Postcards from the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference

13 - 16 July 2009, New Orleans

We are entering one of the biggest release cycles ever for Microsoft and as a result there was a very intense agenda. In any given year there are always at least three sessions you could attend at any one time, in a venue spanning 1.2 miles, and this year there was more to see than ever. At times I felt a little like a possum in the headlights, not knowing where to look. In an attempt to keep abreast of everything I saw and share my adventures, I eagerly tweeted and wrote daily postcards for our blog and intranet. I could fi ll this entire issue of SMARTS (and then some) with updates from the conference, but in the interests of brevity, I will leave you with some short snippets from my WPC postcards. For the full version, visit our blog (www.intergen.co.nz/blog) or www.digitalwpc.com.

Day 1

After participating in the Day of Giving the day before (that’s me way in the background), doing my bit for the city by planting trees, we were off to a good start. To give you an idea of scale: 8000 attendees (approximately 6000 delegates and 2000 Microsoft employees) – that’s half of the total population of Levin!

Key aspects/cool stuff covered included:

• Excel 2010 – “Sparklines” which allow you to view ‘mini’ charts within a cell
• Outlook 2010 – an ‘ignore’ function where you can ignore a conversation going on
• Outlook 2010 – tips when you are doing something (like presenting you with an Out of Offi ce message before you send an email to someone)
• Dynamics CRM – social networking integration, including accessing Twitter data within and from CRM Office Web Applications
• Voice to text features of Exchange, as part of Microsoft’s expanding Unifi ed Communications vision

I also had the pleasure of being part of a roundtable discussion with Stephen Elop (President, Microsoft Business Division). It was great to get the chance to meet and have discussions with a senior Microsoft executive. Well done Microsoft New Zealand.

Day 2

Everyone was geared up for Steve Ballmer’s keynote. Key topics he covered in his talk were Bing, social networking and the economy. The way he described our current world situation is as an ‘economic reset.’

Day 3

On day three we looked into the future. We took a look at the Mobile Marketplace and an impressive Surface-based health application. I then heard the ‘father of multi-touch,’ Bill Buxton, explain that Microsoft Surface isn’t a product – it’s a way of thinking. Microsoft’s Chief Operating Offi cer, Kevin Turner, covered Microsoft’s FY2010 strategy with impressive openness.

After this, I went to the public sector value keynote, where Rob Wolf from eSponder showed off the video from the All Stars game, which just so happened to feature the multi-touch work that our team worked on.

Day 4

On the final day, I attended the regional keynote (APAC), which included a panel discussion with two Kiwi companies, where we discussed a number of differing views on Microsoft’s Cloud/Online offerings. In the afternoon we covered Microsoft and the Web, and in my last WPC session we got to see some real world applications from the partners that made them – a good chance to see the end use of products. All in all a great WPC, with lots of messages, updates, interaction and jazz.

wayne.forgesson@intergen.co.nz