Directions 2007 - The place to be

Marije_Brummel

For me, Directions is one of the things to look forward to. Last year was my first one and I enjoyed every moment of it.

Directions is a Navision only event for partners. It is organised by partners and sponsored by Microsoft.

There is much to learn and great people to meet. There is a nice mix of general sessions and ISV sessions and a lot of socialising.

This year I an very proud to say I will be speaking. I will do a session about upgrading from C/SIDE to SQL. Actualy I am a bit nervous but my experience should help me a lot.

So; who is also comming??

jlandeen

I've heard great things about last years Directions but I did not attend. I am definately looking forward to attending my first Navision only conference.

The overall sessions planned thus far sound great all around (but I will be focusing on the developer side) and I'm hoping to learn a lot, meet some other Nav dev's and have some fun!

If everything I've heard about it is true then it definately will be the place to be.

davmac1

I am planning on it.

Dave Machanick

DenSter

I'd certainly like to go, and if I can get the means together I'll definately be there, if it were only to give Mark some moral support.

kine

I will be there in my thoughts only. :-(

Alex_Chow

I'll be there. But if you plan to go, better book early. Having the event at a tourist attraction is a pretty bad idea IMHO since booking hotels is a nightmare.

And yes Mark, I'll be attending your session.

Luc_VanDyck

Where on the web can we find info about Directions 2007?

Marije_Brummel

www.cronususa.com

Waldo

I don't know yet if I'll be going... . I want to ... but it'll have to fit in my agenda.

NavStudent

i was looking at the sessions and saw this.

DLFC - First Look Clinic - 5.1 Exposed!
Speaker:
Time: Sunday, November 11th, 10:00 to 17:00
Room: Fantasia G

This 6-hour session is designed to provide a deep look into the new Roles-Based Client. This session will cover:Introduction to the Roles-Based ClientHow to use Page DesignerHow to transfer Forms to PagesHow to create and transfer ReportsWhat C/AL changes have been madeOverview of Web ServicesC/SIDE Client enhancements

Six hour class with lunch in the middle.
I'm guessing they allready have the vpc and people who attend will see and use the software.

Why aren't they releasing the beta version?
the entrace fee is 600-800 $. If it was free I would have gone.

Well I'm hoping that they get the vpc, and shortly release the beta to the public.

Waldo

I suppose this session will be given by a Microsoft Employee ... .
I doubt it they will give a VPC (allthough the last I heared was October for the VPC (for ISV's))... .

NavStudent

I hope that is true about the vpc. If that's the case, the class will be very usefull since you get hands on exprience first and get all kind of question about 5.1

One thing I was wondering if the service tier will have some kind of scheduling.

I guess you can build an external scheduler to send an xml file with info on what to run.
It would be neat if you could with standard 5.1 service tier.
You could use the NAS i guess to send xml file to service tier (webservice).

Hopefully, they've done something about dialog windows not poping up when for example you run adjust cost routine or posting sales orders,
that way you don't have to write code to hide them.

Waldo

When using webservices ... and you get a popup ... you'll get an error like in NAS now. You will be able to use GUIALLOWED for webservices as well.
This is information I got from World Partner Conference.

For your scheduling question:
It is actually the timer-automation that enables scheduling for you. You will still need an application (NAS or third party) to schedule... . If you don't use NAS, you can (and in the past you couldn't) use webservices to execute business logic... .

kirkgoodwin

I'm one of the members of the Organizing Committee for the conference so I just wanted to chime in.

We have worked extremely hard to make this conference worth far more than the price of admission. We are all volunteers and no one in the channel is paid for their efforts - 100% of the income goes to the conference. The admission fee only covers a portion of the cost of each attendee. The support of the Sponsors, Exhibitors and ISVs makes up the difference. We have attempted to keep the price as low as possible so that the maximum number of partner staff can attend.

Our selection of Disney this year was due to the anticipated growth of the attendance. The past two years, the attendance has completely blown away the estimates and hotels that were available around the venue. Having the conference at Disney gives everyone a tremendous selection of hotels at an affordable price. That being said, just like other conferences, the longer that you wait to register, the fewer hotel choices you will have. We have already filled up our initial block of rooms at the Contemporary and the secondary block at the Polynesian is filling up fast. My recommendation is that you do not wait to register.

Since it is organized by channel partners for channel partners, we have attempted to create sessions that are important to the channel and presented by people who understand the channel.

Microsoft has also been incredibly supportive the past years and this year is no exception. We have more Executives, Management and Staff from Microsoft coming than ever before and this is a fantastic opportunity to network and learn where NAV is going.

Just so everyone has the full information:

Thursday is ISV day. It's jam-packed with all the newest stuff from the ISVs. Many of the ISVs have updated their products with new features related to 5.0. In addition, we are seeing a large number of EMEA ISVs who are introducing their solutions to NA. These are products that most NA channel partners probably have not seen, but may have immediate markets.

Friday's and Saturday's sessions are focused on 5.0 and what you can do today with 5.0. We've also tried to include more information about other aspects of the MS stack of which many traditional NAV partners may not be experienced.

