By
El Copeland
February 28, 2025
•
20 min read
Professional Development
Business
Ripe for the Picking: Maximize your Conference ROI
Answer a question for me, and be honest.
When you sign up to attend a conference, what is the point?
I would guess that your answers, with a varying levels of importance, include networking with peers, expanding your knowledge, getting insights on latest trends, meeting vendors or influencers you’ve been following, and having a few nice meals or drinks in a city you don’t often visit.
Did I get it right?
Ok, follow up question. Think back to the most recent conference you attended.
Did you accomplish what you wanted to when you signed up in the first place?
It’s ok, this is a safe place.
There are a variety of reasons a conference may feel like a bust to you. Maybe the speakers had an off day (or in reality weren’t as good as you hoped). Maybe the session synopsis wasn’t an accurate reflection of the actual content provided. Maybe you were up too late the night before and accidentally slept through the sessions you were most looking forward to.
Or maybe, maybe, you experience what I have, which is that everything went perfectly: you attended all sessions, cheered when you were supposed to, participated in meaningful conversations with peers and mentors, had an uneventful trip home, and yet, something still feels wrong.
While exhilarating, at the end of these trips I’m exhausted, and yet the horrors, er, I mean, responsibilities wait for me. Those good ideas and clever tools quickly fade away, only to resurface in the occasional conversation, but rarely through intentional practice.
And then, you look at the budget. Between travel, meals, the conference pass, and your time away from work, attending a conference is a true investment.
With networking, sessions, and vendor conversations, how do you actually implement your investment into what you've learned, follow up with the people you’ve met, or pursue that tool that's going to change your life?
I have some thoughts on that. But first, let’s talk about gardens.
On gardens, goals, and going to conferences.
When planning any event, project, or goal, I'm sure you’ve heard someone wryly cite Murphy’s Law (“Anything that can go wrong will go wrong”) or quote the poet Robert Burns: “The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry.”
The implication? Don’t plan too much, just go with the flow. If you don’t plan, you can’t be disappointed.
I hate it when people say that. And not just as a driven, technical, successful person. As a practical, down-to-earth person with a garden in my front yard, it’s the quickest way to tell me that you’re out of touch with reality.
Let me paint you a picture using tomatoes (or another delicious fruit of your choosing).
Every tomato gardener and farmer plants with the end goal in mind: a beautiful, bumper crop of brilliant red tomatoes, sun ripened and perfect for sandwiches, sauces, and salads.
But you don't just plant the seeds and immediately get the fruit. A full growing season looks like this:
- You choose. You choose your tomato variety according to those that suit your palate, use-case, length of growing season, and environment. In Georgia, we have a much longer growing season than my friends in Ohio, so I can easily plant larger and slower growing varieties than they can, maybe even twice in a growing season!
- You plant. You plant them at specific times depending on the maturity of the product (are you using seeds or saplings), how much time you have before average last frost in your area, and your growing situation (is it indoors, in a greenhouse, or outside in the ground?)
- You protect. As they grow, you watch them for signs of distress and you protect them from pests or problems. You smash caterpillars, prune judiciously, and trellis them early, giving them their best chance to provide good fruit. You watch for Volunteer Plants and determine if you want to keep them or weed them out to focus on your main crop.
- You actively invest. You water and feed your plants meticulously. As the fruit ripens, you wait for the color to deepen and the right time to pull them from the vine. The trellis you put up earlier has given you places to tie branches to if the fruit gets too heavy.
- You harvest. If you’ve done it right, you have too many to eat before they go bad and will scramble to find friends, neighbors, and co-workers to gift them to, ways to preserve them through canning or drying. Otherwise, you may have to leave them to rot on the vine.
- You do it all again. And then, at the end of the summer, when the plant is spent, you have to decide what to do with what is left on the branch. Perhaps there are ones the birds got to before you, rotting on the ground. Perhaps there is a slew of green tomatoes that you can pull and make a meal of. You also need to decide what you will plant next, and if the soil is ready for it.
Life happens. Just because I planted tomatoes doesn't mean I harvest tomatoes.
Just because I put a trellis up for my tomatoes doesn’t mean I can dictate where each branch will weave and grow. It just means there is a structure there for it to fall back on when things literally go sideways.
When you know what success looks like (a full, healthy tomato plant with brilliant red fruit), you can iterate from there or return to it when things inevitably go wrong, like needing to tie the branches that have gotten too heavy.
The goal is rarely perfection, but consistency and accountability so you can gain the literal benefits of the fruit of your labor. This metaphor on gardening is something I apply in both my personal and professional life (Starting Seeds: Episode 1 - Let's Grow!), but it’s especially critical at conferences. Conferences are fast-paced, exhausting, and packed with information. It’s easy to get caught up in the moment and never actually apply what you’ve learned, leaving beautiful tomatoes rotting in the sun.
Pre-planning and setting your intentions not only help you stay focused but also gives you more flexibility. Ironically, preparation makes it easier to pivot when plans shift. It also gives you the mental clarity to clean up at the end of the season and better prepare the soil for what you want to do next.
So join me in our figurative conference gardens and let’s look at how we can better set ourselves up for success and that bumper crop of good ideas for our businesses, communities, and personal growth.
Visualize your success and plan accordingly.
One of the unspoken lessons that underpins our analogy about tomatoes is that time matters. Setting small things in motion early on allows for success because there are other parts of your environment (sun, rain, pollinators) that can do the work while you’re not actively thinking about it.
