiety about security issues as workforces get distributed? We’ve got the remedy.
● Uncertainty about how to brand and promote your MSP in a tough economy? We’ll tell you how to do it.
● Tax and financial questions? We’ve got that covered too.
● Questions about how to manage and motivate your sales team during a pandemic? Join us and get answers.
● Anxiety about security issues as workforces get distributed? We’ve got the remedy.
● Uncertainty about how to brand and promote your MSP in a tough economy? We’ll tell you how to do it.
The conference is FREE. The advice is priceless and relevant, so register below and tell us about your issues and questions that you want to discuss with our experts.
SpeaKers
OUR EXPERTS & THEIR UNCONFERENCE TOPICS
Rayanne Buchianico, EA
Owner of ABC Solutions, LLC
Unconference Topics:
● Documentation needed to get CARES Act money forgiven
● Tracking CARES Act money in accounting and PSA systems (like Autotask, ConnectWise, etc.)
● Learn to live on reduced revenue and read your P&Ls to cut spending
● Is it time to buy, sell, or merge your MSP?
● Tracking CARES Act money in accounting and PSA systems (like Autotask, ConnectWise, etc.)
● Learn to live on reduced revenue and read your P&Ls to cut spending
● Is it time to buy, sell, or merge your MSP?
ABOUT RAYANNE BUCHIANICO
Rayanne provides complete accounting, business, and tax consulting services to IT Professionals in the United States and abroad. She is a Certified QuickBooks Professional Advisor in QuickBooks Desktop and Online versions and offers courses and blogs tips on QuickBooks regularly. She holds a degree in Accounting and is enrolled to practice before the Internal Revenue Service.
Rayanne is also a partner with Sell My MSP, a listing service helping buyers and sellers of IT firms find each other. With expertise in managed service providers, Sell My MSP provides unique guidance through the merger/acquisition process including business valuation services.
Rayanne sits on the Member Advisory Board for The ASCII Group and is a former member of the Executive Council for Advancing Women in IT at CompTIA. She teaches finance courses through Bigger Brains and Great Little Seminar to help IT Professionals understand their business finances and make appropriate management decisions. Rayanne also provides information through social media such as the PSA Impact Podcast series, YouTube Channel, and publishes articles through various IT Channel periodicals.
Rayanne is also a partner with Sell My MSP, a listing service helping buyers and sellers of IT firms find each other. With expertise in managed service providers, Sell My MSP provides unique guidance through the merger/acquisition process including business valuation services.
Rayanne sits on the Member Advisory Board for The ASCII Group and is a former member of the Executive Council for Advancing Women in IT at CompTIA. She teaches finance courses through Bigger Brains and Great Little Seminar to help IT Professionals understand their business finances and make appropriate management decisions. Rayanne also provides information through social media such as the PSA Impact Podcast series, YouTube Channel, and publishes articles through various IT Channel periodicals.
Mark S A Smith
International Business Strategist, Author & Speaker
Unconference Topics:
● How can your sales team sell to a customer whose budget is frozen?
● How do you deal with your salespeople who think that selling in this pandemic is in poor taste?
● What can salespeople do right now to get set for success?
● How will the global situation impact the future of MSPs?
● How do you deal with your salespeople who think that selling in this pandemic is in poor taste?
● What can salespeople do right now to get set for success?
● How will the global situation impact the future of MSPs?
ABOUT MARK S A SMITH
When you need pragmatic strategies and tactics to rapidly grow your business, create or survive disruption, and be in position to get the business that looks impossible, engage with Mark S A Smith. He brings new understanding and insights to your team about how customers, both internal and external, think about making decisions, and how to rapidly align with their motivations to gain agreement and achieve new outcomes.
Heading his own boutique consulting company since 1990, he’s researched and developed business models and go-to-market methods to predictably conduct successful executive-level meetings when multiple people must come to a conclusion to make important decisions. The result: his clients sell
complex, expensive products and services as fast as humanly possible.
Working in the world of technology since 1982, Mark has used systems thinking to help organizations successfully bring new, disruptive technology to market, learning the secret to conducting conversations with customers who don’t think they want or need what’s being sold. In every case, he’s been up against aggressive competition and identified ways to routinely win the business, even in tough markets.
