By Michelle Glennie, The Partner Marketing Group
I hadn’t been to Microsoft World Partner Conference (WPC) in 10 years and was amazed to see how large the conference had become. With 16,000 partners and ISVs from around the globe in attendance this year, the convention center was filled with an energetic buzz that was infectious. I met partners and ISVs from Italy, France, Brazil, Lebanon and of course Canada and the U.S. just to name a few.
While everyone most likely had different take-aways from WPC, here are 3 that I had:
- Project Madiera is now Microsoft Dynamics 365. What exactly does this mean? No one is 100% sure yet, but it is anticipated that Microsoft will announce more this fall at the Summit conference in Tampa, Florida. There is a Dynamics 365 website that you can begin exploring here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics.
- A cheat sheet for Microsoft Partner Network and Microsoft US Partner Community. Knowing where to look for resources is always hard on the Microsoft sites, but I was able to get this card (see images) which highlights where to go and also social sites to follow to stay on top of what is new.
- Microsoft is focused on how their community can make an impact on lives throughout the world through technology. Throughout WPC we got to see how Microsoft technology helps better the lives of many. While you would expect the focus to be on the technology, it was on the people. They featured the company Sequence at the keynote on the first day. Sequence’s mission is to disrupt the cycle of violence that limits at risk youth living in El Salvador. With Microsoft technology they have been able to design bracelets and necklaces to sell and make a difference. Microsoft has created a site where you can see many inspiring stories on ‘People of Action’ at http://microsoft.tumblr.com/.
Did you attend WPC? If so, we would love to hear what you liked or didn’t like about the conference. Be sure to leave a comment on this post.
Interested in attending WPC 2017 next year? It will be in Washington D.C. July 9 – 13, 2017. You can register at https://partner.microsoft.com/en-US/wpc/.
