Guest contributor |
After a year and a half without face-to-face collaboration, Dynamic Communities will welcome back the users, partners and experts of the Microsoft ecosystem for Community Summit North America (NA) on 12-15 October 2021 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.
Community Summit is an education and networking event for Microsoft Users and Partners in North America, offering valuable insights and practical ideas for increasing efficiency and overcoming challenges.
The event is ideal for technology professionals, system administrators, business analysts, developers and business professionals who are using or considering Microsoft Business Applications.
Community Summit delivers real-world tips, tricks and advanced strategies around the issues businesses are tackling in this changing landscape. The agenda is packed with over 300 informative and educational sessions to deliver end-to-end learning around all versions of Dynamics 365 FO/AX, CE/CRM & BC/NAV, Dynamics GP & SL and the Microsoft Power Platform.
Attendees can choose from dozens of dedicated sessions on each Dynamics and Power Platform product, crossover sessions focused on migrating and integrating systems, as well as sessions on broader digital business transformation topics. Content tracks are carefully planned to deliver educational value to novices and experts alike.
The Microsoft User Community has attended Summit since 2004, in part because of the rich learning experience. The Community Summit programme is conceived by community members, thought leaders and Microsoft experts. Together, they ensure exceptional educational sessions on topics that matter, including: enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management and business applications; planning and process management; analytics, insights and business intelligence; automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning; and cybersecurity.
This event wouldn’t be possible without the dedicated volunteers behind the scenes. The Community Summit Programming Committee is responsible for reviewing each session submission, developing new topic ideas, recruiting speakers to fill content gaps, and spreading the word to all corners of North America.
While content might be what draws people to their first Community Summit conference, there’s more that keeps them coming back year after year. The event has become an annual reunion for the Microsoft User Community.
Each User Group has its own content tracks, social events, recharging stations, lounges and Tech Medic Hubs. These hubs not only provide spaces for user group members to network with their peers, but also to get onsite technical support and troubleshooting from Microsoft experts.
The 2021 Programming Committee shares some of the things that attendees can expect from the event.
Yogesh Kasat, principal at Real Dynamics, says: “Most of the Dynamics community members attend Summit for two purposes: to see what’s new that has come out or coming soon and to learn how new toys from Microsoft are being used by organisations to improve business usage of Dynamics for achieving better productivity.”
Amanda Mayer, director of Finance at LIDD Consultants, says: “In addition to seeing new people speak, I love to see sessions that give the end user something to take back with them. One of my favourite things about attending Summit as an end user was learning tangible actions that I could take back with me to the office. That’s the primary goal.”
Chris Sorenson, president at Iteration Insights, says: “You can count on thoughtful presentations at Community Summit that expose you to new ways of thinking and designing solutions. Sessions are bold, brave and reveal new insights.”
Meenakshi Singh, director of enterprise applications at Public Consulting Group, says: “Summit is about learning from user experiences and sharing insights around industry-specific products like Dynamics BC/NAV. You get lots of interaction with industry- and product-specific user communities.”
If you are ready to improve your knowledge around Microsoft Business Applications, Community Summit NA 2021 is the place to be. Register at www.summitna.com.
Bridget Courneya is an editor at Dynamic Communities
This article was originally published in the Summer 2021 issue of The Record. To get future issues delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for a free subscription.