Mark is an electrical engineer, media technologist, computer programmer, hardware salesman, software marketer, business owner, executive coach, author, professional speaker, video producer, podcaster (The Selling Disruption™ Show), blogger, musician, and father of five Millennial children who do not live at home. He’s worked in 54 countries and six continents.
Mark’s authored many books, business case assessment tools, sales playbooks, go-to-market strategy guides, sales channel launch plans, business plan tools, video-based training systems, corporate webinars, and hundreds of articles and blogs. Books include Pivot to Profit from IT Disruption, Security in the Boardroom, Linux in the Boardroom, Guerrilla Negotiating, Guerrilla TeleSelling, & Guerrilla Trade Show Selling. Forthcoming: Selling Disruption & Executive Strategy Skills.
Mark’s clients include Arrow Electronics, Agilysis, AMD, BEA, Broadcom, Bullseye Capital, CDW, ConnectWise, Commvault, Dell, ePlus, Forrester Research, HP, Hitachi Data Systems, Microsoft, IBM, IPED Consulting, Internal Consulting Group, Ingram Micro, Insight, Tech Data, Living Fuel, Oracle, Raytheon, Ruckus, NetApp, Sanmina, Sugar CRM, Synnex, Lexmark, Viavi Solutions, Zones, Society of Government Meeting Planners, National Speakers Association, and Meeting Professionals International.
Heading his own boutique consulting company since 1990, he’s researched and developed business models and go-to-market methods to predictably conduct successful executive-level meetings when multiple people must come to a conclusion to make important decisions. The result: his clients sell
complex, expensive products and services as fast as humanly possible.
Working in the world of technology since 1982, Mark has used systems thinking to help organizations successfully bring new, disruptive technology to market, learning the secret to conducting conversations with customers who don’t think they want or need what’s being sold. In every case, he’s been up against aggressive competition and identified ways to routinely win the business, even in tough markets.
Mark is an electrical engineer, media technologist, computer programmer, hardware salesman, software marketer, business owner, executive coach, author, professional speaker, video producer, podcaster (The Selling Disruption™ Show), blogger, musician, and father of five Millennial children who do not live at home. He’s worked in 54 countries and six continents.
Mark’s authored many books, business case assessment tools, sales playbooks, go-to-market strategy guides, sales channel launch plans, business plan tools, video-based training systems, corporate webinars, and hundreds of articles and blogs. Books include Pivot to Profit from IT Disruption, Security in the Boardroom, Linux in the Boardroom, Guerrilla Negotiating, Guerrilla TeleSelling, & Guerrilla Trade Show Selling. Forthcoming: Selling Disruption & Executive Strategy Skills.
Mark’s clients include Arrow Electronics, Agilysis, AMD, BEA, Broadcom, Bullseye Capital, CDW, ConnectWise, Commvault, Dell, ePlus, Forrester Research, HP, Hitachi Data Systems, Microsoft, IBM, IPED Consulting, Internal Consulting Group, Ingram Micro, Insight, Tech Data, Living Fuel, Oracle, Raytheon, Ruckus, NetApp, Sanmina, Sugar CRM, Synnex, Lexmark, Viavi Solutions, Zones, Society of Government Meeting Planners, National Speakers Association, and Meeting Professionals International.
Joy Beland
Senior Cybersecurity Education Director, ConnectWise
Unconference Topics:
● How to cultivate a strong security culture in your MSP and your clients
● The importance of administrative cybersecurity controls (policies, standards) to support technical solutions
● Bridging the gap between the technical and the administrative
● Having the conversation about who owns the risk to the company data
● The importance of administrative cybersecurity controls (policies, standards) to support technical solutions
● Bridging the gap between the technical and the administrative
● Having the conversation about who owns the risk to the company data
ABOUT JOY BELAND
Joy Beland is the Senior Cybersecurity Education Director for ConnectWise, where she is responsible for developing education curriculums and training MSPs and the global ConnectWise staff in cybersecurity awareness, behavior and culture. She leads a team in training and certifying MSPs in foundational cybersecurity knowledge and is currently focusing on the development and delivery of advanced cybersecurity training. Joy began her current role in November 2019 following ConnectWise’s acquisition of Continuum.
