Convergence 2010 or #CONV10 as everybody on Twitter is referring to it as started yesterday with over 8500 attendees from across the globe attending the event where the theme is "Today, Tomorrow, Together" – a reflection of our past, our present, and our future vision.  

Day one was kicked off in fine form with the opening keynote that featured speeches from MBD President Stephen Elop, and MBS Corporate VP Kirill Tatarinov.  Stephen focused heavily on the release of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 featuring a nice demo from the GP product management team as well as the importance of the cloud and investments there from Microsoft. Kirill's piece looked at the future of business applications, featuring an exciting demo of Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail, which hits the shelves this coming August. Also great to see Varun Krishna up on stage with Lachlan Cash giving everybody an insight into the way CRM and ERP applications could look in the future.  The keynote closed out with a special guest appearance from the Superbowl XLIV Champions and New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton (yes they also run Microsoft Dynamics ERP.) Make sure you check out clips of the keynote presentations on demand at the Microsoft Dynamics Newsroom.

Beyond the keynotes the product general sessions were jam packed...I mean literally jam packed full of product innovation, customer testimonies and a look at the future for all 4 Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions.  The sold out Convergence Expo was also packed, where we featured our 229 sponsors and exhibitors and the Microsoft Pavilion (the largest Expo presence in the history of external Microsoft events!)

A number of partners also used Day 1 of the event to make press releases (below are also a number of releases from just before the event) and I am sure that there will be more to come.

Last but by certainly no means least was the vounteer work carried out yesterday as part of our giving back to the community drive. Two options were offered this time around with one offsite and one onsite opportunity. 
The offsite volunteer opportunity was working at the Atlanta Youth Project Summer Camp. In addition to the offsite opportunity we were able to donate 2 completed Hospital Art paintings which were presented and installed at the Sheppard Spinal Center in Atlanta.

I will be back with more from Convergence very soon so don't go away!!! In the meantime though make sure you are getting the live 24/7 updates via Twitter  @MSFTDynamicsERP and if you are tweeting yourselves remember to use #CONV10!

Best Regards

Luke Shave
ERP Industry Marketing Manager