Recap | Directions EMEA 2014

Normally I write this right after getting home, but boy have these last two weeks been busy. I only spent 14 hours home between Directions EMEA and NAVUG Summit.

So this one is about Directions EMEA. Poznan Poland this time. 1099 people attending, let’s round that up to 1100.

And honestly I must say that this was the best EMEA directions ever. Until this one, I always prefered the “orriginal” US version, but this one was GOOD!

It was the general atmosphere that made the difference, and the spacious venue. I have not met anyone that was not entousiastic about the 2015 version of NAV. We have the right product for the right market.

We started off by driving from The Netherlands to Poland in the Dutch MVP mobile with Arend Jan Kauffmann and Luc van Vugt. (And Wim, but he is no MVP, sorry Wim).

After this fun we met in the Hotel conference area where we had a beer, or two, or more, to catch up on information.

Waldo’s moment

Next day kicked of with a “Waldo” moment. I tell you, every year this guy thinks of something, if he does not loose his passport, he looses his wallet. Panic mode for a few hours, but he got it back.

MVP Track

As in San Diego we had the MVP track. My session about Mini App Design Patterns had a full room, people standing in the back. Always good for motivation.

I also had a chance to attend my partners in crimes’ sesions, PRS members Gary, Waldo and Vjeko. I am very proud to be working with these smart people.

NAV vs. AX

During our Mythbusters session one of the myths was about AX vs. NAV, stating that AX got more marketing attention. Here I liked the oppinion that marketing people have to spend more time on a product that cannot sell by itsself.

Personally I am proud that Microsoft has a product that is sold to companies like Delta Airlines, Nissan and Dell computers and competes with SAP. Hopefully this will also mean that NAV can grow a little towards what AX now is starting to consider too small.

NAVGate

Between some of the sessions I had a demo of NAVGate, the new C/AL code editor by IDyn. This is something that can really turn into a nice product. I had the demo together with Micheal Nielsen and Thomas Hejlsberg making me the junior of the audience. The latter was noticable since I managed to crash the demo with a single mouse click. <<oops>>

Anyway, the folks promissed me a demo environment and I promissed them to check it out and I will.

As Thomas stated: “It solves a need in the channel that Microsoft, at the moment, cannot deliver, which is great!”.

Catering

The catering was quite a challenge in Poznan. Lunch was served in ques of 500 folks per table and the beer tap only produced one beer every 30 seconds. Maybe something to learn from NAVTechDays here, as with the beamers, that shined into the presenters eyes. Very usefull.

Closing

We closed the event with having all MVP’s with the board on stage. Look at my strategic position over here.