ChannelCon 2025 Nashville Highlights: GTIA Brings the Channel Community Together

The Moovila team went to the Global Technology Industry Association’s (GTIA) ChannelCon event where we had a fun time. Here’s what happened.

In July, part of the Moovila team went to Nashville to participate in ChannelCon 2025 at the spectacular Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. We chatted with partners, met new people in the MSP community, learned from some very smart business leaders, and weighed in with our take on AI-driven project management, what AI can do for your business, and how to recruit a next-gen workforce.  

Here’s a recap of what went down. 

Day 1: Community Pre Day 

Part of the team showed up early to participate in the Community Pre-Day. This all-day event happens before ChannelCon officially starts. The event includes vendors and, organized by The Tech Degenerates, MSPGeek, and various other communities. This event brought together ChannelCon conference attendees representing ten different MSP and ITSP communities to sit down and chat, share technical knowledge, support each other, and explore new ideas. Peer learning is powerful, and we dug into this day of panel talks and peer discussions. We got to talk, listen, and learn about everything from burnout to tapping AI and the challenges we all face in cybersecurity.

Our own Kate Schlarf, VP of Marketing, sat down with Randy Hall, VP of Operations at Logically, to give a panel on how to leverage project management and AI integration to build data-driven services that will help MSPs and ITSPs deliver work to clients efficiently and predictably. “It was exciting to get to cover this topic with a Partner like Randy,” says Schlarf. “A lot of shows don’t carve out time for project management, and they aren’t exploring that type of deeper AI usage. It was refreshing to get to dive into deeper, more impactful use cases for AI on MSP Operations, then hear feedback from attendees that were looking to do similar, but didn’t know where to start. They now have lots of ideas to bring back.”  

Day 2: The Channelcon doors are open

On our second day in Nashville, ChannelCon threw the doors open to let all attendees that didn’t register for the pre-event in to tour the booths. The Moo Crew worked hard to get our booth set up, and get ready to meet our current and future channel friends. 

Colleen Baldrey, Moovila’s Growth Marketing Specialist, found time, somehow, to wriggle out of her cow suit and attend a new-member mixer where she got to meet new GTIA members and those who have been attending for years.

You can watch some of Colleen’s videos about her first ChannelCon experience on Moovila’s YouTube. 

Later in the day, Baldrey joined Eric Torres, VP of Channel and Community Engagement at Pax8, Nancy Henriquez, CEO at Sibyl Consulting Group, Terez Leach, MSP Community Engagement at Trend Micro, and Rafael Sanguily, VP of Sales and Marketing at Benji Pays, for a panel (her first) on Beyond Buzzwords: Building a Culture Where Talent Thrives.  

It was a fun discussion that examined what it takes to build a workforce of diverse, next-generation talent. The discussion explored how much the company’s vision, ability to find meaning in the work, and willingness to create valued roles for people who are early in their career determines if a company will be able to recruit and retain a diverse, relevant workforce. There was talk, too, of the role leadership plays in making new employees feel seen and necessary.   

Elsewhere, the MooCrew was spread out across the show floor, attending excellent panels and listening to brilliant speakers. Experts shared wisdom, strategies, and hard-won knowledge on everything from SaaS to IoT to AI.  You could also find the MooCrew snacking on breakfast in the Think and Drink Lounge. We attended the Member of the Year Lunch, AI-Powered Sales Mastery, From Chaos to Clarity, and much more.  

“ChannelCon is revitalizing,” says Whitney Asnip, Moovila’s VP of Communications. “There’s nothing like being face-to-face with industry peers, mentors, media, and partners. And the level playing field sets this event apart. No one can buy more exposure, so success comes down to the value you bring to the channel.” 

Day 3: Meet the media and a honkytonk party 

The team hit the floor early again on Day 3, attending panels and listening to speakers share their knowledge and expertise on innovation, scaling AI, working with vendors, evolving relationships with partners, resilience, and much more. 

Moovila’s CEO, Mike Psenka, spent another intense day meeting with media luminaries to discuss the difference between deterministic and generative AI and why your MSP business needs both. Because Moovila relies on deterministic AI, Psenka is an expert on the nuances. Since much of the industry is swimming in hype around generative AI, he is making a point of clarifying what each type of AI can – and cannot – do for your workflows. 

“It’s exciting to help shape the future of AI conversations and practical applications that MSPs can put to work today. I’m incredibly proud of our role on the AI Council and engagement with the influencers in the channel” says Psenka.  “We thoroughly enjoyed our conversations with Dave Sobel at the Business of Tech, the JoeyPinz Podcast,  eChannelNews, Channel Insider, MSP Success, Channelholic, and the ChannelPro Network. “ 

While our fearless leader dove deep with the media about how AI can best serve the channel, the rest of the team met so many new faces at the Moovila booth! And lucky for us, our booth neighbors were our pals over at The Tech Degenerates (a popular MSP community), so we had lots of fun.  

In the evening, we headed to the closing party at Luke’s 32 Bridge in downtown Nashville. We partied at the Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean bars on Broadway. It was a blast! We saw a live performance from Gretchen Wilson, Gary LeVox of Rascal Flatts, and Trace Adkins. Afterward, there was karaoke at Allan Jackson’s (AJ’s) down the road. Baldrey, Schlarf, and our fellow vendors and MSPs grabbed mics and belted out some tunes. Wannabe by the Spice Girls was a group favorite. 

Day 4: Breaking down the booth and giving back 

Sadly, this was the last day. Baldrey made a few farewell video clips for the GTIA social media project, while the MooCrew broke down the booth. In the afternoon part of the team  attended GTIA’s build a guitar charity event, where their volunteer group came in third! “Giving back is a big part of the GTIA ethos, so it is always fun to see what unique volunteer activities they create for attendees” says Schlarf. “Additionally, they announced new endowments available to technology focused non-profits nationally which will have applications open until Sept 15. I highly recommend exploring if you meet the criteria.” 

After a long final day, we ended the night with a hosted dinner at the Old Hickory Steakhouse with all the sad-to-leave ChannelCon attendees. We had so much fun chatting with everyone over a good meal and getting to know each other with a drink in hand. “All that learning and then a lively Honkytonk night in Nashville and a fantastic dinner with our partners,” says Asnip. “ChannelCon is always a huge success for our team!"  

“As a first-time attendee, ChannelCon exceeded my expectations,” agrees Baldrey. “I love how GTIA has become a community for our communities, welcoming all who want to get involved or grow their career in tech. They value each community members’ perspective. I’m already looking forward to the ChannelCon family reunion happening next year in San Diego!”   

Will we see you next year at ChannelCon? If you want to connect in the meantime, drop us a line at marketing@moovila.com