Channel Partners Evolution: Welcome to Washington D.C.!

I was 15 the first time I visited Washington, D.C. It’s also the last time I’ve been to our nation’s capital.

Unless you were a lot more worldly as a teenager than I was, you don’t appreciate your surroundings as much as you do once you become an adult. Sure, I remember visiting the National Archives and seeing the Constitution. I recall strolling through the National Air & Space Museum and seeing some of our country’s most historic aircraft. Yes, I recollect walking through the Capitol rotunda and sitting in the balcony to watch a session of Congress. And I can call to mind the stroll through the various rooms in the White House that were accessible to public tours. My parents and I packed a lot into just a couple of hot, humid days in late July.

But the story my family tells to this day is how much I ate for lunch at the cafeteria inside one of the Smithsonian museums. (I think it was Natural History.) No doubt by now you get my point. If I get a chance to do any of that again while in D.C. next week for Channel Partners Evolution, Sept. 9-12, I’m going to soak it in like a sponge. I would encourage you to do the same.

I know what some of you are thinking. Wasn’t Evolution in Washington a couple of years ago? Well, close; it was in National Harbor, Maryland, but the hectic nature of a Channel Partners event kept me from getting into the city. This time we are right in the heart of downtown with many of our nation’s most famous landmarks a stone’s throw away.

I’ve lived my entire life in the western U.S. and wouldn’t trade it for a second. But it lacks history. Anytime I travel east, I take time to visit the unique places that many of you who live on the Eastern Seaboard might take for granted. That being said, they say a lot of people who live across the street from Disneyland have never been …

Of course, there will be plenty to keep you busy during the duration of the show. I won’t give you a rundown of the whole event; you can find that here. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out a few of the highlights that I think will make this the best Channel Partners Evolution we’ve ever had:

Robin Robins Marketing Workshop: A few weeks ago while a guest on the Coffee with Craig and Kevin podcast, Robin made fun of me for referring to her as a sales and marketing “guru,” but it’s not far from the truth. Founder of the Technology Marketing Toolkit, Robin has been helping partners – in particular VARs and MSPs – develop highly effective marketing and sales-generating systems tailored to their businesses. Partners get four hours of Robin’s specialized training, and all you need for admission is an all-access pass. If you’re not all-access, go back into your registration and sign up for one. Sponsored by Dell Expert Network, you’ll also get to learn what this brand-new Dell Technologies division is doing for MSPs and SMB customers. It all happens from 1-5 p.m. on Monday, part of our biggest preconference event ever.

Keynotes: We’ve got another great lineup of keynotes Tuesday and Wednesday mornings and afternoons. In addition to a crowd favorite, our masters and distributors panel, we’ll have presentations from AT&T and Verizon; a panel of MSP 501 winners on how they achieved success; 8×8’s channel chief talking collaboration; Splunk exec Andi Mann going “Inside the Mind of a Transformational CIO”; and more. The highlight might just be Google Cloud channel chief Carolee Gearhart offering advice on how partnerships can drive digital transformation. That session kicks off on …