Stampede By Any Other Name: What Microsoft Dynamics GP needs to bring back

Pam Misialek is bringing back Stampede. Pam explains there needs to be a new name. A rose by any other name is still a rose, so you get it. But it's up to both Microsoft and the Dynamics GP partners to bring back the camaraderie that existed at Stampede. What do you remember about Stampede and what about it would you really want to bring back?

Those of you in the channel who arrived after Great Plains Software and the Stampede to Fargo might be asking, "What was Stampede? Why was it so great?" I've been in the channel since 1990, so let me take a stab at telling the stories. If you're under 21, you shouldn't read any further.

Recognition

In 1990 I didn't think a conference in Fargo, ND was worth the trouble of getting there. I was dead wrong. I found out afterwards that if I had gone, I would have been in the running for New Reseller of the Year. If you don't go, you can't win.

By 1991, I had heard enough from local competitors and my partner account manager. I knew I had to go.  I wasn't prepared for the award ceremony in the downtown Fargo theater though. Within the first few minutes of the ceremony, a video started with a customer lauding their reseller and the product. Another reseller in our region sitting next to me kept nudging me, saying, "That's you they're talking about, Gloria."

"No, it's somebody in California," I insisted.

Suddenly Rob Lloyd, my partner account manager, was pulling me upward to go on stage for the Pacific Region Reseller of the Year Award. I was so stunned, the seconds were in slow ...