- Pick your Seeds. Set Your Intentions.
- Read the agenda. Look at the sponsors, look at the session summaries. Consider the Pre-Day learning opportunities or certification add-ons.
- Determine your big goals. Are you looking for new tools, career development, networking, industry insights? What does a successful event look like to you?
- Consider other special aspects of this event. Who do you want to meet? What do you want to learn?
- Talk with Your Team. Sometimes knowing what your colleagues are interested in learning from a conference makes you more engaged with topics you’d otherwise overlook.
- Prepare the Soil. Pre-Prep what you can.
- Plan out the Schedule. Drop sessions you wish to attend into your calendar or export them from the app. Plans will change—document why they did! That insight is valuable.
- Identify your Tools. What will you use for note-taking, for connecting with others, or for making your life easier during this trip? Do you need to make business cards, pack company shirts, or a battery to charge your phone and tablet after a long day of sessions?
- Lay out your trellises. How can you take ordered notes instead of scribbling on the back of business cards or sale sheets? I have a template in OneNote that I’m sharing, if you’d like a place to start (find it at Doodles or Data: A Conference Note Survival Guide). Maybe you use a nice AI transcription tool like PLAUD.AI or Otter.ai. Make sure your devices are charged and there aren’t rules about recording at that event or session.
- Evaluate the Spacing. Don’t Overcrowd.
- Make sure you’re not overcommitting. Roots need to go deep for successful plantings, in both business and the garden. Review the schedule and give yourself breathing room to meet other people, even block off hours you should be in your room sleeping!
- Communicate with people who may need you. At Rising Tide, we expect our team members to attend at least 75% of the sessions. Therefore, it’s important to let customers and colleagues know you’ll be offline.
Tend to your goals and protect them with vigilance.
Watch what you’ve planted and care for it. That means using wisdom to prune, weed, stake up and feed your garden as needed, with a careful eye for success. I had to remove the word "ruthless" at least three times in this section. While the word is gone, my sentiment remains and I encourage you to use it freely in this section where I say "careful, intentional, test, focus...": you are the protector of your business and your ideas. One of my favorite sayings is, "If everything is important, nothing is important." What is important? Be intentional about focusing on that and letting everything else go to the wayside.
- Prune ideas with precision. Don’t just mindlessly consume.
- Take notes, but don’t try to be too thorough. Focus on engaging in the sessions, ask questions, and write just enough to help jog your memory or find the source information later.
- Test everything that is said. Does that check out to you? Do you have further questions? Throw out the bad stuff, keep the good.
- Squash Bugs, Pull Weeds that are leeching your time.
- Limit Distractions. Set aside time in the morning or afternoon for minimal client work but remember—you’re here to learn and connect with the environment at the conference.
- Sometimes the distractions are good things. Above, I mention volunteers in the garden. Sometimes the plants that grow are viable and welcome additions to your investment. Only you can determine if splitting resources between those bonus plants and your intended produce is worth chasing. Be careful about your time and energy, but be gracious and understand that sometimes it's the surprising things that come up naturally are the most hardy and equipped for your garden!
- Tell people no. This one is really tough, but be intentional about doing so and do it kindly! You're here to learn and grow as a person AND a business. Learn how to identify what is adding to your experience and what is just a distraction.
- Trellis liberally. Return to the structure you created as necessary! It’s ok if you miss a session because you were talking to someone in the hallway. It’s ok if you get up and leave a session because it’s clearly not a good fit. Again, it’s not about perfection, it’s about the end goal.
- Add Water and Nutrients as Needed. Literally.
- Eat a vegetable. Drink water. Sleep. It’ll help your performance.
- Be moderate. You know what I'm saying. Have a good time, but keep first things, first. (And if you’re going to drink heavily, as your MSP Channel Big Sister, drink a glass of water in between each drink and take some B Vitamins, ok?)
Speaking of setting goals at conferences, Tara Rummer at Immy.Bot and Immense Networks, gave her insight in a recent conversation:
We always did a little powwow before events to discuss what sessions each of us would be attending. And during the event (and after) we would do check-ins regarding something we've learned from our morning or afternoon... Or maybe you met an awesome vendor or had a hallway conversation that stuck with you. All of that was fair game! Learning isn't limited to planned content!
I always kept the maximum to three things you learned that day because the amount of information you take in at events can be overwhelming. There are so many intelligent people talking about their passions and successes / failures.
Tara makes some great points, but specifically, this is a good place to mention the 3-3 approach, which can help you focus and fortify ideas or experiences, either by challenging you to do more or challenging you to do less! The emcee at Right of Boom 2025, Robert Cioffi, mentioned a version of this from the stage this year. At Rising Tide, I word it like this:
- Meet 3 New People. It’s tempting to only hang out with people you know already. When else do you get to spend time with a friend who lives on the other side of the world? That said, go out of your way to sit at a different table for meals, introduce yourself to people sitting near you in the conference hall, or add the keynote speaker on LinkedIn and tell her what you enjoyed the most about her talk!
- Find 3 “New” Products. Learn about (and limit it to) 3 new tools, services, or vendors you weren’t familiar with. How do these tools compare to other ones you’re familiar with? What do you NOT like about them?
- Identify 3 Points of Potential. What are 3 key insights you can bring back to the team that could impact your business or industry? Was there a common theme all speakers mentioned? A valuable phrase or saying that meant a lot to you?
Actively harvest the bounty.