Joy brings more than 23 years of experience working with MSPs, including founding an MSP in 1997 called LA IT Girl, which was rebranded to Pink Hat Technology Management in 2012. In 2018, Joy sold her MSP to Sharp Business Systems and joined Continuum in 2019 as the Senior Director of Cybersecurity Business Development.
In addition to her unique experience, Joy holds certifications from various security organizations including a SANS Security Awareness Professional (SSAP) from the SANS Institute and Cybersecurity Fundamentals Certificate from ISACA. Joy was also recognized in CRN’s Women of the Channel in 2015.
Originally from a small town in Oregon, Joy now resides in Marina del Rey, California. In her free time, she enjoys travelling, cooking, yoga, scuba diving, cyber podcasts, and is a huge fan of all things biohacking.
Joy brings more than 23 years of experience working with MSPs, including founding an MSP in 1997 called LA IT Girl, which was rebranded to Pink Hat Technology Management in 2012. In 2018, Joy sold her MSP to Sharp Business Systems and joined Continuum in 2019 as the Senior Director of Cybersecurity Business Development.
In addition to her unique experience, Joy holds certifications from various security organizations including a SANS Security Awareness Professional (SSAP) from the SANS Institute and Cybersecurity Fundamentals Certificate from ISACA. Joy was also recognized in CRN’s Women of the Channel in 2015.
Originally from a small town in Oregon, Joy now resides in Marina del Rey, California. In her free time, she enjoys travelling, cooking, yoga, scuba diving, cyber podcasts, and is a huge fan of all things biohacking.
Bradley Gross
Attorney & Author
Unconference Topics:
● Are your company’s contracts vulnerable to scope creep from customers who are distributing their workforces?
● Do you have to negotiate with customers who want discounts or delayed payments?
● Do you have to comply with SLAs in a pandemic?
● How do you draft pandemic-proof statements of work?
● Does your company’s incident response plan need to be reviewed? Modified?
● Do you have to negotiate with customers who want discounts or delayed payments?
● Do you have to comply with SLAs in a pandemic?
● How do you draft pandemic-proof statements of work?
● Does your company’s incident response plan need to be reviewed? Modified?
ABOUT BRADLEY GROSS
Bradley Gross is the founding partner of the Law Office of Bradley Gross, P.A., a law firm that focuses on transactions involving managed service providers, VARs, technology solution resellers, cloud solution providers, IT professionals, and technology companies globally. He is one of the leading international legal authorities in the area of cloud transactions and has been named on ten occasions to the national list of ‘Super Lawyers’ in the area of IT & Technology Law. He is a highly sought-after and frequent speaker at industry events throughout North America, Canada, and the European Union. A former Chair and managing partner of the Intellectual Property Law Department of one of the largest law firms in the State of Florida, Brad is general counsel for dozens of technology solution providers throughout the United States. Brad has served as a Technology Law subject matter expert for Governor Bush and was a former Technology Law correspondent for NBC television
Dave Lorenzo
International Branding & Marketing Business Coach & Author
Unconference Topics:
● How do you brand and promote your MSP in a tough economy?
● What marketing strategies are most successful to position your company for success?
● What promotional and marketing strategies should you be implementing right now to prepare for a post-COVID 19- world?
● What marketing strategies are most successful to position your company for success?
● What promotional and marketing strategies should you be implementing right now to prepare for a post-COVID 19- world?
ABOUT DAVE LORENZO
For over 20 years, Dave has been an international branding and marketing coach to companies of all sizes and industries. He’s worked with professionals in dozens of occupations and helped take six-figure practices to seven figures and beyond. An award-winning author of several books on branding and business strategy, Dave has built five professional service businesses and led the sales effort in each of them. Before staring the Dave Lorenzo Company, Dave was a partner at Gallup’s Business Consulting Group, and was a Senior Vice President with Business Growth and P&L Accountability at Marriott International.
schedule
28
April
April
12:00PM
Opening Remarks
12:10PM
Rayanne Buchianico
12:55PM
Break
1:10PM
Mark S A Smith
2:00PM
Joy Beland
2:45PM
Break
3:00PM
Bradley Gross
3:45PM
Dave Lorenzo
4:30PM
Closing Remarks