Microsoft Convergence past and present

My first experience with Microsoft Convergence was in Florida in 2002 (maybe it was 2001, can't remember exactly. Must be getting old.) I do remember being somewhat awestruck with the show Microsoft put on for it's customers. The expo was top notch, concurrent sessions were educational, and the key note speakers were enlightening. I worked for a .com company at the time and Microsoft choose us for the Pinnacle award for Excellence in Customer Care. Nice honor to be recognized for.

One of the most vivid memories I have was just before the key note speech from Bill Gates. The doors opened and I saw accounting professionals of all ages, shapes and sizes running as fast as they could to the get the best seat possible. Kind of a funny sight really but remember thinking how exciting it was to listen to someone so successful in person. Mr. Gates gave his insights on the industry and gave a road map on how Microsoft was going to help each company using Dynamics.

From that first experience I have attended Convergence in San Diego, Dallas, Florida (again last year), and will be attending in New Orleans this year. Every year Microsoft out does themselves. Just look at the sessions available this year.

The concurrent sessions are a big part of the event but I particularly like interacting with MBS folks directly. Geeky as it may sound I find it great fun to go "Yell" at MBS folks on things that I wanted fixed, corrected, or included in the next versions of GP. I also take all our customers to the tech support area and give demos of modules they are looking for. This is a good time for customers to get "Free" training or tech support.

If someone is looking for a particular module or fix to a business process the Expo is the place for customers. Every year we are able to solve business process pain by finding the best 3rd party products. Last year we looked at several tax solutions offered by 3rd party companies. Ended up moving off of one 3rd party product (implemented by another VAR) to another saving a significant amount of money on a monthly basis on the way with all the functionality the customer needed. Point is, the customer was able to analyze each product in person along with meeting the people that were going to support them going forward.

There's still time to register.

My own take is if you have GP you should be going to Convergence. It's a sacrifice to go but the returns are tremendous in education, training, and GP utilization.

It's also a lot of fun.