Image Gallery: On Stage at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo

The stage at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo, April 10-13, was hoppin’ like never before — and we’re not just talking about the keynotes.

Attendees got great information on how to improve their businesses, inspiration to build their brands and even a performance from a country music star — not to mention updates on some of the biggest channel programs in the business.

And it wasn’t all on the keynote stage. On the Jive BIG Stage in the expo hall, partners learned from experts and peers on how to sell mobility, IoT, security and cloud solutions. We also doled out awards and cash to exhibitors and attendees.

It’s all here in our “on stage” recap.

Follow executive editor @Craig_Galbraith on Twitter.

Much of the channel already knew Brian Snortheim, Channel Partners’ new VP of sales, from his days at Time Warner Cable Business Class.

But welcoming attendees to the show on April 11 was his first opportunity to say hello to the masses in the public realm.

Janet Schijns, VP, solution and sales channels, Verizon Business Markets, gave most of the time in her keynote to Jimmy Wayne, the country music artist who grew up in foster care and has dedicated much of his life to helping kids who are aging out of the system.

Wayne shared a couple of songs and signed his book afterward.

Watch our on-camera interview with Schijns and Wayne, which includes more about his life story and some of the changes happening in the Verizon partner program.

Our Fastball presentations – six-minute presentations from exhibitors about products and services they’ve launched within the past 90 days – made their return.

And yep, we timed ’em. (I’m still hearing that buzzer in my head.)

Here, the team from mTusker took to the stage. Attendees also heard Fastballs from Comcast Business, ViaSat, Zang, CenturyLink, MetTel and AT&T.

Rokeya Jones, director of technical evangelism, East, for Microsoft, shared some staggering statistics about the growth of Azure — namely that there are 120,000 new Azure customer subscriptions per month. Approximately 715 million users are currently on the Azure Active Directory, and 85 percent of Fortune 500 companies use Microsoft Cloud.

Jones said Azure’s run at Amazon Web Services for public cloud supremacy is built around four main areas: applications, data intelligence, openness and flexibility, and trust.

Click here for our full review of Jones’ presentation.

There’s a lot that can be learned from winners of our semiannual Channel Partners 360° Business Value Awards, given to partner businesses that are solving customer problems with holistic telecom and IT solutions.

That’s why we put three of them on stage with moderator Vince Bradley (left), CEO of WTG. Left to right are Carrier Access’ Shane Stark, Liquid Networx’s Robert Short and Acliviti’s Ryan Young.

Get tips on bettering your business by reading our recap of the session.

The keynote stage wasn’t the only place to find insightful info to improve your business.

On April 11, the Jive BIG Stage in the expo hall was home to educational sessions directly connected to the various Experience Areas on the show floor — Security Central, sponsored by Verizon; Mobility City, sponsored by AT&T; the IoT Experience Zone, sponsored by KORE; and the Cloud Computing Lab, sponsored by Microsoft.

Here, TelecomQuotes.com’s Michael Bremmer (left) moderates a mobility session. Panelists include Samsung’s Frank Alberson, MOBI’s Chris Koeneman, Asavie’s Nick Raj and AT&T Partner Solutions’ Bruce Rose.

Recruiting and retaining technical talent can be a major challenge, particularly with unemployment for security pros at zero.

Nancy Ridge (left), executive vice president, Telecom Brokers, moderated the session. Panelists (left to right) were Ingram Micro’s Emily Lundi, Carousel Industries’ Tim Hebert and Avant Communications’ Drew Lydecker.

Lydecker says a culture that attracts young workers will be crucial.

“We’re changing the way businesses operate and we’re hyping this excitement, and coming and talking to young people … and getting them so excited about transforming IT businesses,” he said. “You need to be in your mind bigger than you are, and create the hype and adopt young people and get them excited about changing the world.”

Read our review of the session here.

Lisa Park (left), Internet of Things Solutions, AT&T, delivered a keynote on the growth of IoT and the partner opportunities around it.

“The magnitude of increase, the magnitude of the speed, and the magnitude in the pace of technology is changing unlike things we’ve seen in the past,” Park told the audience. “And that means there’s tremendous opportunity here with these massive deployments of connected devices.”

She was joined on stage by Sue Galvanek, VP, AT&T Partner Exchange, and Kevin Leonard, VP, AT&T Alternate Channels, who shared opportunities that IoT provides partners in their respective channel programs.

Read our recap here.

Encouraging attendees to cut the platitudes and chase “iconicity,” keynoter Soon Yu, whose background includes innovating for such well-known brands as The North Face, Timberland and Wrangler, outlined the three main attributes of an iconic brand: noticing power, staying power and scaling power.

“Those people that focus on building iconic status within their organizations, within their service offerings, within their products — they actually have the highest level of profitability within the organization,” he said.

Read this to pick up more tips from Yu on building a successful brand.

This April 12 keynote featured moderator T.C. Doyle, senior content director, channel, MSPmentor, with panelists (left to right) Andrew Pryfogle of Intelisys; Jeff Newton of TBI; Adam Edwards of Telarus and Tim Acker of SYNNEX.

This collection of master agent and tech distributor representatives considered what partners should expect to see for the rest of 2017.

Most agreed there will be an increased emphasis on education and collaboration among providers — as well as between channel partners and their customers.

Read more about what they had to say here.

Speech, speech! We handed out our Best in Show, Influencer and Channel Partners Choice awards on the Jive BIG Stage.

Pictured here with microphone in hand is Ken Bisnoff of TPx (fka TelePacific) Communications, accepting a Choice award for his company.

Also pictured are Channel Partners’ Thomas Baker (top center) and Kevin Morris.

Click here for the full list of results.

The Jive BIG Stage hosted the Cloud Girls awards, given to women technology leaders and cloud evangelists.

This spring’s honors went to Cryptzone’s Tina Gravel (left, Trailblazer Award); SaaSMAX’s Dina Moskowitz (center, Trailblazer Award); and 8×8’s Tatiana Sebby (Rising Star Award).

Read more about their accomplishments here.

You’d be excited, too.

Angela Chavez (left) of OpenSky Networks closed out the show at the Jive BIG Stage by winning a $2,500 American Express gift card as part of the Channel Partners Passport drawing. To become eligible, attendees needed to get their “passport” stamped at the booths of each of the participating Passport sponsors.

Also pictured are Channel Partners’ Jessica Ackerman (center) and C.J. Foster.