What’s the point of a good tomato if you can’t take the first one and immediately slap it between some white bread with salt and pepper and mayonnaise? (By the way, the Duke's and Hellman's argument is wrong, it should only be Kewpie)
Often in a garden, the fruit comes to maturity in waves. It is up to us to determine what we want to do with it.
Back to Tara's experience at Immense and Immy.bot:
At the end of the event we would each come back with one or two large takeaways.... Something we'd like to try, a vendor we'd like to meet with, etc.
I've seen a lot of people come back from events and try to change everything all at once, which quickly caused dumpster fires within their teams. I've tried to put guardrails up to help guide the team a bit and keep them away from shiny objects.
Oof. Your team is your wealth and overwhelming them or frustrating them is a quick way to lose not just morale but efficiency! How can you, like Tara, put up guardrails up to protect their time?
For me, the heart of this is to take the key things you learned and actually celebrate and use them!
- Harvest, sort, and enjoy the fruit.
- Do it yourself, first. For me, I personally set one hour aside to complete this step, either on the flight home or first thing in the office with a fresh cup of something warm. It is low-dopamine and I’m often tired, but this is super vital and what all the other “steps” have led to. Just do it. Finish strong and power through, don’t get distracted.
- Analyze your Notes. Fill out the notes that you only half jotted down. Use a generative AI tool to analyze the entire event and sessions including your notes. Highlight and pull-out questions you may have asked, or tools mentioned that you’d like to research further.
- Review with your Team. If my team is with me, we set time aside to accomplish this step before we leave the event.
- Share the bounty. Conversations that spring from teaching others often lead to better understanding of the content and also better and stronger ideas! Do so liberally!
- Teach your team in a team meeting what the best things you learned were.
- Share with community. Write a blog post, film a reaction video, or post insights on LinkedIn.
- Preserve what you cannot use and be ok letting some go. You are going to come up with so many ideas. Take the good ones that you can implement now (literal “low hanging fruit”) and be intentional about setting a timeline for returning to the other ideas.
- Put good ideas worth implementing later in a meaningful place, like a project board in your PSA or another collaborative note-taking tool.
- Not every good idea is able to be executed with your current time and resources. And that is ok. You can always grow more, and composting puts those nutrients back into your garden as soil amendments that can feed the other ideas you have!
- Some ideas aren't good for now, or this season. Intentionally putting them aside means they can actually be ready when the time is right.
Make your plans for what is next.
In the end, sometimes you end up harvesting something that you didn't expect, but that worked out.
Did you see my photos about tomatillos? I didn't even plant those and they kept our home fed that entire summer. What did I learn? Next time, I'll only keep two plants so they don't overtake my garden!
So, how did this harvest go? What can you do better next growing season?
- Honestly Review the Harvest.
- Did you pick the wrong seeds for your business needs? Which sessions were worth it? What didn’t you agree with? Should this conference be on the calendar next year? Were you the best person to attend, or should someone else on your team go next year?
- Was this completely the wrong fruit to grow? There are so many events you could attend, within our industry and industry adjacent. How do you choose and how do you vote with your money and energy, on which ones are actually building our industry and which ones are detracting from it? A large portion are just dog-and-pony shows, built to capitalize on FOMO, with smoke and mirrors, and to send you home on a high that you may never match. Are you actually getting what you need out of these events, or are you the product?
- What should you do differently? You know what they say: do what you've always done and get what you've always got. Expand your horizons based on your business goals. If you're looking for a good place to start, I've attended, volunteered for, and spoken at MSPGeekCon – A Conference for MSPs by MSPs since its inception in 2023. If you're looking for a conference that is going to teach you and your team as the core focus, get your tickets for their upcoming 3rd year at MSPGeekCon 2025 Registration.
- Follow Up on things that will support your future Gardens. I hate to make this one so trite. But like, just do it. Make a plan and execute it. Connect with people you met on LinkedIn, send emails to continue conversations with vendors, implement ONE thing from the conference into your process, and turn other notes into clear action.
- Prepare the Soil for next year.
- What can you do now? Do you need to lay a cover crop, plant a complementary plant, or turn it over and add fertilizers or amendments? (What do you need to do to invest in your business NOW so it can be more receptive next season?)
- Should you do nothing? Do you need to let your soil lay fallow for a season to regain balance? (Maybe you’re adding too many things and you should work on maintaining what you have before adding anything else)
- Should you change your approach? Do you need to move where you plant that crop to a different area on your property with better drainage or sunlight patterns? (Maybe your market doesn’t even want what you have to offer and you need to rethink your focus.)
- Should you do something completely different? Do you need to evaluate why you were planting in the first place and maybe you just want to be a goat farmer? (Is this even what you want to be doing? Should you be prepping someone else to do this or lead?)
Put your effort where it rewards you.
At the end of the day, a garden only succeeds with the right combination of time, resources, and attention.
And a conference is exactly the same way. It is truly only as valuable as the effort you put into it.
Let’s face it, we’re all exhausted and it’s easy to be a consumer. It’s easy to just go to the grocery and pick up a beautiful tomato that someone else made.
It’s easy to only meet with people or vendors you already know and like. It’s easy to just take what people give us and check a box saying we attended an event. It’s easy to mindlessly take in what you’re being fed – to not question it, to not challenge it, to not chew it up and consider if it actually serves you or not before swallowing the meat, fat, and gristle in one bite.
I propose to you, friends and colleagues, that you can attend every session, shake every hand, and still walk away having wasted your time and money if you’re not actively tending the garden and harvesting the fruit in your personal and professional life. It is vital that you consider your agency and power in controlling your own growth and own destiny. We must be intentional with our time and resources if we are to harvest the best fruit.
