August is a busy month in the MSP leadership calendar. Several events land in the same week, each with a different pitch for your time. If you are weighing your options, the right question is not which event is biggest. It is which one is built for the decision you are trying to make next.
Most conferences are built around the tools. They help you understand the landscape, scout vendors, and stay current. That has real value. But there is a different kind of value that is harder to find: the kind that changes how you think about leading, not just what tools you run.
That is the gap Build IT LIVE was designed to close.
What the August calendar looks like
Two other events overlap with Build IT LIVE this year. Both are worth knowing about because the MSP operators we talk to are often weighing all three.
| Both events do their jobs well. Neither one is designed around what you will do differently when you get home. That is a different design problem, and it is what Build IT LIVE is built to solve. |
What makes a conference worth three days of your time
The MSP leaders at the $30M to $100M level are not short on information. They are short on the right room. A room where the peer sitting next to you has already navigated the decision you are trying to make. Where the session after lunch does not just explain AI but puts you in a working session that produces something you can act on Monday morning. Where the dinner conversation is the best part of the day because the host chose the table topic and the room actually cared about it.
That is the standard Build IT LIVE is built to.
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AI Accelerator
A full day on August 5. Two tracks by role. Owner-operators build. Senior executives map strategy. Both leave with a plan they can act on.
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Coaching Corner
Book 30-min one-on-ones with operators who have already solved what you are working through.
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Topic roundtable dinners
10 dinners Tuesday evening. Pick the conversation that fits your business. No presentations. The host facilitates, peers drive it.
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NYSE closing evening
Great Gatsby themed poker night on the NYSE trading floor, August 5. Benefiting the American Heart Association. 300 seats, first-confirmed basis.
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The question worth asking before you register anywhere
Every conference in August will help you stay current on technology. That is the floor, not the ceiling. The harder question is whether the event will change how you lead the business that runs on that technology.
ChannelCon is a strong networking event for anyone building channel relationships. IT Nation Evolve Q3 works well if you are already in the peer group system and your quarterly meeting happens to fall in August. Both have their place.
Build IT LIVE is asking a different question. Not just what tools are available, but how an MSP owner or executive needs to think to actually deploy them at scale. The AI Accelerator exists because understanding AI is not the bottleneck. Knowing how to build the team, the process, and the culture around it is. That work does not happen in a keynote. It happens in a room where the other person at the table is making real buying and implementation decisions for their organizations right now.
| The strength of any conference is entirely determined by who is in the room. Build IT LIVE curates for that deliberately: 92% decision makers, operators across every segment of MSP leadership, and a mainstage keynote from Zach Kass, former head of go-to-market at OpenAI. |
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500+
Attendees
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92%
C-Suite Decision Makers
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70+
Channel influencers in the room
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50+
Tools and templates
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A quick look at what each event covers
| What to look for | Build IT LIVE 2026 | ChannelCon | IT Nation Evolve Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dedicated AI programming | Full day, two tracks | Recognition awards only | Keynote only |
| Hands-on AI workshops | Yes, AI Accelerator Aug 5 | No | No |
| Leadership development | Operator-led, full program | One track of several | Personal performance KPIs |
| 1:1 operator coaching | Yes, bookable sessions | No | No |
| Room density (C-suite) | 92% decision makers | Mixed levels | High (owners only) |
| Bring your whole team | Actively encouraged | Open registration | Peer group members |
| Topic roundtable dinners | 10 curated, no pitches | Hosted partner dinners | Not offered |
| Open registration | Yes · $1,495 all-in | Yes · from $350 | Members only |
The table above is not a scorecard. ChannelCon and IT Nation Evolve are good events for the right attendee. They are optimizing for different outcomes. If you are an MSP owner or executive looking to operationalize AI, develop your next layer of leadership, and spend three days in a room where the conversations continue well past 5pm, Build IT LIVE is the one built for that. Limited seats available. Register now.
