MSPs WIN When They Collaborate at MSP Industry Events

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In this episode of WIN, host Carrie Richardson chats with Allan Jocson, CEO of Agilitec and member of the PAX8 Partner Advisory Council. Allan shares his playbook for getting the most out of major MSP industry events like PAX8 Beyond—from strategic pre-event planning to making meaningful connections that drive long-term growth.

You'll hear why collaboration beats competition in the MSP world, how to make vendor relationships work for you, and why the best takeaways often happen outside the session rooms. Allan also shares memorable stories from past events and gives actionable advice for MSPs attending conferences for the first time—or the fiftieth.

If you’re heading to PAX8 Beyond or thinking about investing in industry events, don’t miss this episode.

Carrie Richardson and Ian Richardson host the WIN Podcast - What's Important Now?

Serial entrepreneurs, life partners and business partners, they have successfully exited from multiple businesses (IT, call center, real estate, marketing) and they help other business owners create their own versions of success.

Ian is certified in Eagle Center For Leadership Making A Difference, Paterson StratOp, and LifePlan.

Carrie has helped create and execute successful outbound sales strategies for over 1200 technology-focused businesses including MSPs, manufacturers, distributors and SaaS firms.

Learn more at www.foxcrowgroup.com

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Episode Transcript

Carrie Richardson (00:00):
Good afternoon everybody.

(00:01):
Welcome to Win.
I am your host, CarrieRichardson.
I'm a partner at Fox and Crow.
And with me is Allan Jocson, whois the CEO of Agilitec, and a
member of the PAX eight PartnerAdvisory Council.
Thanks for joining us today,Allan.
Tell us what we can expect atPax8 Beyond this year.

Allan Jocson (00:21):
Sure.
Carrie, thanks for the intro.
PAX eight Beyond.
So I believe we're on the thirdyear now, right?
From inaugural to Denver.
the last time I believe it'sgonna be, in the Gaylord, right?
every year it's gotten biggerand bigger.
I think it's even double theattendance.
hence why I think it's the lastyear here at this hotel.
They've outgrown it.
I'm hoping Vegas, but you know,I'm being a little, selfish

(00:43):
there, but let's just say, Ithink, they're looking for a
bigger space because of thesuccess of the event.
it is one of those industryevents that is a can't miss at
this point.
There's only a few of them,right.
anybody that's been in thisindustry long enough has been to
some events, I would hope,There's different ones that are
very sales focused and veryvendor sales focused and just

(01:04):
seem like a commercial to someextent.
very little educational value.
I think this one really istrying to focus on raising the
education level of the MSPindustry, depending on owner
level.
Sales, technical, they do havesome tracks and, sessions for
what you're interested in.

(01:26):
Right.
And so, yeah, I think it's acan't miss event at this point.

Carrie Richardson (01:30):
Right.
So this is year three at theRocky Mountain.
Gaylord.

Allan Jocson (01:34):
Yeah.

Carrie Richardson (01:34):
It's a pretty big hotel, so that's impressive.

Allan Jocson (01:36):
Year one was not huge.
Year two got pretty big and Iheard year three is even huge.
We got to watch some hockeygames.

Carrie Richardson (01:43):
The, the Golden Knights,

Allan Jocson (01:45):
was awesome.

Carrie Richardson (01:45):
What do you normally do to get, to prepare
for attending an event likethis?
You'll obviously have somedifferent commitments than you
might at an event where youweren't, participating in an
advisory council,

Allan Jocson (01:57):
mm-hmm.

Carrie Richardson (01:57):
How do you decide what sessions you're
gonna go to?
How do you plan your calendar?
How far in advance do you startlooking at the agenda?