Lastly, if this speaks to you and you attend conferences for the content, I intend to create a conference content webinar that reviews conference material and gives people a chance to ask questions and to determine what action could and should look like following conferences in our industry. Find me on LinkedIn and let’s talk about collaborating and making this happen together or come find me at MSPGeekCon!
I look forward to continuing to tend to our industry, together.
Love,
El
As Partner and Business Consultant at Rising Tide, I help organizations align culture with efficiency, bridging the gap between strategy and the everyday systems that make it work. I’ve spent my career leading diverse, cross-functional teams and building communities where people actually want to learn and collaborate. With roots in technology, education, user experience & design, and project management, I specialize in turning complex ideas into clear, actionable plans that keep both people and projects thriving.
Outside of work, you’ll usually find me weight-training, gardening, or rewatching Doctor Who with a cat in my lap.
See some more of our most recent posts...
By the [run]Book: Episode 15
Episode 15 of By the [run]Book covers Halo v2.208 and the start of v2.210, highlighting improvements to SLA response targeting, shift clock-in/clock-out tracking, bi-monthly billing schedules, and expanded team leader permissions. Mendy and Robbie break down what these changes mean for MSPs refining service delivery, billing workflows, and internal access control.
Read post
Episode 15 of By the [run]Book covers Halo v2.208 and starts into v2.210, with Mendy and Robbie walking through SLA refinements, shifts/time tracking updates, billing cadence improvements, and tighter access controls across portals and reporting. Key moments include new SLA response targeting options, a clock-in/clock-out widget for shifts, a bi-monthly schedule period, and expanded team leader controls. This is a useful episode for MSPs looking to tighten operational workflow, reporting governance, and self-service experience improvements.
Watch Now: By the [run]Book: Episode 15
For easier tracking, check out haloreleases.remmy.dev to filter and search HaloPSA updates by ID, version, and keyword.
Added an option to Service Level Agreements to enable a different First Response Target to Subsequent Responses | v2.208 #988897 | 2:04
Adds an SLA option so your first response target can differ from subsequent response targets.
- Better reflects triage vs ongoing comms
- Cleaner SLA reporting for service teams
Added the FAQ List Ticket field as an available option for workflow automation criteria | v2.208 #987268 | 6:13
Adds the FAQ List Ticket field as a workflow criteria option.
- Enables knowledge-base-driven workflow logic
- Helps route/handle KB-related ticket workflows more precisely
Added a Chat Profile setting to allow the update of the End User of Tickets linked to an Anonymous Chat if the haloChat_inboundEvent_upgradeAnonChat is successfully called | v2.208 #984332 | 7:31
Allows ticket end-user updates when an anonymous chat is successfully upgraded.
- Improves attribution of chat-created tickets
- Reduces manual cleanup after anonymous-to-known identity transitions
Added a "Clock in, Clock out" widget for Shifts | v2.208 #984138 | 8:00
Adds a clock in/clock out widget for Shifts.
- Helps formalize on-duty time tracking
- Useful for after-hours / on-call patterns
Added a 2 monthly schedule period option | v2.208 #979982 | 10:45
Adds a 2-month schedule period option.
- Supports bi-monthly billing cadences
- Reduces schedule workarounds
Added multiple improvements to Knowledge Base latest article links | v2.208 #979751 | 10:59
Improves Knowledge Base latest article links.
- More consistent KB navigation as articles change/version
- Helps avoid “stale link” confusion
Added the option 'Visible - Read Only' to Agent Asset details screen visibility | v2.208 #979737 | 11:49
Adds “Visible - Read Only” for Agent Asset details visibility.
- Lets agents view key fields without editing
- Supports tighter asset governance
You can now configure a ticket to load balance upon reopening if the assigned agent does not meet the mandatory qualification matching criteria | v2.208 #979563 | 12:53
Adds load-balance on reopen if assigned agent doesn’t meet qualification rules.
- Keeps qualification matching consistent over the ticket lifecycle
- Helps avoid “reopen back to wrong resource” situations
Added a module for an integration with Opinyin | v2.208 #978437 | 13:06
Introduces a module for an Opinyin integration.
- Relevant if Opinyin is part of your customer feedback stack
- Worth evaluating for review/feedback workflow alignment
You can now send test emails for individual Mail Campaign email messages | v2.208 #977085 | 13:42
Adds test email sending for individual mail campaign messages.
- Helps validate content before sending live
- Reduces campaign mistakes
Added multiple new Halo API Actions in runbooks | v2.208 #974932 | 13:50
Adds new Halo API actions in runbooks.
- Expands no-code/low-code automation options
- Reduces dependency on custom calls in some workflows
Added a new setting to split Knowledge Base view counts. When enabled, the End-User portal shows only User views | v2.208 #971344 | 14:52
Splits KB view counts so end users see only user views (when enabled).
- Cleaner end-user analytics
- Separates agent/internal browsing from customer consumption
Added item group restrictions and a running cost total when adding items to new tickets on the self-service portal. | v2.208 #971032 | 15:27
Adds item group restrictions + running cost total on portal ticket item selection.
- Better guardrails for what customers can request
- More transparent cost expectations while building a request
Added a Ticket Reference field that can be searched and included in column profiles | v2.208 #968004 | 17:39
Adds a Ticket Reference field that’s searchable and usable in column profiles.
