I sat down with Tony Stein, Program Director for the Dynamics CRM User Group (CRMUG), to chat about the 2014 CRMUG Summit, happening this October 14-17 in St. Louis, MO. This year will mark the 7th annual CRMUG Summit and the first time it’ll be hosted in St. Louis.
Michelle Spitzer (MS): CRMUG Summit attendance has grown quite significantly over the years. There were less than 200 participants in 2010, and the expected attendance this year is upwards of 650. To what do you attribute this growth?
Tony Stein (TS): It’s all about the content and really just the inherent good will of users wanting to help users. There’s no other conference in the world where you’ll find the quantity and quality of focused, Dynamics CRM sessions for existing Dynamics CRM users that you’ll find at CRMUG Summit. I also think we have the right blend of session formats – from the step-by-step How2 sessions to Ask the Expert and Roundtable discussions. This, of course, includes sessions for those beginning to use and learn Dynamics CRM but also expert and proficient level sessions where CRM administration, extensibility & development are involved for deeper level learning. We have a great community of users and other Dynamics CRM experts who come together to share their real-world experiences in using Dynamics CRM, and as a result, attendees go home with proven answers and solutions that they can implement right away in their organization.
MS: How many sessions will be presented at this year’s event?
TS: There are about 170 sessions across 12 focused tracks, including CRM Admin-Newbie, CRM Admin-Support, Developer, End User, Enterprise, General, Leadership, Engaging Microsoft, Partner Showcase, Technical, and of course, User Adoption. We encourage people to bring several people from their organization to the event, as there are sessions for all types of Dynamics CRM users – from the front line sales, marketing and service reps to CRM admins to tech gurus and developers.
MS: That’s a lot of sessions. How do you come up with the sessions that get presented at CRMUG Summit?
TS: There are several different avenues that we use to build the session roster. We host hundreds of webinars and meetings throughout the year where users are talking to users, so we’re consistently dialed into what users are discussing and the topics that are top-of-mind amongst the Dynamics CRM community. These discussions are also happening in our online community, CRMUG Collaborate, so we’re always paying attention to the hot topics there, as well as in the various blogs, articles, and research that are published every day throughout the greater Dynamics CRM ecosystem. We had about 65 people submit their own session ideas in the formal CRMUG Summit ‘Call for Proposals’ as well.
We then have a committee of 11 Dynamics CRM users, subject matter experts, and MVPs that help take all of this information and turn it into sessions and tracks for CRMUG Summit. The servanthood of those on this committee and other subject matter experts is truly what makes this community thrive.
MS: What are some of those hot topics that attendees can expect to learn about at this year’s event?
TS: There are some topics that are always at the forefront with Dynamics CRM users – like user adoption, extensibility, and administration – and we’ll have plenty of content around these. They’ll also find sessions on adopting and moving to Dynamics CRM 2013 and the enhanced options for mobility and the new UI. Microsoft continues to extend the Dynamics CRM portfolio with newly acquired solutions for customer care (Parature), social listening (Netbreeze), and marketing (Marketing Pilot) – attendees can expect some discussions around these topics as well.
But, remember half of us as users are still using earlier versions of Dynamics CRM. So it’s not always about the new and exciting, it is literally about rolling up the sleeves and figuring out how to manage data better, handle security and administration, work with workflows, goal management, the SDK, just a ton of items that are inherent to Dynamics CRM, regardless of version. So it really doesn’t matter if you are on Dynamics CRM 2011 or 2013, there will be content, discussions, and experiences shared across versions.
MS: You mentioned that you listen to members’ feedback and ideas in creating Summit content. What have you changed for 2014 based on what you’ve heard from attendees?
TS: One of the things I’m most excited about are the new tracks we’re introducing this year based on attendee feedback. We’ve added an ‘End User’ track for sales, marketing, service and general Dynamics CRM users – with the majority of sessions in a How2 format that show step-by-step where to point and click. We’ve also been working with some of the Dynamics CRM staff at Ford Motor Company to build an ‘Enterprise’ track to meet the unique needs of our attendees from large organizations, covering topics such as multinational deployments and change management. Another track that I’m excited about is our ‘CRM Admin-Newbie’ track. I’m always hearing stories from CRM Admins who are either new to the role, were delegated the role from somewhere else in their organization, or who have a technical background but little experience as a CRM admin. However they ended up in the role, they’ll find some intro-level sessions in St. Louis that will help them lay the groundwork for a solid foundation in administering Dynamics CRM.
MS: Is there anything else you’d like folks to know about CRMUG Summit 2014?
TS: Summit is really the epitome of what we do all year long at CRMUG. It’s our sense of purpose and why we exist – to help Dynamics CRM users work smarter and better using Dynamics CRM. It’s very fulfilling for me, personally, to see this come to life every year at CRMUG Summit. We see users helping users, Microsoft not only sharing information but also listening to the users, and the entire community coming together to help each other out…this is why we do what we do at CRMUG and why it’s an honor for me to come to work every day.
You can learn more about CRMUG Summit 2014 and register at www.crmugsummit.com. Experience It!
