I have to admit that time is flying by fairly quickly at the Worldwide Partner Conference in Los Angeles. Day 3 was a big day because I had the opportunity to speak on why Eligeo IT decided to go with Google Apps and then ultimately changed direction by focusing back on Microsoft technologies.We never used to be a Microsoft shop but now I can confidently say that. I’ve been talking to people from around the world this past week about changes I’m bringing to Eligeo IT and if it makes sense. It certainly rang true with many people that we are taking some innovative ways of building opportunities for our customers to generate more revenue. It’s really exciting. As a customer or follower of Eligeo IT you should stay tuned as in August / September we will be launching some significant changes in our business.
Back to WPC. My favourite part of the day is getting to know other partners or vendors that are attending the conference. It’s not uncommon for you to sit down at a table and have many people gather around you to have a conversation.
Today’s breakfast conversation was about Sir Richard Branson, who was only an hour or two away from making his appearance at WPC. The other topics certainly centered around the Cloud and how it is having a disruptive effect on the business community. I get the sense that cloud solutions are scarier for enterprise customers more so than the Small Medium Business (SMB) market that we focus in on.
Keynote
The keynote today was centered around competing against the competition. Kevin Turner, KT as it seems everybody calls him, was full of energy and delivered a really powerful presentation that uplifted a lot of those in attendance. He really focused on the opportunities available for Microsoft Partners and how it can help them change their business models. It was really an exciting talk.
Sir Richard Branson
This guy travels a lot. During a Q&A session at the centre stage of the Staples Center Mr. Branson had mentioned he just came in from Australia, was on his way to swim with sharks after his WPC appearance and then would be shuttling over to South Africa after that. I know a lot of people who simply mow the lawn in the morning, have lunch, head over to Home Depot, and come home for a BBQ. Interesting life this man leads.
I didn’t think the format of the Q&A was very well down but it was great to see Branson talk about how he got his businesses off the ground and a lot of the tips that he provided as well were invaluable. He is definitely a risk taker and it has obviously paid off.
My Speaking Session
I was really fortunate to be invited down to L.A. to speak alongside Domnick Parretta and Danny Burlage to talk about why we went to Microsoft Online Services instead of Google Apps. The toughest part was that we had our session at 430PM in the afternoon on the 3rd day of the conference. People are typically already on their way to the bar by this point.
We had about 20 – 25 people in the room and had a very interactive session with lots of great questions coming from the audience. It really was a blast.
CUT: Beverley Wilshire
The team at Microsoft took both Dominik and I out for dinner afterwards to one of the best steakhouses in Los Angeles: CUT, a restaurant by Wolfgang Puck. To be honest with you I’m not too familiar with Wolfgang Puck but all of the women in my life seem to! My girlfriend and several friends had asked that I take pictures of the food so I did that for them as you can see.
I had the best steak I’ve had in a long time here and it was definitely one of the most expensive steaks I’ve ever had. Absolutely delicious. We also had a celebrity moment when Piers Morgan from CNN / America’s Got Talent came on in for dinner in the restaurant.
Afterwards we took off to a bar called “My House” just off of Sunset Blvd. This is the first time I’ve been to the Los Angeles area and I’ve heard of Sunset Blvd and well, it certainly lives up to the reputation.
That was about it for Day 3, definitely action packed and a lot of fun. One more day to go which you’ll likely see while I’m on my flight back to Calgary Friday morning.