Sunday is focused on the future and 5.1. This day is being presented by Microsoft staff who know 5.1 and other industry specialists who know the other parts of the stack. We want this to be your jumpstart to 5.1 so you are more ready when the product releases.

As of right now, it does not appear that the VPC will be available for the conference.

In addition, there are a number of training opportunities that are being organized. Check www.msreadiness.com for more details.

If you have other questions, please go to www.cronususa.com. We've tried to get all the info there.

Thanks,

Kirk

Waldo

Thanks, man ... this is valuable info.
I might see you there .

Alex_Chow

kirkgoodwin wrote:

Our selection of Disney this year was due to the anticipated growth of the attendance. The past two years, the attendance has completely blown away the estimates and hotels that were available around the venue. Having the conference at Disney gives everyone a tremendous selection of hotels at an affordable price. That being said, just like other conferences, the longer that you wait to register, the fewer hotel choices you will have. We have already filled up our initial block of rooms at the Contemporary and the secondary block at the Polynesian is filling up fast. My recommendation is that you do not wait to register.

Thank you Kirk for the information. It's very informative and shed some light on why Disney was chosen as a place of the conference.

Mindie

Yes I will be there. I'm registerd and have my hotel reservations.


I haven't purchased my flight yet because I can't decide if I'm going to stay extra days and see the sites. I live in So. CA so I don't know if the attraction are different than what we have here.

NavStudent

kirkgoodwin wrote:

Sunday is focused on the future and 5.1. This day is being presented by Microsoft staff who know 5.1 and other industry specialists who know the other parts of the stack. We want this to be your jumpstart to 5.1 so you are more ready when the product releases.

As of right now, it does not appear that the VPC will be available for the conference.

In addition, there are a number of training opportunities that are being organized. Check www.msreadiness.com for more details.

If you have other questions, please go to www.cronususa.com. We've tried to get all the info there.

Thanks,

Kirk

If vpc are not available, I see this as another marketing gimmick.

MS has been releasing and presenting in presentations so many inconsistent things that it’s useless to attend directions. Until they release a VPC these Meetings are useless for a developer or consultant.

At the rate this 5.1 is going, they will release it by October 2008 for G1 countries.

JasonC

I'll be there. It's a great event and I've been looking forward to it since I left Directions 2006 last year.

I'm also leading a "chalk talk" on beating the competition.

Waldo

JasonC wrote:

I'll be there. It's a great event and I've been looking forward to it since I left Directions 2006 last year.

I'm also leading a "chalk talk" on beating the competition.

Interesting topic ... I might be joining your session .

JasonC

Waldo wrote:

JasonC wrote:

I'll be there. It's a great event and I've been looking forward to it since I left Directions 2006 last year.

I'm also leading a "chalk talk" on beating the competition.

Interesting topic ... I might be joining your session .

Always an interesting topic.
There are a lot of great sessions on the agenda, so if you don't catch the chalk talk, look for me at the expo. I'm the PartnerCompete guy.

NavStudent

Why aren't they releasing a vpc? the MS employee have had them for months.

Alex_Chow

NavStudent wrote:

Why aren't they releasing a vpc? the MS employee have had them for months.

I think the reason why they haven't released the VPC is because they're still making changes to it.

At least they're taking their time to ensure something works before releasing it.

NavStudent

Then they should stop demoing it to customers. All they get is confusing info.

Or release a beta for NSC. We don't expect the software to be perfect, we just need to gain experience with the client.
I don't want to learn at customers expense.

DenSter

Maybe YOU wouldn't complain, but most partners would. Microsoft has valid reasons for not releasing a public VPC at the moment. When they feel they are ready for it, they will release it.

NavStudent

Then those partners that complain should not download the BETA.
They can wait, and once the product is released, they can go attend some training class, and learn the product (of course those classes will not teach them real life examples)

Anyways, MS should give us a CHOICE and let the people make the decision.

I don't need a VPC. They can give me the beta that I can install and learn the issues beforehand.

They could even create a beta list. You have to register before downloading the beta. So those partners that complain will not be given beta.

NavStudent

MS is doing with all their other software. PUT a NDA on it and it nobody in public will know about it. Dynamics is no different.

Anyways, the way it's going 5.1 won't be released till Oct 2008.
So this whole thread is pointless.

Alex_Chow

The original intent of this thread is to convince people to attend Directions. Not a discussion about 5.1. If you have a problem about how Microsoft handle's it's software releases, go work for them.

NavStudent

MS bought Navision, so it's still the same Navision people that are working on 5.1. You can hardly call that MS way of releasing software.

I'm saying that they are not releasing it the way MS is releasing.

About direction... One of the reason they are having it is to talk about 5.1 and that the VPC will not be released. So this thread followed that discussion.

Savatage

Mindie wrote:

I don't know if the attraction are different than what we have here.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/pa ... erviewPage

Waldo

Everything has been confirmed ... I'm coming over as well.