From Mega-Conferences to Micro-Communities: Inside the New MSP Events Economy

The next competition for influence is centered on MSP events and MSP partner ecosystems. Vendors and MSPs are critical for driving community engagement, as they face strategic decisions on which events to prioritize for investment. This blog examines the all-out race to define the leading event strategy and the unique investment archetypes that vendors are deploying to accelerate market commitment and community influence.

More than 352 channel partner events were staged globally in 2024, but only about 40 of them truly define the managed services ecosystem. Omdia’s new report, From mega-conferences to micro-communities: the new MSP events landscape, reveals how those 40 events affect vendor strategy, community engagement, and investment priorities in the channel’s most dynamic segment.

The Data Behind the Shift

MSP events embody a distinct culture that is frequently as much about peer networking as it is about vendor roadmaps. These are community-first ecosystems where competitors exchange playbooks and best practices, share operational insights, and even collaborate to fill staffing gaps.

However, the culture behind this group of events has undergone significant changes in recent years. While many events across the channel were canceled or went virtual during the COVID-19 pandemic, these events came back with a bang in 2023, catering to the pent-up demand to meet face-to-face. In 2023, there were 270 channel partner events globally, tracked by Omdia. That pent-up demand drove the number of events to 352 in 2024. Indeed, when the number of events exploded to nearly one per day in 2024, vendors needed to carefully weigh how they would spend their sponsorship dollars. Attendees also needed to decide carefully where to spend their time and money. A cry went out across the ecosystem that there were too many events.

This may be part of what drove the final editions of some iconic events in 2025, including IT Nation Secure and DattoCon (North America).

Omdia has tracked the MSP events landscape in our recent report, including the end of these important events and the rise of newer ones, such as Pax8 Beyond, Right of Boom, and MSPGeekCon. These newer, focused, fast-growing events embody the community zeitgeist that drove the rise of MSP 2.0 events, such as IT Nation Connect.

What the Numbers Reveal

Omdia’s vendor sponsorship analysis across the 40 MSP-focused events identifies three vendor archetypes reshaping the field:

• Ubiquitous Sponsors - brands such as ThreatLocker, Kaseya, and Pax8 that maintain a consistent presence across nearly every MSP event.
• Event Investment Leaders - companies making the largest absolute financial commitments to the ecosystem. These include brands such as Microsoft, ScalePad, SonicWall and Sophos.
• MSP-First Investors - fast-rising vendors, such as CyberQP, Blockworx, and Monjur, that dedicate a disproportionate share of their budgets to MSP events relative to company size.

Seven vendors achieved the rare Triple Crown distinction by topping all three categories, signaling a new tier of market commitment and community influence. They are: Rewst, CyberQP, CyberFOX, Monjur, Mailprotector, FlexPoint, and Galactic Advisors.

The data also underscores a growing divide between enterprise tech giants, for which MSP events are one of many go-to-market tactics, and MSP-native specialists, which rely on these events and the MSP market as their primary engines of growth and trust-building. The latter group, though smaller in absolute spend, often wins mindshare through focus and authenticity.

What It Means for Vendors and Organizers

The channel and events market is entering a phase of recalibration. With hundreds of events competing for attention, scale alone no longer guarantees impact. Vendors must balance marquee presence with selective, high-engagement forums that deliver measurable value and long-term mindshare.

For organizers, success will hinge on sharper differentiation, leaning into thematic depth (cybersecurity, automation, AI) and community-centric formats that lower the travel burden and maximize peer learning.

The Road Ahead: MSP 3.0 and the Future of Events

The next era of MSP gatherings will be shaped by convergence:

• Cybersecurity will become table stakes.
• Automation and AI will emerge as the new frontier.
• Sustainability of investment will define who stays in the game.

Events that evolve from lead-generation engines into strategic platforms for influence will define the MSP 3.0 era - and the vendors that bet early on this shift will own the narrative.

The full Omdia report, From mega-conferences to micro-communities: the new MSP events landscape, provides complete vendor rankings, investment data, and detailed assessments of 40 global MSP events, from the Majors to the Next-Gen Forums and Peer-Driven Platforms shaping the future of the managed services community.