Allan Jocson (02:04):
we actually do quite a bit of pre-prep work.
I bring as many team members aspossible to these events.
I think last year we had fourpeople at the event.
this year we'll bring four aswell, key people in each.
Area so that we can divide andconquer.
if able to do that, I wouldhighly suggest that to companies
because you're not gonna be ableto see, all of the sessions at

(02:27):
once and you're not gonna beable to talk to key people.
And I think that's a, key thingyou need to do.
Look at the agenda ahead oftime.
Strategize on which sessions youare gonna get value out of and
you're interested in.
And more importantly, map outwho's attending the event as
well, both from a vendorperspective, PAX eight
perspective, and even otherpartners or peers, Anybody

(02:48):
that's attended events in thepast know that some of the value
is in those sidebarconversations that you have,
maybe at the bar after, maybe inbetween sessions, maybe at
lunch.
the learning doesn't necessarilystop.
get as much out of it as youcan, but certainly I think the
most value I get out of theconnections I make, not just
from my peers, but the vendorsand PAX eight, people as well,

(03:12):
and you form those relationshipsand bonds and, that old adage of
people do business with who theyknow, like, and trust is still
absolutely true.
It's still a relationshipbusiness.

Carrie Richardson (03:23):
With 142 sponsors at last count, of which
we are one, how do you decidewho you're going to evaluate at
an event like PAX eight?

Allan Jocson (03:33):
It starts with a hit list, being as strategic as
possible this is not a vacation.
it's time away from yourbusiness.
Go into it with the intent of,learning things, growing your
business, you're formingrelationships, and so I start
out with that strategic look atwho I need to talk to, and,
either get advice from orcollaborate with, but also leave
time to meet new people eventsaren't the time to shell up and

(03:56):
become an introvert necessarily,right?
The more people you talk to andengage with, you'll get value
back from that.

Carrie Richardson (04:02):
I've talked to some MSPs that were very
uncomfortable with the idea thatthey would share, their secrets
with other MSPs.
And my advice there is you justcan't steal execution.

Allan Jocson (04:14):
it's true.
I've been in peer groups for thelast eight years.
I'm in the PAX eight peer groupfor the last three.
I'm actually gonna be in Denverfor the entire week because the
first week is beyond, the secondweek is the PAX eight peer
group, so it's gonna be a longweek But as you said, we all
share similar, battle scars andchallenges and not reinventing
the wheel and sharing what'sworking and what's not working.

(04:36):
I'm not afraid of telling peoplehow I do things or why I do
things and how I've structuredmy business because like you
said, imitiation is, you know,flattery to some extent, but in
the end, it's who you have inyour company.
Nobody's gonna be able to stealyour way of doing things
necessarily.

Carrie Richardson (04:52):
Las Vegas isn't that big of a city,

Allan Jocson (04:54):
I collaborate with the other MSP business owners
even locally.
I don't have a problem, sharingbest practices with them and
leveling each other up.
it's not a bad thing to talk toother MSPs a hundred percent.

Carrie Richardson (05:07):
So you're gonna be in Denver for an entire
week.
what were the highlights of lastyear's event for you?
what are they gonna have to topthis year?

Allan Jocson (05:15):
well, maybe no more bouncing floor at the end
of the event.
while it was, a fun, ludicrousconcert that was, a little bit
scary but I heard it's on aground floor this year, so we're
pretty stable for the, closingparty.
that was definitely a memorablepart.

Carrie Richardson (05:28):
I wasn't there last year.

Allan Jocson (05:29):
The floor flexed quite a bit because everybody
got very excited with ludicrous.
It was a fun time and nobody gothurt.
So all good.
it was definitely, a thing toremember.
the keynotes at PAX eight,wouldn't miss the keynotes.
I wouldn't miss the generalsessions in the main room.
They were very impressive, notjust from A video and technology
perspective, which is alwaysnice.
It's very modern.

(05:49):
they definitely put a lot ofwork into that.
But the things that the new CEOwere saying and where they're
going with their direction, PAXEight's always been somewhat of
a disruptive company and doingthings a little differently,
it's great to understand wherethey're going and being in those
sessions is a key piece.

Carrie Richardson (06:07):
I know they announced another keynote today.
Was it Carl Lewis?

