My Directions EMEA 2023

Directions EMEA 2023 is just around the corner, and I’m looking very much forward to it!  And so should you! ;-).

Since last year in Hamburg – which was clearly the best edition of all – they have set high expectations.  At least for me ;-).  It was the first edition to have “deep dive” sessions, which they will pursue this year as well – and the venue .. oh boy .. the venue was just perfect.

This year: Lyon.  Never been there .. and probably never would have if it wasn’t for this convention, so may be this is a good opportunity for me ;-).

When you look at the schedule, you’ll get blown away about the amount of sessions there will be this year.  Dear lord!  Including a lot of “Microsoft Presents” kind of sessions. Of course, Directions is a great place to meet the product team, and listen first hand on what they have to say.  I do notice that a lot of content has already been shared on the “Business Central Launch Event”: https://aka.ms/bcle .  Me personally, I’m always trying to figure out the sessions that are completely new (don’t worry, there are lots of Microsoft sessions that are not on BCLE as well), because you only get one chance to visit those during the event, while you can watch the videos always after the event as well.  In fact, I’d strongly advise to watch all session from the Launch Event (that are relevant to you and your job) as a preparation for Directions EMEA, so you know where to focus on during the event 👍.  Just my 2 cents 🤷‍♂️.

For me personally, it’s going to be a busy one.  Dear lord 😱. 

VARs & ISVs better together – Discussion panel (Wed 2pm) (link)

I was invited to be part of the panel discussion for this session, because we (iFacto Business Solutions) are an ISV and VAR – but mostly a VAR.  So I should be able to see it from both ends, and – you might know or not – I do have quite some opinions on how some ISV’s are “playing the game” lately 😉.  And you might have some strong opinions as well – so please join the discussion on Wednesday!

AL Development for NAV Dinosaurs (Thu 11:15am) (link)

One of my first sessions I’ll be doing together with Arend-Jan Kauffmann.  And i’m looking forward to it!  You might or might not know, but AJ and me go back a long time, started our time in “NAV” back in the early 2000’s, so yeah, we are Dinosaurs pur sang!   We felt your pain – and sometimes still feel it – and we dedicate a session for all other Dinosaurs on what we think are the most significant things in the NAV-to-BC transition, that have changed, and we should focus on!

Join this “deep overview” – it’s going to be 105-minutes of “aha’s”, “oh no’s”, “oh yeah rights”, “oh fucks” .. and so much more! 😉

How to use telemetry to improve your product (Thu 4:15pm) (link)

Again on Thursday, again a 105-minute session (oh boy… 2 on 1 day 😱), this time all by myself.  One I have put a lot of work in, but I guess (hope!) that’s what every speaker does.  But just imagine: anything telemetry demo needs data – in a timeline.  How do you do that?  Well, I did it 🤘🤪🤘.  I’m actually quite excited about this session: both in terms of content, things I’ll be showing from real life, which really helped me in real life, but also looking forward to the future in how we can even better and more use “Telemetry” in combination with Business Central, with some nice concepts I really believe in.

Ask the MVP’s (Fri 12:45) (link)

I might also be part of this session.  “Might”, because there are some doubts when this session will take place.  For the moment, it’s on Friday, but as any schedule – it might change (as many MVP’s can’t join this one as they will be busy).

In any case – it’s always nice to experience the questions from the audience in what their concerns are, and the different views on it.

This time – to be better prepared – there is a powerapp to collect the questions beforehand, so we can better distribute the answers, and prepare for it as well.  This makes it less “ad hoc”, but better prepared with more content.  So – if you’re planning to join this session, here you can already send your questions: https://aka.ms/AskTheMVPs.

And that’s it for me!  Only about 300 minutes of sessions to cover 😱.  So, you’ll see a lot of me – and I’d like to apologize beforehand for that 🤪.

C U There!  Looking forward!