User Group Summit - Phoenix recap

As the program lead for the Dynamics Community, I'm always excited to get out and meet community members and share the value of community. The Microsoft Dynamics User Group Summit (UG Summit) in Phoenix, Oct. 15-18, was a great opportunity for myself, and Community Manager Archie Haus to team up with Margo Crandall from Microsoft Learn and Ananth Ramanathan from Dynamics.Microsoft.com to share the value of the Business Applications communities and Microsoft Learn with many attendees stopping by our booth. We enjoyed many questions and discussions around Dynamics on-premise to Cloud migration, new certifications and other related topics. Below, left to right, Margo, Archie and Ananth are all set to help customers.

On Day 2, I had a chance to sit through a great session by Hemant Raj on Dynamics 365 Customer service app and a focus group on understanding Communities. One take away we had from the focus group and from the week is that we have the opportunity to make signing on the communities easier and more seamless for our customers. I capped off the day attending the Power Summit Community Session & Microsoft Town Hall panel, which included own program manager, Siva Harinath.

On Day 3 of the UG Summit, we had an amazing keynote from Microsoft CVP James Philips introducing Digital Transformation, new Data-driven paradigm along with various Dynamics 365 Business Applications. Apps introduced included Mixed Reality Remote Assist and Layout, AI for Sales, AI for Customer Service and AI for Market Insights. Several people from Microsoft gave demos on how Polaris is using various Dynamics 365 apps and has digitally transformed itself to compete in their market.

I loved the philanthropic effort by Dynamic Communities Inc., the organizers of the event, to help fight hunger with giving campaign, "Rise Against Hunger". Below, you'll see a section of the Expo Hall was cordoned off for volunteers attending the UG Summit to pack food for the less fortunate.

On the fourth and final day, we held a drawing for a Surface Go laptop, and Mallory Lawhorne, a consultant at the Cobalt Company, based in Alexandria, Va., was the lucky winner to take the prize home. Below from left to right: Margo Crandall, principal technical writer for Learn and Docs: Siva Harinath, Principal Program Manager for Business Applications; Dynamics 365 Community Manager Archie Haus, myself, our prize winner Mallory Lawhorne; Ami Kusi, Product Marketing Manager; and Gordon MacDonald, Director Product Marketing, Dynamics.

We would love to hear more about your experience at UG Summit. Comment below to share your stories or links, or if you didn't attend, tell us what upcoming events you're excited for!!