What Went Down at RejectionCon 2026

Every corporate tech convention follows a familiar, mind-numbing script. You listen to a panel of vendor-sponsored executives give generic advice that makes running an MSP look like a walk in the park.

But if you are out here doing the work, you know that real business growth isn't a clean and straight line. It's messy, chaotic, and usually involves a lot of trial by fire.

Enter RejectionCon.

Streamed live on Crowdcast from May 26–28 between 1:00PM and 4:00PM ET, this three-day anti-conference was built for the MSP community, intentionally designed for the gritty operational sessions that usually get passed over.

At Empath, we’re proud to back RejectionCon 2026 and become part of a pure community movement. Here's how the chaos, the mic-drops, and the record-breaking giving frenzy went down over the last three days. 

$80,000+ for the Rural Tech Fund

RejectionCon is also a grassroots fundraising engine. Utilizing a registration model where people could buy a ticket or donate what they could, 100% of all proceeds went directly to the Rural Technology Fund (RTF).

The RTF’s mission is to deliver real technology into classrooms across underserved, rural areas that are completely left off the standard tech map.

This initiative directly translates to hands-on tools like robotics kits, 3D printers, microcontrollers, and computer repair devices. Students are given the opportunity to build, test, break, fix, and see a future in technology that previously felt entirely out of reach. These kids are gaining the early exposure that sparks a career, putting them on the path to becoming the next generation of techs, founders, security pros, and builders in our industry.

While last year's event set a baseline by raising over $50,000 and impacting 10,522 students, the goal for 2026 was to push that access even further with an aggressive target of $75,000. Thanks to an incredible, combined surge of sponsor backing, ticket sales, and direct donations, RejectionCon completely shattered that milestone, officially raising over $80,000 for the cause.

RejectionCon 2026: The Recap

The energy across all three days was peer-to-peer, no-BS, and completely human. With a highly engaged crowd of owners and operators gathering to say the quiet parts out loud, the event officially brought together 1,000+ attendees who are actively changing the way we look at the channel.

Day 1: Breakouts and Southern Accents

Day One kicked off with an opening keynote panel featuring Empath Co-founders Wes Spencer, Alex Farling, Kyle Christensen, ImmyBot Chief Community & Ecosystems Officer Tara Rummer, IR Games founder Bob Miller, VOSA founder Erik Boles, and Empath Head of Sponsorships & Events Caitlyn Jopp, who immediately set a transparent, no-fluff tone for the entire event.

Our breakout speakers got straight into the weeds on documentation failures that quietly kill profit margins, real AI workflows, and data chaos. The tracks bypassed the usual high-level theory to focus entirely on the actual operational realities of running a business today.

• The Standout Moment: Just as RTF Founder Chris Sanders and GTIA CEO were wrapping up their closing keynote session, which brought the focus beautifully back to the next generation coming up behind us, Wes, who started this whole movement back in 2024, delivered his last few lines of the day in a thick, unhinged southern accent (Having been successfully bribed by a surge of live chat donations).

Day 2: Smashed Goals and The Ultimate Introduction Burn

Day Two kicked off with an opening keynote from Mailprotector CTO Ben Hathaway. This high-energy carried straight into the breakout sessions until the closing keynote from Pax8 Senior Director of Security and Compliance Matt Lee and CNWR, Inc. President Jason Slagle, who gave a brutally honest look into The State of Cybersecurity in the Channel.

• The Standout Moment: The community put its money where its mouth is. Midway through Day Two, a surge of live donations officially pushed the event to its $75,000 fundraising goal for the Rural Tech Fund. 
• Sherweb Cybersecurity Fellow Roddy Bergeron, tasked to introduce Empath Head of MSP Success Dean Trempelas for his breakout session, skipped the corporate flattery and chose violence instead. Roddy spent four straight minutes mercilessly roasting Dean, shredding his memes, his resume, his love of frameworks, and his habit of navigating corporate America through weaponized shitposting. 

Day 3: Keynote Mic-Drops and Cold Hard Realities

Day Three was the closer, pulling zero punches across tracks covering PSA chaos, regulatory readiness, and the raw realities of marketing. The final day wrapped up with an incredible closing session by Progressive Computing, Inc. Co-founder Robert Cioffi, summarizing a long-overdue channel reality check.

• The Standout Moment: The hype from Mailprotecor VP in Marketing Kate Schlarf’s powerhouse opening keynote where she threw down a personal $1,000 matching challenge, set off a giving frenzy that didn't stop all day. By the time the final sessions wrapped, the community officially crossed the massive $80,000+ milestone in total money raised. RTF COO Claire Copps joined to celebrate the final tally, marking jaw-dropping finish to the entire three-day event.

Why RejectionCon Matters to Empath

We backed RejectionCon because you can't build meaningful learning pathways or master running an MSP by ignoring the messy parts of operations or blindly following a generic "best practices" checklist that a vendor sold you. Supporting an environment of radical honesty, lets us help operators build better businesses today, and funding the Rural Tech Fund lets us propel the next generation into having physical tools they need to build the businesses of tomorrow.

As Wes put it in the closing of the event, "One of the more powerful things about RejectionCon is sometimes you find more value in making a future better for someone else. Doing good in this world is one of the highest callings we have."

The strength of this community is found in our willingness to tell the truth, support one another, and give back.

To Everyone Who Showed Up and Stepped Up

This historic milestone simply doesn't happen without the collective power of this channel. A huge thank you goes out to every single attendee who bought a ticket and showed up to say the quiet parts out loud.

We also owe an immense debt of gratitude to the lineup of speakers who volunteered without a corporate script, the unsung volunteers working behind the scenes and keep the logistics moving smoothly, and the generous sponsors who stepped up to financially back the vision.

Together, you funded tangible equity for the next generation.

Caught in the Daily Grind and Missed the Live Streams?

All RejectionCon 2026 session replays are officially available right now. You can go back and soak in the exact tactical insights your team needs.

👉 Watch the RejectionCon 2026 Replays Here

As Empath Marketing Coordinator and Virtual Events Producer Princess Lim perfectly put it, "The event ends today, but the mission doesn’t. I hope you continue supporting RejectionCon and the RTF."

If you want to see the real-world impact of those donations or make sure you're in the room for the next RejectionCon, get plugged into the source.

🌳 Follow RTF on LinkedIn to see how your donations are turning into 3D printers, robotics kits, and tech equity in rural classrooms.

🔗 Follow RejectionCon on LinkedIn to catch the first announcements for future events, community calls, and speaker applications.

🚀 Stay dialed into the Empath ecosystem

• Follow us on LinkedIn to join the daily peer-to-peer conversation and see how our expert Navigators are helping teams master the messy parts of operations.
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