Thoughts from a first-time attendee
In my 7 years of consulting within the Microsoft Dynamics space, I never had the opportunity to attend the Community Summit North America until this year with my Maggnumite team. In this blog post today, I'll be talking about my experience as a first timer at the Summit as well my overall takeaway from the experience.
My first thought walking into the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, Florida where the Summit was held was "WOW". You could easily tell by the selection of this resort that the organizers wanted to give the attendees a beautiful atmosphere to roam and truly enjoy the Summit. What really took my breath away first walking in was the indoor garden atriums and the ridiculously high, glass ceilings - it was a tremendous sight. Not only was there a ton of greenery all around, but also ponds that had actual fish in them in a variety sizes!
Another reason the Gaylord was a smart selection was the MASSIVE size of the Convention Center which allowed for a multitude of sessions to take place - which also made it difficult at times to decide between all of the really great sessions that happened to be at the same time. The Expo Hall where all of the different software vendors and Microsoft partners had showcases set up was a really cool sight too. There were demonstrations, giveaways, popcorn machines, artists doing caricatures, bars and so much more! As a first timer, you really did not know what to expect and that was part of the fun of it all. Also advice from a first timer - don't wear heels because these days are filled with a ton of walking!
Now, on to my favorite part of the entire experience - the networking! There were SO many people there from clients to partners to ISVs! It was so nice to be able to put a face to the names of our colleagues we chat and email with virtually such as the team at DynamicWeb and our good friends over at ExFlow. The Summit definitely creates an atmosphere that is not only professional, but also casual and fun so its not just business as usual as one would maybe expect for an event filled with a bunch of techies. We also got to make some new friends as we went around to all of the different showcases and handed out our business cards as well as collecting a slew of our own. One of my main goals at the Expo Hall was to find some software solutions that would be perfect for Maggnumite which I was able to do - an opportunity that would've been a bit harder to come across had I not gone. Being there in person was a really great way to gage the fit Maggnumite would have with potential partners which is what I think the Summit is all about.
I think I can speak for myself, Dan and Brad when I say the best part of the Summit was getting to see a bunch of familiar faces that we haven't seen in YEARS. I ran into the likes of an old colleague who first hired me into the Microsoft Dynamics consulting space to my very first mentor on my very first project - it was a really amazing blast from the past!
My greatest takeaway from my time at the Summit is the comradery felt amongst all of the people that attended - everyone there was positive, friendly, ready to collaborate and make true connections which was something very special and has me very much so looking forward to next year's!
Written by
Phylice Dupoux, Principal Finance Consultant at Maggnumite