- Helpful for ITSM-style reference formats
- Improves filtering and reporting in list views
Service subscribers are now grouped | v2.208 #963508 | 18:56
Groups service subscribers.
- Improves clarity around AND/OR logic in subscriber conditions
- Makes complex subscriber setups easier to maintain
Added dollar variables ($) CONTRACTSLA, CONTRACTSUBTYPE & CONTRACTSTATUS | v2.208 #935851 | 19:55
Adds $ variables for CONTRACTSLA, CONTRACTSUBTYPE, CONTRACTSTATUS.
- Improves template and workflow flexibility
- Useful for notifications, templates, and automations
Improvements to Agent Resource Booking | v2.208 #935781 | 20:00
Adds improvements to Agent Resource Booking.
- Enhances appointment booking workflows
- Helpful if you’re trying to reduce reliance on external schedulers
Added options to encrypt variables and responses in Custom integration methods & Runbooks | v2.208 #882510 | 21:41
Adds encryption options for variables/responses in integrations/runbooks.
- Better security for sensitive values used in automations
- Especially relevant for API keys and secrets
You can now set an expiry date for software against an asset | v2.208 #880465 | 22:33
Adds software expiry date tracking on assets.
- Supports proactive renewals
- Enables automation around expiring software
Added a ticket type level setting that can allow you to show/hide approval actions for end-users. | v2.208 #859228 | 22:54
Adds ticket-type control for end-user approval action visibility.
- Keeps the portal cleaner where approvals aren’t relevant
- Useful for differentiating internal vs customer-facing ticket types
Added functionality for team leaders to modify their agents’ preferences | v2.208 #855276 | 23:07
Allows team leaders to modify agents’ preferences.
- Supports delegation without full admin access
- Helpful in scaled team structures
Added the ability to bulk add assets to a ticket via the asset search modal screen | v2.208 #835383 | 27:26
Adds bulk add assets via the asset search modal.
- Speeds up multi-asset incident/service request logging
- Reduces repetitive clicking
Added the ability to set a chat profile override at user role level | v2.208 #834258 | 28:11
Adds chat profile overrides at the user role level.
- Standardizes chat behavior by role
- Helps maintain consistency across teams
FAQ lists can now be included in Knowledge Base links and will auto-expand on open | v2.208 #833936 | 30:24
Allows KB links to include FAQ lists and auto-expand on open.
- Faster navigation into the exact FAQ content you want
- Helpful for portal/self-serve KB UX
You can now specify HTML when setting a pop up note on a ticket rule | v2.208 #825950 | 30:38
Allows HTML formatting in popup notes triggered by ticket rules.
- Create more readable/structured internal guidance
- Useful for critical warnings, prompts, and process reminders
Credit notes are now displayed along side invoices on the self service portal | v2.208 #806488 | 33:34
Shows credit notes alongside invoices in the portal.
- Improves billing clarity for customers
- Reduces confusion during reconciliation
Added a new setting to limit agents and users to one active session | v2.208 #761279 | 33:52
Adds a setting to limit users/agents to one active session.
- Helpful for security and account-sharing prevention
- Supports tighter access governance
Added TD Synnex Quote Line Imports | v2.208 #698431 | 34:03
Adds TD Synnex Quote Line Imports.
- Speeds quote building for MSPs using TD Synnex
- Reduces manual entry errors
Added the ability to set specific colours for counters widgets when using dark mode | v2.208 #681842 | 34:07
Adds dark mode counter widget color options.
- Improves readability for dark mode users
- Helps dashboard clarity
It is now possible to create downpayment invoices from Sales Orders for both fixed price hardware/projects and time and materials projects | v2.208 #596243 | 34:26
Adds downpayment invoice creation from sales orders (fixed price + T&M).
- Useful for upfront deposits on projects/hardware
- Supports cashflow management
Added multiple settings in Self Service Portal settings to limit options to the Web Access Level list | v2.208 #436892 | 35:29
Adds settings to limit portal options to Web Access Level list values.
- Reduces risk of accidental “too broad” portal access
- Makes permissioning more controllable
Added the ability to use access control for reports | v2.208 #262984 | 37:46
Adds access control for reports.
- Lock down sensitive financial/ops reporting
- Useful for larger MSPs with more role separation
End of 2.208 Q/A and Cats! On to 2.210 | 41:59
When using the Addigy integration a button will show on devices imported to open the device in Addigy | v2.210 #1054688 | 46:52
Adds a deep link button on imported Addigy devices.
- Faster navigation between Halo and Addigy
- Reduces context switching for techs
Multiple changes made to the Expenses list | v2.210 #1053141 | 47:06
Multiple changes made to the Expenses list.
- Improves list usability and admin workflows
- Helpful if you use Halo expenses operationally
Halo Portal and Agent application (including dashboards) iframes can now be embedded in SharePoint pages | v2.210 #1051449 | 47:32
Allows embedding Halo portal/agent UI (including dashboards) in SharePoint via iframe.
- Useful for intranet-style “single pane” access
- Supports internal operational dashboards
A setting has been added to Recurring Invoice configuration so that Recurring Invoices appear in the Ready for Invoice list and are auto-created (if enabled) if the next creation date falls in the current/selected month | v2.210 #1051296 | 47:58
Changes how recurring invoices appear/create based on month selection.
- Impacts finance workflows—review before enabling
- Useful for month-based invoice planning
A setting has been added to Contract/Agreement configuration that will ensure when adding a Billing Plan Combination using a Billing Template a record will be added for each matching Contract/Agreement | v2.210 #1050626 | 48:32
Ensures billing template application creates a billing plan record per matching contract/agreement.
