Having the opportunity to experience all the goodness of the event, I'd like to share 4 solid reasons why you should plan on attending next year's WPC in Los Angeles, California:
1. Get a Sneak Peek of the Latest and Greatest Microsoft Innovation
In WPC10, for a geek like me, it was great to see next generation innovations that Microsoft is working on. Among these are: Azure Appliance, Live Labs Pivot, Spindex, etc.
Seeing these technologies can give you a good sense of where Microsoft is headed.
2. Establish Meaningful Connections
Imagine being in a gathering of over 12,000 people. Just thinking about it is overwhelming. How in the heck can you establish meaningful connections with people in such a humongous crowd?
That's where the power of technology comes in. Microsoft did a great job in providing a networking platform on the WPC10 site called WPC Connect. This allowed attendees (partners, microsoft employees, guests, etc.) to look up profiles, schedule meetings and even see which sessions people are attending during the conference.
In addition, social media tools are a great way to connect with people. In fact, thanks to Twitter, I had the great fortune of meeting top tweeters at the conference and even organized a tweetup + webcast around how social media can drive business value.
Lastly, aside from formal conference events, there's a lot of after hour events as well. I attended the jam-packed
IAMCP party and had
SharePint with the cool SharePoint crowd. These informal events are a great way to meet new friends and catch up with folks you haven't seen since the last conference.
The network of people you meet is definetly among the top value of attending WPC.
3. Be Mentally Stimulated with A Wide Array of Sessions
If you live, breath and work in Microsoft technologies, there's more sessions than you can attend (there were
over 620 sessions in WPC10).
Since lot of these sessions are presented by Microsoft, it's a great opportunity to pick the brains of the folks behind the respective technology you're interested in.
Personally, I enjoyed the keynote sessions music put together by DJ Darek Mazzone and having the cast of Glee perform on Day 2 keynote.
4. Learn, Engage and Interact with Thought Leaders
How often will you get the chance to listen to President Bill Clinton, learn from rocket scientist Bill Buxton, watch Microsoft Project Director Arpan Shah host "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" EPM Edition and have an exclusive lunch with Jon Roskill, head of Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Group?
Talk about drinking from a firehose. More like drinking from from the Hoover Dam.
If you're reading this and attended WPC10, feel free to add more reasons why folks should attend WPC11 in LAX.
I look forward to see you next year!