658 Josh Liberman's Conference Insights; From Pax8Beyond

[Speaker 2] (0:13 - 0:51)
Hello, friends. Up on my pier live at Pack Safety On, we are starting day two of the great event here at the Gaylord Rockies Resort. And I'm here on Radio Row.

I've got the MSP plug folks over there. I've got the KNIT folks over there. Everything MSP down the way.

It's a busy place here. So, we are kicking off. I had to move some stuff around, but sitting next to me just happened to be one of the veteran conference goers of the industry, Josh Liberman.

Josh, how are you? I'm doing fine, Mark. All right.

So, didn't expect to be on show, but you're dressed up for the part.

[Speaker 1] (0:51 - 0:54)
Yeah, well, I got a jacket I carry around. Thanks.

[Speaker 2] (0:54 - 1:09)
All right. So, Josh, let's just talk about conferences in general. I mean, you are, you're a traveled veteran.

You go to both big and small conferences. You were here last year. What's your thoughts so far for this year?

[Speaker 1] (1:10 - 1:40)
Well, yeah, it's, it went from being a surprisingly large conference to one that grew amazingly well. So far, it's great. The logistics are amazing.

Some people know that I used to work in shows or sometimes do work in shows as a photographer. I get a little bit of an insider's view. And so far, this is smooth, almost flawless, which if you had any idea of the number of moving parts and the people that work 12 and 16 hour days on the edge to make these work, this is amazing.

[Speaker 2] (1:40 - 2:13)
It is a logistical nightmare from my perspective, because, I mean, just looking at the media portion alone, you're talking about attendees, conference rooms, I mean, food, of all things, it's a lot to move through, almost like a Disney-like performance here. But let's talk about a content, perception, value perspective as an MSP. What do you look for when you come to conferences?

And is this meeting your expectations?

[Speaker 1] (2:13 - 3:27)
So I'm always looking to see if there's a vendor, a technology or a process that I know nothing about. And that still happens. And some of the shows are better than others.

The bigger shows, of course, have a lot more vendors. If you follow some of the shows around the country or speak or interoperate with them, you get kind of set in your ways, you know, you learn a certain set of vendors. But when you break out and get into a show this big or a different show in a different community where there are different vendors, there's still amazingly amazing things that are brand new.

And then you walk down an aisle and three out of six booths are zero trust or sassy vendors. There's also that, you know, that everything comes and goes in waves in the industry. This is a really diverse show floor and a really diverse range of sponsors.

So, so far, it's been really good. And I have a couple hours from now an opportunity to maybe spend two hours spread across a half a dozen vendors that I don't really know. So it's great.

Yeah. But the truth is that the best thing about the shows is networking with peers, sharing ideas and information. Obviously, some time in a bar here and there.

That's that kind of collegial community is hands down the best.

[Speaker 2] (3:28 - 3:39)
So you mentioned the vendors. This is one of those where there are tons of vendors here. I think there's over 130.

Yeah. So there's got to be some that you haven't heard of before.

[Speaker 1] (3:40 - 4:52)
Yeah, I counted. So last night I counted 15, which doesn't sound like a lot, but that number is about as high as an event. I had a couple other this year where I met 10 or saw 10 or 15 others that I didn't know.

What's even more interesting is when there's a vendor in a in a niche that I had never considered. I had no idea that, for example, you could tie all your inputs together, whether it's teams or texting or Slack or Messenger, and push that directly into a ticketing system. So that's something I learned earlier this year.

I had absolutely no idea that we needed a vendor to manage all the revenue, all of the charges and streams from all the different SANS providers. And I don't mean a marketplace like Pax 8 does, but basically somebody who goes through there and reconciles billing. And I don't mean the other big names that do that already.

This is yet another spin on that. So admittedly, we don't need every niche. And to engage with every provider with every tool, my stack would probably cost $1,500 a user a month.

But you do choose what really makes sense, and occasionally you make changes.

[Speaker 2] (4:53 - 5:06)
Now we should probably give the people an idea of you and your company. You run an MSP out of New Mexico, NetSciences. So tell people, you know, kind of your business and how it's been going.

[Speaker 1] (5:07 - 6:15)
Well, NetSciences is about 28 and a half years old. We're in Albuquerque, the center and the population center of New Mexico. It's kind of the largest small town in the country, about a half a million people.

But it feels a lot more like a string of 30,000 person communities. It's really interesting, really challenging in some ways. But it's also very nice and there's plenty of parking.

So I really enjoy the small business, small community feel of it. And it's interesting that I don't see more New Mexicans out, I see some, but rarely, out there and doing things because not a lot comes to us. If I want to be involved in the industry, I need to go somewhere else.

So I every now and again, run into folks that I know well, that are here from New Mexico, but it's not that common. And every now and again, I meet people that were unaware of the fact that we do use the US dollar and speak English there. 40 years ago, it was hard to cash a check with a New Mexico address.

That's gone now, fortunately. But there's still folks I meet that didn't know where to stay.

[Speaker 2] (6:16 - 6:21)
Well, I, you know, used to consider anything west of the Mississippi, you know, not a part of the US.

[Speaker 1] (6:22 - 6:56)
Yeah, I, for me, I guess I grew up until I was 16, 17 in the Northeast. But for 40 plus years, I've lived and worked all over the West. And for me, if you can't see 100 miles, and if you can't be in the sun most of the time, it's really tough.

So I have to look at it differently. And I honestly, I am very, very glad that I ventured and found the Southwest. Absolutely love the light and the people and the landscape and many, many things.

All right.

[Speaker 2] (6:57 - 7:26)
Let me ask you one last thing about conferences. So I can let you get to your session here. Sure.

We're staples at the ASCII events, much smaller event. Channel Pros, CompTIA's can be kind of the mid level conference, I guess, not as big as this. It's interesting that I have run into just about everybody that I knew was going to be here.

With an event this size, and a venue this big, didn't think I run into that many people. Have you been able to see just about everybody?

[Speaker 1] (7:27 - 8:20)
Yeah, actually, I have. There's people I've seen three or four times. I visit a little island off of Belize every year.

It's called Key Cocker. And it's a couple of 1000 people. It's being developed now.

But a couple 1000 people, there are no paved roads in the south part of the island. It's a wonderful place to take back. But when I visit there, at this point, I've been there enough times that I know a few hundred people.

And I get to see everybody. It's kind of like having a conference, except there's no conference, and a really nice venue where there's no venue. It's just an island, and it's mostly surrounded by water.

It's 50 yards from sunrise to sunset. And if you're really good at it, you can make that last all day. Yet here, obviously the opposite of that.

If you just wander, you're going to run into at least you're attracted to people that are similar to you. And I tend to wander with people who wander. And yeah, we wander past each other all the time.

[Speaker 2] (8:20 - 8:33)
Yeah. All right. Well, Josh, it was good seeing you here.

We'll see you probably in what a month are you going to go to the I'll be in asking in Chicago, and I'll be exchanged security. Okay. Ask you Boston.

[Speaker 1] (8:33 - 8:34)
I'll be at all the Oscars.

[Speaker 2] (8:35 - 8:38)
All that speaking. All right. That's my next trip.

[Speaker 1] (8:38 - 8:39)
So I will see you there.

[Speaker 2] (8:39 - 8:41)
Yeah, I'll let you get to it. Thank you for stopping by.

[Speaker 1] (8:41 - 8:41)
Thanks, Marvin.

[Speaker 2] (8:41 - 8:51)
And have a good rest of your trip. All right. And folks, that'll do it.

And we'll be back here with more from Radio Row at PAX 8Beyond. See ya.