- Helps when contracts renew/change and you still need accurate billing mapping
- Reduces edge cases in contract-driven billing
Additional import fields have been added to the NinjaOne Device import - Last Contacted and Created Date | v2.210 #1050486 | 51:33
Adds Last Contacted + Created Date fields to NinjaOne device import.
- Enables stale-device reporting (offline 30/60/90 days)
- Supports cleanup and license optimization workflows
A setting has been added to Ticket/Opportunity Types so that the "Send" button can be removed from the Quote screen, so that the Quote can only be sent from the Ticket/Opportunity | v2.210 #1049474 | 54:04
Removes quote “Send” button so sending happens only via ticket/opportunity.
- Enforces process consistency
- Reduces accidental sends from the quote screen
A setting has been added to the Asset Field properties so that Change History records are not created for the Asset Field | v2.210 #1048570 | 54:35
Disables change history tracking for selected asset fields.
- Prevents noisy logs on frequently updated fields
- Helps keep asset records cleaner long-term
A permission has been introduced for Users and User Roles so that Invoice access can be restricted to No Access/Site/Client | v2.210 #1048548 | 55:32
Adds invoice access restriction levels (No Access/Site/Client).
- Tightens financial visibility controls
- Useful for role-based access separation
If an overriding Contract/Agreement is set against a Ticket but not configured to show in the Field List then it will still show but only administrators will be able to edit/update the field | v2.210 #1046935 | 56:13
Shows the overriding contract field even if it isn’t on the field list (admin-editable only).
- Makes hidden billing context visible for troubleshooting
- Reduces “why isn’t billing applying?” mysteries
Database Lookup functionality can now be used when entering an action using the self-service portal | v2.210 #1046459 | 56:58
Enables database lookup while entering an action in the self-service portal.
- Makes portal actions more dynamic and guided
- Useful for structured self-service inputs
Updated Account Integrator released that is compatible with Sage UK v32 (2026) | v2.210 #1046181 | 57:14
Updates the Account Integrator for Sage UK v32 (2026).
- Relevant for Sage UK accounting users
- Helps keep finance integrations current
A setting has been added to allow the Ticket entities to be added to a separate group when creating invoices in the "Ready for Invoicing" area | v2.210 #1044974 | 57:32
Adds a setting to group ticket entities separately during invoice creation.
- May improve invoice grouping/organization depending on your billing setup
- Worth testing in “Ready for Invoicing” workflow
By the [run]Book: Episode 14
In Episode 14 of By the [run]Book, Mendy and Robbie wrap up v2.206 and break down v2.208, covering key workflow, billing, automation, and portal enhancements. From smarter qualification matching to better project–contract alignment and deeper portal customization, this episode helps MSPs tighten operations and improve control inside HaloPSA.
Read post
In Episode 14 of By the [run]Book, Mendy and Robbie wrap up v2.206 and dive into v2.208. Join us while they unpack a dense set of workflow, billing, automation, and self-service portal enhancements. Highlights include conditional workflow steps, improved qualification matching, project–contract alignment, and powerful new portal customization options. This episode is ideal for MSPs who want tighter operational control, cleaner billing, and more flexible automation inside HaloPSA.
The following features stand out as a few of the impactful changes:
On-call Notification Enhancements #422926
Halo introduced various enhancements to notifications to better support on-call workflows, and Mendy called out that this release note quietly included a massive underlying change. The key takeaway was that important platform-impacting updates can be buried in “notification” notes, so MSPs running on-call should review notification behavior closely after updating.
Assign Contract to Projects & Tasks Created from Sales Orders #1027598
Projects and tasks created from sales orders can now automatically inherit the contract created from that sales order, tightening the link between quoting, delivery, and billing. The hosts emphasized this as a practical fix for MSPs who see project time accidentally hitting the wrong agreement (and wrecking profitability reporting), especially when doing fixed-fee or prepaid project work.
Workflow Automations Using Client/Site/User Custom Fields #1022399
Workflow automations can now use client, site, or user custom fields directly as criteria, reducing the need for workaround runbooks that copy those values onto tickets. The hosts positioned this as a meaningful automation upgrade because it makes routing and logic cleaner, easier to maintain, and more scalable for MSPs with account-specific processes.
Watch Now: By the [run]Book: Episode 14
For easier tracking, check out haloreleases.remmy.dev to filter and search HaloPSA updates by ID, version, and keyword.
