A New Era Together - WPC 2012

Each year thousands upon thousands of Microsoft Partner Companies descend upon one lucky city for the annual Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference. This year that lucky city was Toronto! With passports and luggage in hand, the Microsoft Partners of the world jumped on planes and trekked (some across multiple time zones) to share in the vision for their beloved partner Microsoft!

Bit-Wizards WPC attendees included CEO Vince Mayfield (@VinceMayfield), COO Louis Erickson (@LouisErickson), Director of Solution Sales Alexandra Morrow, and Director of Morale Candie Mitchell (@CandieMitchell). This team started the week early arriving a day early and attending the Azure Circle Partner Pre-day Event. Speakers for the pre-day event shared all the most recent updates to the Azure Cloud Platform and also gave insight to the Circle Partners on where Azure is headed and how serious Microsoft is about the cloud. This pre-day event paved the way for a truly spectacular week.

Day 1
WPC kicked off with a Vision Keynote from none other than Microsoft’s CEO and fearless leader, Steve Ballmer! He discussed in vivid excitement the direction that Microsoft is headed with Windows 8 Metro, Windows Phone, Azure, and Office365! He was sure to mention that the coming year will prove to be truly EPIC! Following Steve Ballmer's keynote, attendees shifted their focus to special breakout sessions, individual networking meetings, and plenty of walking!! One of the coolest places to visit at the conference was the Solutions Innovation Center; where vendors and partners could meet and discuss opportunities for business… or, like our Director of Morale, you could just hang out until you won a Windows Phone!

Day 2
Very exciting progress for all partners were discussed in the keynote given by Satya Nadella, President of Microsoft Server and Tools Business. He discussed advancements in cloud computing and how Microsoft’s cloud OS will help partners deliver powerful solutions in the coming year. After the keynote our Wizard attendees hit the conference pavement for more meetings and sessions. Oh, almost forgot, Vince was invited to an exclusive roundtable meeting with Satya Nadella to discuss the success and experiences Bit-Wizards has had from being part of the Azure Circle; also to share feedback on the program moving forward. This day was also followed by some very exciting networking opportunities for Bit-Wizards. Our group attended a very cool boat party hosted by SoftwareOne! You can bet Alex was moving and grooving through that crowd to make connections and share the Bit-Wizard reputation and service!

Day 3
This was the last day of Keynotes in the Air Canada Conference Center. Speakers featured this day included Jon Roskill, CVP of the Worldwide Partner Group and the dynamic Kevin Turner, Microsoft’s COO. Jon Roskill discussed the improvements coming to the Microsoft Partner Network and Kevin Turner turned the partners’ eyes to Microsoft’s commitment to helping their partners succeed using solutions that are far beyond that of the competition. After this exciting morning looking to the future our Wizard group went separate ways. Louis, Vince, and Alex all had meetings scheduled in the WPC Connect lounge, and Candie had to film her last device test drive review at the entrance to the Hockey Hall Of Fame in downtown Toronto. Again, the day ended with great parties and opportunities to meet other partners.

Day 4
The last day of the conference ended with a bang at the East Region Partner Awards Ceremony. Bit-Wizards was nominated for the East Region Azure Circle Partner of the Year! Such an honor to be nominated; next year we will clench it! The day continued and included a meeting with our Partner Marketing Manager, Leah Peterson, and also some informative Azure Circle Partner sessions. Finally business was done and it was time for the biggest party of the week. The WPC Partner Party which included a concert with Train!

Taking A Break
After a long week of walking, we decided to take a bus tour of Toronto and sit at a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game and of course we let James Cuomo (@jacuomo) our Microsoft Azure Business Development Manager tag along, because we love him (he’s that guy making the weird face in the pic)! All-in-all it was a crazy busy week, but let’s just say the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference never disappoints, it is a great time to be a Microsoft partner, and Bit-Wizards is looking forward to an epic year!