2 Best Conference Takeaways -- INSPIRATION and CONFIDENCE

I have decided to start this site...finally...after attending the GPUG Summit in Reno, NV. If you ask my friend Anya, she will tell you I am the Queen of Convention Giveaways (aka Tchotcke). I have walked the long expo halls and filled my commemorative bag with squishy toy things...light up shot glasses...light up sunglasses...2 million pens...etc.There have been 2 conferences that yielded giveaways that I will treasure forever:

INSPIRATION

Microsoft Convergence 2005 - San Diego, CaliforniaWalking the halls of the beautiful San Diego Convention Center, I learned how much bigger Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains) was then our little office in San Diego. Bill Gates was the keynote speaker. He was funny and inspiring. A Microsoft MVP lead an amazing Excel class. I walked out of that class with tips I use to this day. Mark Rockwell was dressed like Elvis and summed up his thoughts in a song I can't remember but I have never forgotten. I had never seen anyone so excited and inspired about GP or accounting software in general. If it wasn't for Mark and his poodle skirt wearing co-workers; I might never have looked into all of the amazing tools that were being built to integrate with GP. MS Convergence 2005 was right before I moved from California to Connecticut. I left feeling inspired to learn more.

CONFIDENCE

 GPUG Summit 2015 - Reno, NevadaThis was truly a milestone in my career! I was a speaker in the General Sessions and an Instructor for the GP Academy. All the lessons I have learned from all of my GP mentors converged to make this the best conference ever! I really felt like I was part of the GP community. I loved sharing tips and ideas. I had the chance to brainstorm with GP MVP's and All-Stars. I had an amazing lunch organized by the "Women in Dynamics". Somewhere in the middle of eating my lunch and hearing their stories...it hit me: 10 years ago I was an attendee soaking in all that I could at MS Convergence....and now, I am able to help others. I walked away this week with a couple nice tchotchkes but the best take away this week was: Confidence.