What a week!
And by a week I'm mostly referring to last week's visit to Orlando for the User Group and Power Platform Summits held by Dynamic Communities. As a first-time attendee it was great for me to be on-site with Dynamic users, including many of our clients, as well as partners and friends in the channel.
I joked with a colleague that you almost had to plan a little extra time to get from Point A to Point B, just because you were almost guaranteed to run into someone you knew in the halls, and inevitably stop for a chat.
Now that I'm back in my office this week in chilly Minnesota, I wanted to reflect on some of those other key takeways I learned last week at Summit.
Session madness
As much as you try—and I tried—you can't be in two places at once. Whether you went solo or had team members to split session duty with, you weren't able to attend everything you wanted to.
Fortunately, presentation slides are being uploaded by the presenters to the Summit Community library and are available for you to download. You just need to be logged into your Dynamic Communities account to get access.
There was also the option when you registered to purchase access to the session recordings. Not all sessions were recorded (only the ones with the "Session Recording" icon listed next to it on the schedule), but Dynamic Communities has written on their website that all recordings should be available within one week of the event.
Need a reminder of all of the sessions that occurred, or looking to watch the recordings you purchased? Check out each of the user groups schedules below.
Comfort is key
Sometimes you know how much you're supposed to prepare for something, but it doesn't fully hit you until you're on the ground and experiencing it first-hand. While you're at Summit you want to be focusing on learning or networking with other attendees, but if you're not at full comfort level, it can take your focus away.
Point 1: Air conditioning is not a new idea to me—I knew that inside we would be blasted with cool air to counteract the warm, humid weather sitting just beyond the doors of the Gaylord Palms. But boy are layers your friend! I almost wished I had brought some cardigans that were a little bit thicker. Side-note: Next year I'll be taking a page out of my coworker's book—she brought her puffer jacket and wore it throughout the week. Wow, did she look comfortable!
Point 2: I knew to bring comfortable shoes since I would be walking and standing most of the week. It was one thing to bring comfortable shoes, but a whole other thing to bring REALLY comfortable shoes! A couple of my options were retired to my suitcase mid-way through the week, and I'm really glad I brought some band-aids along just in case. I wish I had a smart watch that accurately tracked my steps, but if my phone was any indication then I logged in around 15,000 steps on Thursday alone.
New name, same conference
Did you hear?? Dynamic Communities announced (along with their updated logo), that they've rebranded the User Group Summit and Power Platform Summit to just one name—Community Summit. I gotta say as someone who has been pouring over the social media hashtags, using just #CommunitySummit will definitely cut down on my back and forth next year (and save me a few characters on Twitter!)
And the update really fits the conference and community of people who attend. There may be different products or tracks that attendees group into, but across all platforms we're able to connect with our stories or help understand the underlying business challenges we've faced or are working to fix.
We might not all have the same solution that works best, but everyone is willing to offer their expertise and support to help get you there. Plus we're all just a fun group of people to hang around with!
So with all of that said, I can now closeout my 2019 User Group and Power Platform Summit experience. Our team is looking forward to next year's revisit to Nashville and we're excited to continue being a part of this awesome community.
Did you hear we sponsored ALL the user groups this year? Yep, we can service your technology needs across the board. Need a quick refresh on what we do? Check out our Columbus at-a-glance.
