Jon: Hey everyone! I’m Jon Marinaro, Director of Technical Sales at Celerium, and I'm here with Ian McCallum, our Head of Business Development, to talk about our recent trip to the ChannelPro Network Defend event in Dallas. Ian, man, what did you think? I know you've been to a few of these, but Dallas felt different, right?
Ian: Absolutely, Jon! You know, going in, I had a general idea of what to expect from ChannelPro. But Dallas? It was way more engaging than I thought it would be. The level of conversation and interaction at our booth was just… wow.
Jon: I totally agree! The quality of the conversations in Dallas was just on another level. While going to one of those mega-conventions can be great, being able to take time like we did with that MSP from Louisiana to not just spitball good jambalaya recipes but also figure out how we could keep those cyber attackers from overwhelming their firewall’s VPN is just something you don’t get outside of the more focused events.
Ian: And speaking of levels, Jon, your presentation was top-notch! Seriously. I noticed how quiet the audience was for other presentations, but you had them hooked! Specifically, when you were talking about how cyber threats are evolving faster than traditional defenses can keep up. This statement had some MSPs thinking about how they can stay ahead of the cyberattacks that are inevitable.
Jon: (Laughs) Oh, come on, you're just saying that!
Ian: No, I'm serious! It really drew people to our booth. By day two, especially after your presentation, the questions were so much more technical. The number one question we were asked was, “If there is no agent to install, how do you get the data from the firewall?” It was like they were already picturing themselves using Celerium’s Network Defender®. It was sales gold!
Jon: Well, the beauty of our product is that it's just so easy to implement, and the value it delivers is huge. We were laughing about how easy it was to just take a snap of that QR code to get a demo set up, but then you mentioned that we had installations that ran shorter than even that conversation. It was all super easy!
Ian: Getting them to the booth was the hardest part, honestly. Once they were there, the conversations were a breeze.
Jon: Exactly! And it wasn’t just our booth. The networking was fantastic. We had some great chats with the SonicWall guys, looks like they might be changing that blocklist limit in the next revision. That's exciting!
Ian: Yeah, that's awesome news!
Jon: Just being able to connect with other vendors, figure out how we fit into everyone's tech stack, that's always super valuable.
Ian: Even the casual moments were great. I remember chatting with someone from an expert lead hunting and generation for MSPs company, and a potential MSP at the buffet line, just bouncing ideas off each other. There was this real sense of community, everyone working together to improve the MSP space. You heard that one guy who was having issues with his zero-trust stuff talk to both the people from his solution and his firewall right there before grabbing one of those beignets! It can only happen at a place like that.
Jon: Absolutely! And a huge shoutout to Joel Zaidspiner for putting it all together. He was so welcoming, and it was great being back at a ChannelPro event. The smaller size made it feel more personal.
Ian: And I've got to give Joel a shoutout too, for not giving us too much grief for taking over the cocktail table with our conference swag! (Laughs)
Jon: Thanks for taking the heat for me on that one! I was a little worried when I saw how many notebooks and charging squids we brought, so I might’ve gone a little overboard putting them on the tables around us as well. I’m sure Joel gave you an earful!
Ian: You definitely owe me for that, though it isn’t just in what or how much swag you bring to a conference, it’s how you use it. Your towers of notebooks always draw a crowd, I’m just glad they didn’t come crashing down!
Jon: (Laughs) There’s a lot of experience in building those that comes with going to all of these shows! Outside of the convention, we had some fun exploring Dallas. We took you to In-N-Out, which you hadn’t had in a while, right?
Ian: Yeah, that was a treat! But the real highlight was the Brass Ram steakhouse. That prime rib? Amazing! And the service was top-notch.
Jon: Game recognizes game, right? We know what good service looks like!
Ian: Definitely! And speaking of good service, the post-conference engagement has been incredible. We’ve had so many people reaching out, requesting more information. It's been the best follow-up I've seen from any conference.
Jon: We're already looking forward to the next ChannelPro Defend West event in Irvine, CA.
Jon: Thanks, everyone, for tuning in! We had a blast in Dallas, and we're looking forward to connecting with you all soon! If you wanna get a closer look into the Network Defender solution, join us at the ChannelPro Product Deep Dive Virtual event on April 15th.
Thanks again y’all!
Built specifically to protect the SMB clients of MSPs and MSSPs, Celerium’s Network Defender® solution delivers automated network threat detection and blocking so you can protect clients effortlessly. Schedule a demo of Network Defender® here.