Can you tell us a little bit more about what those entail?

So this was a response to requests from our members.

Members kept saying, we'd like more opportunities to get together.

ChannelCon's great, the community forums are great, but we'd like to get together more frequently.

And so we noodled on it and talked to different people and we came up with the concept of GTIA local chapters.

And we announced those at Channel Con in North America in August, and they've taken off like wildfire.

And so the way it works is 10 members come together as what are called chapter champions and say, we'd like to form a chapter in...

And it looks like, well, you're trying to do something about that.

network security let's regulate those components that say if you're a small business and you have a connection to the world outside of your own four walls we need to put some sort of regulation in place so that everyone's playing from the same you know playbook

well i'll tell you there's um There's a story I've called for years, and I may have even shared it with you at one point.

So forgive me if your eyes start to roll back in your head.

I know you've heard it before, but my wife is a genealogical researcher.

And back when I had my MSP, which I sold 11 years ago now, back when I had my MSP, what I used to say is, and it's still true today, it was easier for my wife to decide she wanted to change careers and become an MSP than it was for me to say I wanted to change and become a genealogical researcher because she had to go to school, she had to get accreditation, she had to get training to do the type of research that she does.

Whereas Hey, she could have decided one day I'm going to be an MSP and I'm going to go secure clients and tell them that I know what I'm doing.

And there's no independent body out there validating that.

So what's probably the truth there? was that a misstep to not market it to the buyers of these services? What was the point of somebody getting that trust mark in 2012?

Talk just a little bit about what it is that you are now doing with Texas A&M in terms of creating a self-regulatory organization.

Sure.

So, look, this is what trade associations were built to do, right? And I think historically, you know, we've kind of...

I don't know, danced a little on the edge of this, but now with our defined purpose and singular focus just on the membership, we've got the ability to do some things that prior to might have introduced some complication into the equation.

So, you know, look, we all understand that there is no professional standard accreditation in this industry.

There's no stamp that I can put that says, yes, Look, when I started my business in 97, you could make the argument, what business did I have starting that business? Because nobody stamped my credentials and said, hey, you're qualified to do this.

I was, but people took my word for it.

So give us a quick overview of the Managed Intelligence Alliance.

And there's also...

also, you know, I think the other, the other piece to that is our member education team has really stepped up their game and they've, they're, they've gone out and they've met with our members and listened to them about what they need.

And so they're, they're realigning and repackaging some of the existing education, tuning it to really address what members are asking for.

So you'll see a lot of good change there as well.

And, you know, tying it back to this event, PAX 8 Beyond, you know, Nick made a great announcement from the main stage during his keynote this morning, about an initiative that Pax8 is committed to, which is called the Consortium for Responsible IT Services.

This is an initiative being led by Texas A&M University, and we, GTIA, have partnered with them on this.

This initiative over the next couple of years will define the standards and frameworks of what it means to deliver professional IT services to end-user customers.

You know,