When Joel from Compushooter in Phoenix, Arizona reached out to us, he already had something most MSPs don't a marketing team. Social media, local SEO, Google Ads. He had it covered.

But he wanted to run an educational event for his local Chamber of Commerce and he knew that was a completely different animal.

So we got to work.

Why Joel Decided to Run an Event

AI is the conversation happening in every boardroom, every Chamber of Commerce meeting, every business networking group right now. And Joel was seeing it firsthand with his clients.

People were using ChatGPT daily. Uploading sensitive data. No policies. No governance. No understanding of the risks.

As an MSP that's been operating since 2007 — serving veterinary clinics, dental offices and law firms across Phoenix Joel understood the risks better than anyone. He just needed a way to get in front of local businesses and have that conversation at scale.

An in-person educational event was the answer.

What the Event Covered

The goal wasn't to sell. It was to educate. Joel presented to members of his local Chamber of Commerce on:

  • What AI tools like ChatGPT actually do with their data
  • Prompt injection attacks and how they work
  • The difference between cloud-based AI and on-premise solutions
  • How to deploy AI with proper data controls and compliance policies

These aren't topics that make headlines. But for a business owner who's been casually using ChatGPT to draft emails and proposals? It's genuinely eye-opening stuff.

How Did It Go?

14 people registered. 8 showed up on the day.

And within a week of the event, one of those attendees reached out to Joel about a potential collaboration.

For a first event, with no prior experience running seminars? That's a solid result.

What Joel Would Do Differently

Joel's honest about it. The logistics of an in-person event are significant. Room hire, preparation time, getting people to actually show up on the day it all adds up. And with rising costs across the board, the overhead is real.

His next move is webinars.

Same content. Same educational value. But no venue hire, no travel costs, and a potentially much larger audience. As Joel put it people can attend from the comfort of their own home, which removes a huge barrier to showing up.

It's a shift we see a lot of MSPs making once they've run their first in-person event.

The Lesson Every MSP Should Take From This

Joel had a marketing team. He had the technical knowledge. He had the client relationships.

What he didn't have was experience running webinars and seminars and he was smart enough to know the difference.

Getting specialist help didn't just save him time. It saved him thousands in wasted spend and kept the event on track when last-minute fine-tuning was needed.

As Joel put it:

"Without you guys, we can't really make this a success. All those little details, the fine tuning we did at the last minute we can't pull it off without the coaching."

Thinking About Running Your Own Event?

Whether it's an in-person seminar or an online webinar, the process of getting local businesses into a room — physical or virtual — and positioning yourself as the AI expert in your area is one of the most powerful things an MSP can do right now.

AI isn't going away. The businesses in your area need someone to trust on this topic.

That someone should be you.

If you want to find out how we help MSPs run webinars and seminars that actually generate leads, [get in touch here] or join our free community at skool.com/msp.

Joel runs Compushooter, an MSP based in Phoenix, Arizona serving veterinary clinics, dental offices and law firms. You can reach his team at compushooter.com.