Full Feature List:
Added the ability to add Azure/Entra distribution groups as followers | v2.206 #770320 | 1:52
- Allows Entra distribution groups to be added as followers on tickets
- Reduces manual follower management as staff change
- Useful for shared service desks or group-based visibility
Added an option in AI settings to generate an AI summary of the article based on the title, description and resolution Added an option in AI settings to use the AI-generated summary of an article to identify and flag potential duplicate articles before submission | v2.206 #767579 | 2:58
- Automatically generates AI summaries for KB articles
- Uses AI summaries to detect potential duplicate articles
- Improves knowledge base quality and search accuracy
When tickets have a Teams chat open, if the ticket is closed, a closure message will be sent to all chats | v2.206 #635732 | 3:29
- Sends an automated closure message into active Teams chats
- Helps cleanly close collaboration threads
- Reduces post-resolution confusion
Various enhancements to notifications to support on-call notifications | v2.206 #422926 | 4:02
- Improves reliability of on-call notification handling
- Important for MSPs running scheduled on-call rotations
- Includes underlying workflow/notification behavior improvements
A setting has been added to Sales Order Configuration so that a specific Status can be set once all Items on the Sales Order are consigned | v2.208 #1034330 | 10:24
- Automatically updates Sales Order status after consignment
- Reduces manual order lifecycle management
- Keeps order views accurate
The setting "Tickets with the default Organisation/Site must be moved before working on the Ticket" can now be overridden at Ticket Type level | v2.208 #1033540 | 12:51
- Allows specific ticket types to bypass the default org/site restriction
- Useful during intake and triage workflows
- Prevents inconsistent admin vs engineer experience
"Do not disturb" mode for Halo notifications | v2.208 #1028655 | 16:04
- Enables agents to temporarily suppress notifications
- Requires global setting to allow toggle
- Useful for focused work sessions
A setting "When creating Projects and Tasks assign the Contract created from the Sales Order" has been added to Configuration > Sales Orders > Processing Sales Order Lines that allocates Projects and Tasks created from Sales Orders to the Contract created from the Sales Order | v2.208 #1027598 | 17:27
- Ensures project time is tied to the correct contract
- Prevents agreement profitability distortion
- Reduces manual reassignment after project creation
An Item property had been added to the Milestone so that the Invoice Item can be edited/set after creation of the Milestone. This Item will be used when creating an Invoice directly for the Milestone only | v2.208 #1027578 | 20:33
- Allows invoice item changes after milestone creation
- Improves billing flexibility
- Applies when invoicing milestones directly
Added Canned Text Shortcuts for Chat | v2.208 #1024945 | 23:07
- Adds keyboard shortcuts for canned text in chat
- Speeds up repetitive internal communication
- Configured at the canned text level
Additional data has been added to the Invoice Line object to store the Origin Sales Order Line that the associated Recurring Invoice was created from and to store the Occurrence Count for Recurring Invoices | v2.208 #1024614 | 28:23
- Improves recurring invoice traceability
- Tracks original Sales Order line
- Stores occurrence count for reporting
Report display improvement when using customised table html | v2.208 #1024326 | 28:55
- Improves horizontal scroll behavior
- Reduces layout cutoff issues
- Enhances report usability
Added Managed Identity via Azure Arc as an authentication option to the Microsoft Entra integration and Office 365 mailboxes | v2.208 #1024317 | 29:36
- Provides a more secure authentication option
- Reduces credential storage risk
- Supports Azure-first environments
It is now possible to set a Tax Exemption reason for a Halo Customer on creation that will be pushed to Quickbooks when the Customer is not taxable | v2.208 #1024297 | 29:44
- Syncs tax exemption reason to QuickBooks
- Improves finance consistency
- Reduces manual adjustments
A setting has been added to allow recurring invoice lines to be hidden by default when viewing the recurring invoice | v2.208 #1024067 | 29:57
- Keeps recurring invoice views cleaner
- Allows hidden lines to be revealed when required
- Reduces confusion from legacy lines
Multiple changes to available $ variables | v2.208 #1023687 | 32:18
- Expands formatting flexibility
- Adds additional address/currency options
- Reduces need for template workarounds
Added the setting 'Automatically create Change Advise Boards from Teams' to Approval Process settings | v2.208 #1023311 | 32:55
- Syncs CAB boards with Teams membership
- Reduces manual approval admin
- Supports structured change management
A setting has been added to the QuickBooks Integrations setup so that a Closed Date can be entered. | v2.208 #1022558 | 33:16
- Helps protect closed accounting periods
- Prevents retroactive invoice sync edits
You can now use Client, Site or User Custom Fields for criteria on Workflow Automations | v2.208 #1022399 | 33:41
- Enables cleaner automation logic
- Removes need to copy custom field data onto tickets
- Improves routing flexibility
The variable $ SERVICEID can be used in database lookups to obtain the ID of the Service linked to the Ticket | v2.208 #1021534 | 34:21
- Enables service-aware database lookups
- Improves reporting and automation precision
Custom Statistics Tables added | v2.208 #1019726 | 34:32
- Allows scheduled SQL results to be stored over time
- Enables trending metrics within Halo
- Useful for backlog and performance tracking
Decimals are now allowed within the field "Tickets Opened/Closed within the last X days" in AI suggestions | v2.208 #1018082 | 37:42
- Allows finer tuning of AI suggestion windows
- Improves duplicate detection precision
Added a new Knowledge Base setting that allows you to hide FAQ tiles that have no results matching the current search in the Portal | v2.208 #1012783 | 37:50
- Removes empty FAQ tiles during searches
- Improves portal UX
Added a manufacturer field to the suppliers tab of assets | v2.208 #1009501 | 37:57
- Improves asset detail and reporting
- Enhances supplier tracking
Improvements to Qualification matching | v2.208 #1008143 | 38:01
- Improves load balancing logic
- Reduces tickets sticking with unqualified agents
Various improvements to the self-service portal | v2.208 #1007918 | 40:49
- Navigation improvements
- Quick access to My Tickets / My Approvals / My Assets
- Cleaner layout
You can now use Client, Site, User and Organisation level $ variables in the Self Service Portal custom HTML Headers and Footer | v2.208 #1007759 | 43:43
- Enables dynamic, client-specific portal content
- Useful for escalation paths and account manager info
Enhancement to Client-Ticket Type restrictions | v2.208 #1006158 | 47:49
- Updates restriction handling behavior
- Important to review before enabling if already configured
Added a Chat Audit Area Added a new Chat Transcript style | v2.208 #1004851 | 48:34
- Improves audit visibility
- Enhances transcript formatting
You can now set feedback and survey links to be single use | v2.208 #1002898 | 48:41
- Reduces automated survey submissions
- Improves feedback accuracy
Added an Advanced Setting to alter the Tree menu width | v2.208 #999276 | 51:57
- Improves navigation readability
- Useful for long names
You can now make your custom hompage HTML in the End-User portal appear as a sticky banner across all portal pages | v2.208 #996323 | 52:48
- Ideal for outage banners and announcements
- Keeps messaging visible across pages
Added option to exclude non-invoiceable time from budget calculations | v2.208 #994004 | 56:01
- Improves project budget accuracy
- Separates invoiceable vs non-invoiceable effort
Rising Tide Book Club: Think Naked - Week 2
In Chapter 2 of Think Naked, Marco Marsan argues that adults don’t lose creativity: they’re conditioned out of it. This Rising Tide book club discussion explores fear, conformity, unexamined rules, and why real learning requires play, safety, and curiosity in modern organizations.
