How to Make the Most of Attending MSP Conferences

Have you attended any MSP conferences lately? If so, you might have experienced returning from these events, excited and full of ideas. Ideas that then, unfortunately, are never developed.

In this article, I want to explore how you can get the most of the ideas you bring back from MSP conferences, so they actually benefit your business.

How to get the most out of an MSP conference

Attending MSP conferences is a great way for you to grow. You can learn from conference speakers who have “been there, done that.” You can also surround yourself with your peers —fellow MSPs who are on the same journey as you.

Attending conferences also gives you the benefit of time away from your business. It’s time you can use to think, reflect, plan, and strategize.

Many MSPs I work with find they come back from conferences full of inspiration, ideas, and strategies they want to implement. Unfortunately, many of those ideas fizzle out and die. Why? Because they haven’t shared the new ideas with their team.

Why you need to share your ideas with your team

My mentor (a hugely successful MSP owner) once told me that “vision without execution is hallucination.” Ideas without action are worthless.

Coming back from a conference, it’s easy to get sucked into the day-to-day turmoil of the business and catching up on things you missed. Before you know it, a week has gone by and the ideas no longer seem as urgent as they once did. They fall by the wayside, never to be picked up again. But if you share your ideas with your team immediately upon returning from a conference, you give the ideas a chance to be developed. The ideas can be turned into practical actions your team can take.

How to prepare for attending a conference

When you book time into your schedule to attend a conference, also make sure you book time in your team’s schedule for a conference summary on your return.

This can be as little as a 25-minute team meeting that takes place shortly after the conference (certainly within a week) where you share:

• Ideas and concepts (ask the team for feedback on how you can apply the ideas in your business)
• Best practices you’ve gleaned from other MSPs who attended the conference (ask your team how they might be implemented in your business)
• Moments of inspiration you had and any visions for change
• Videos from speakers you saw and discuss the impression those speakers made on you

Many MSPs I work with come back from conferences having been inspired by author speakers. They then buy the author’s book, not only for themselves to read but for their entire team as well. If your team aren’t readers, could you deliver a summary of the book with salient action points instead?

Whichever way you decide to share the information and ideas you’ve picked up, do share and don’t dictate.

A good idea will gather momentum in your team. A dictated change without any context won’t be adopted so readily.

Which ideas will you share?

Conferences are a great way for you to develop as a person and a company. They can expose you to new ideas and concepts, and help you formulate new strategies for growing your MSP.

But these ideas will only take hold if you schedule the time to share them with your team.

So the next time you book an MSP conference trip, make sure to also book a team meeting for your return. Leadership means sharing ideas and watch them grow.

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