Open Letter to Microsoft: Love Your Dynamics Users

Dear Microsoft,

The pivot in Microsoft's business conference strategy that started with Convergence 2015 and will be fully realized at Convergence 2016

Your Microsoft Convergence is a great conference for people focused on Microsoft Dynamics. I have been to the last 10 Convergences as an attendee, presenter and an exhibitor. From all three perspectives I have found it to be a highly valuable event. After reading Anya Ciecierski's (Cal Business Solutions) article recently I was inspired to add my thoughts.

There has been a great deal of talk recently about planned changes for Convergence 2016. The two main changes as I understand them are:

1. A change of content focus towards business decision makers - and away from end users.
2. A further broadening of topics to cover "everything Microsoft" and a significantly reduced focus on the Dynamics Products.

Now, I fully support your right to create, change and dismantle any event and conference you choose for good reasons, but I would like to give a little piece of advice, if I may.

The life blood of any software community is the end users, the people that use the software day in and day out. These are the people that have been attending Convergence for as long as I have been attending. I meet and shake hands with at least a thousand people every year at Convergence, which I feel is a fair representation of the attendees present. They are all, without exception, users of Microsoft Dynamics software.

Convergence should not be a sales conference. The attendees already own Microsoft products and ...