Things I’ll be doing at WPC

The Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference kicks off tomorrow. People are showing up today and things are heating up. Not just because the temperatures are expected to be in the 90’s in Houston. There will be around 16,000 people coming to Houston this week. They all have the same main goal … work more effectively with both Microsoft and other partners in the Microsoft Partner Ecosystem.

WPC helps Local Kids and the Local Economy

• WPC Gives Back: Microsoft YouthSpark and WPC Giving are making a difference. Don’t be surprised when your don’t receive a WPC Backpack. In lieu of event backpacks … WPC is making a monetary donation to the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Houston. Read more here.
• The Local Economy Wins Too:  As a point of comparison … last year the WPC was held in Toronto and it was estimated that $50 million dollars was infused into the economy. I expect a similar amount of revenue be infused into the Houston economy.

My Two Parallel Roles this Week

For work I’ll be talking and listening to both Microsoft and Partners about SharePoint, The Social Enterprise (think Yammer + Skype + Lync), Business Intelligence, Big Data and helping to drive awareness and adoption of the Microsoft Business Critical SharePoint (BCSP) efforts.

• I’m specifically looking for System Integrators that have SharePoint and SAP skills.
• These are very special partners that are very hard to find.
• If you have these skills. Find me on the Microsoft Connect tool or find me on the show floor. We have some business to talk about!

Giving Back

For partners … I’m also working with Microsoft to help those that are New to WPC. Look for the hashtag #New2WPC throughout the event on Twitter, Facebook and other social media channels. There are teams in place to help new attendees. For example, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I will be hosting a lunch with several other volunteers from various IAMCP chapters around the world.

We have committed to help new attendees get the most out of their WPC experience.

We haven’t forgotten about “experienced” WPC attendees. Quite a few blog posts were posted on the Microsoft US team WPC blog focused on helping both New and Experienced WPC attendees. Thanks to Microsoft’s Diane Golshan and her extended team for all the hard work pulling this together. Also, thanks to all the authors for taking the time to contribute their thoughts and content to the WPC blog.

Here are three of my posts:

• What to do before, during, and after WPC
• The Four F’s of WPC
• The Five R’s of Good Partnering

If you are attending WPC I hope we get a chance to connect. If you are #New2WPC please take the time to read at least the Four F’s post. Since this is a partnering event … If you have SharePoint and SAP skills we should talk. Of course, if you are a partner and just want to share experiences please feel free to ping me directly or grab me on the show floor or between sessions. In the evenings I’ll be the guy in an Aloha Shirt and Shorts and I’m always up for a conversation.

These are the things I’ll be doing this week at WPC. What will you be doing?

I hope to … See you in Houston!

Jeff Shuey is a veteran in the Enterprise Content Management industry. Over the past 20 years he has worked with customers and partners to design, develop and deploy solutions around the world. Jeff is currently the Director of Strategic Alliances at Winshuttle. He has worked for Microsoft, FileNet, K2, Captaris, Open Text, Kofax and Kodak. He speaks and blogs about ECM and the Intersection between Social, Mobile and Cloud Computing.

Follow me on Twitter, check my blog, send email or find me on Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+