Allan Jocson (06:12):
Yes.

Carrie Richardson (06:12):
Do we know who's the closing party artist
this year?

Allan Jocson (06:16):
Oh, I don't know.
I think that's still a technicalsecret, so, yeah.

Carrie Richardson (06:19):
Oh, do you already know and you're not
gonna tell us?

Allan Jocson (06:22):
Oh, well maybe not, You might have to come find
me and ask.
Yeah.

Carrie Richardson (06:27):
We'll be on site this year.
It's our first time as Fox andCrow sponsoring a major event
like that.

Allan Jocson (06:32):
Oh, That's great.
one piece of advice I would say,for people attending, I think,
an issue with our industry issometimes MSPs, come in a little
closed and guarded, especiallyaround the vendor booths and
expos.
And while I know there's peoplethat will scan your badge and
yes, they're gonna potentiallycall you after email or market.
I would look at establishingrelationship and communications

(06:55):
with the vendors.
Don't look at them asadversaries, treat them as
individuals the more you partnerwith vendors and establish those
relationships, that's the wayyou should be approaching it.
Not being so closed off andguarded like they're trying to
be used car salesman, right?
If they are, you can close themout.
And, and mark it down, butdon't.
Put that lens on everybody, themore you have real conversations

(07:18):
with them, you'll figure out whothe good vendors are to work
with.

Carrie Richardson (07:20):
I think that really benefited Ian, a million
percent after Ian became avendor.
everybody that he'd given areferral to or did a testimonial
call for earlier in his MSPcareer, all of them were willing
to put us on stage.
All of them were willing to giveus time on webinars or let us
create some content for them.
If there is going to be achapter two in your world, lots

(07:44):
of people go work for vendorsafter.
And you wanna keep your optionsopen.

Allan Jocson (07:48):
That's right.
A lot of vendors, you know, andthis is another little nugget,
right?
A lot of vendors are biggercompanies, Much bigger than your
MSP.
and they know a lot.
if you partner with them you canlearn a lot, and, and guess
what?
There's MDF dollars, they havehuge marketing teams.
They have huge sales teams.
So when you establish thatrelationship with key vendors,

(08:09):
if you look at it as apartnership, there's a give and
take there.
And it's not just you takingfrom them.
the more you partner and helpthem out, it'll come back
tenfold.
yeah, that's been valuable myentire career.

Carrie Richardson (08:22):
Events are a great way to, see what's out
there, but you also get a littlebit of FaceTime with the people
that day to day are helping youmanage your business.

Allan Jocson (08:30):
Yes.

Carrie Richardson (08:30):
Plus they'll probably buy you a drink or
dinner.

Allan Jocson (08:33):
That never hurts, right?

Carrie Richardson (08:34):
If people would like to find you at the
PAX eight event, say hello or,potentially pick your brain a
little bit on what you're doingto grow your mSP how can they
get in touch with you?

Allan Jocson (08:46):
Absolutely.
They can connect with me onLinkedIn if they'd like.
Right.
Allan Jocson.
A-L-L-A-N-J-O-C-S-O-N.
I'll be on the PAX eight app.
You can connect with me throughthere.
or just, tap me on the shoulder.
I'll be.
out and around, the sessions.
And again, I'm there the wholeweek.
I'll probably be there Saturdaybefore the event, all the way to

(09:07):
the next Saturday.
So yeah, don't be shy.
Reach out.

Carrie Richardson (09:10):
Hydrate.

Allan Jocson (09:11):
Drink some water and I'll maybe do some hiking in
between.
Who knows?
We'll see.

Carrie Richardson (09:15):
Is Michelle going to be joining you?

Allan Jocson (09:16):
Michelle will be joining me, yes.
She may be lounging at the pool,but she will be joining.
For most of the stuff.

Carrie Richardson (09:22):
thanks very much for joining us today,
Allan.
I will see you at PAX eightBeyond.

Allan Jocson (09:27):
I will see you there as well.
Thank you.