Read post
About this Series
This discussion guide is part of Rising Tide’s Winter 2026 book club, where we’re reading Think Naked by Marco Marsan.
If you’re just joining us, here are a few pages you’ll likely benefit from:
- Book Clubs, Conversations, and Curiosity for why we started a book club for a technical team here
Chapter Summary
“If you want to be more creative, stay in part a child, with the creativity and invention that characterizes children before they are deformed by adult society” - Jean Piaget
In Chapter 2, You Lost Your Marbles, Marco Marsan explores how people don’t simply “grow out” of creativity — they are systematically conditioned out of it. The chapter argues that over time, fear, rigid rules, institutional norms, and social conformity slowly strip away curiosity, playfulness, and experimentation.
Marsan frames this loss through several forces:
- Fear: mistakes become costly as adults (financially, socially, professionally)
- Senseless rules: norms persist long after their original context or usefulness
- Institutionalized regurgitation: being rewarded for having the “right answer” rather than learning how to think
- Tough-it-out culture: endurance replaces reflection
- Numbness: accumulated stress and responsibility dull engagement
The chapter opens with a consulting story where a leader dismisses Marsan outright, using it as a framing device to explore how organizations often reject discomfort, challenge, and unconventional thinking — even when they claim to want innovation.
Discussion Questions
Use these open-ended prompts to guide reflection and conversation. Remember, there are no right answers!
- What does “losing your marbles” mean to you — and what might you have lost that still matters?
- 'Lose Your Marbles' Saying - Meaning & Context
- Rather than meaning “you’ve gone crazy,” the group explored the older meaning: marbles as something valuable children possessed — and something adults may have lost, not gained, over time.
- Where have fear or consequences made curiosity feel unsafe? How do power and authority shape how you show up creatively?
- How often do you ask why a rule exists, rather than whether you’re allowed to challenge it?
- Where have institutions (school, work, industry norms) rewarded compliance over thinking?
- What would play look like in your work if you weren’t worried about being wrong?
Rising Tide Input for your Consideration
- Your brain is capable of great creativity and capacity. How you use it matters. Here is some research behind some of the concepts Marsan mentions.
- Creativity and Learning require play — and play requires safety.
- We discussed Montessori education, language learning, or professional growth, the group emphasized that playfulness, repetition, and “looking silly” are critical to learning and are exactly what adults are trained to avoid.
- Conformity isn’t safety, it’s a creativity suppressor.
- The group referenced classic psychology experiments (Stanford Prison Experiment, Milgram Experiment) to explore how authority, group pressure, and institutional roles can override personal judgment and moral reasoning. Stanford prison experiment - Wikipedia
- Dead Poets Society - Conformity Scene (1989) HD w/ Subtitles
- https://youtu.be/GDWAKvQemlU?si=AVbkNGLEhC8vn7KV
- Organizational Culture and the 5 Monkeys Experiment | Intersol
- Are rules ever useful?
- Rules are not inherently bad, but we propose that unexamined rules are dangerous. There are rules that deliver shared value and coordination, but there are also rules that persist simply because “that’s how it’s done”
- A recurring Rising Tide pattern emerged: looking for the rule beneath the rule (the underlying reason a rule exists) rather than accepting it at face value.
- As Marsan suggests, “Any Rule represents, at best, the latest thinking on a subject,” but we also considered that a rule represents what was left over from an unfinished discussion, and not even the best answer. It just reflects the last time someone argued about something and not a timeless truth.
- Rules are not inherently bad, but we propose that unexamined rules are dangerous. There are rules that deliver shared value and coordination, but there are also rules that persist simply because “that’s how it’s done”
- Learning is experiential, not transactional.
- We discussed how conformity, rote memorization, and “teaching for the test” suppress critical thinking and actual learning in many modern educational systems.
- True learning involves play, repetition, discomfort, and curiosity, all of which feel inefficient or risky in adult systems optimized for output.
About Rising Tide and our Book Club
Rising Tide helps MSPs and service-focused teams build better systems: the kind that align people with purpose.
Every Friday at 9:30 AM ET, we host Rising Tide Fridays as an open conversation for MSP owners, consultants, and service professionals who want to grow both professionally, technically, and emotionally. In Winter/Spring 2026, we’re walking through Think Naked.
If that sounds like your kind of crowd, reach out to partners@risingtidegroup.net for the Teams link. Bring your coffee and curiosity…no prep required.