It’s going to be a busy end-of-the-year for most of us. Why Microsoft insists to do conferences during the busiest period of the year for most partners, I don’t know – I guess they don’t really realize that – but nevertheless, this busy time in the year, is also the most interesting time in the year ;-). Lots to learn, lots of new stuff that you need to take into account, new ISV solutions, new people in the community .. .
I’ve learned through the years that attending conferences does make sense to “be one with the product”. It lets you focus 100% on the product .. on NAV .. on the thing you earn money with, right? Such a focus isn’t always that easy to get during the rest of the year.
I will be doing 3 NAV-related conferences this year – in fact the same conferences as I have been doing for years.
Directions EMEA: October 5-7, 2015
First Directions EMEA in one month. Who on earth thought that it would be a good idea to give a conference in Mannheim (Germany), I don’t know (Never been there, so I shouldn’t be judging, I know .. but truly .. “Mannheim” doesn’t really sound like “Prague” or “Barcelona” or “Venice” or “Rome” or “Brussels” (joking..), does it?). But apart from the venue, the content is going to ROCK! And if the content rocks, NAV rocks! (which we actually already know, don’t we ;-)).
There isn’t too much I can say about the content though – just know that it’s worth coming over to Germany, and participate in this wonderful event, and take your first steps in the very new version of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016.
This is the second year that the new “MVP track” will take place. The details of the tracks are not online yet (though, the website doesn’t really work well on my Surface), but I can tell you that I’m going to be off-and-on in a few session, namely one about “Source control for NAV” (with Soren, Luc and Kamil) and one that’s called “An App Approach to NAV” (with Gary Winter). Please come by and attend! 
Directions US: October 25-28, 2015
This is the North American version of Directions, and will take place in Orlando (now, doesn’t that sound better than “Mannheim” as well? 
) – so, also here will be an MVP track that you shouldn’t miss! I always like this conference, and yet again, I’m honored to be part of the speakers. I will be doing the same sessions as the ones at Directions EMEA, with one extra session: a somewhat advanced version of my previous PowerShell session (people think I have some experience in that :-/).
NAV TechDays 2015: November 18-20, 2015
For any NAV developer, this is THE conference to attend. Unlucky as I am, it’s in Belgium, in Antwerp. In my opinion, the ONLY city that sounds worse than Mannheim – but then again .. I’m a local, I shouldn’t be saying this. I guess I just like to travel ;-).
I have been attending all of the editions, and blogging about them. And one word always came up: “perfect”. On all areas, Luc Van Dyck (Mr. MiBuSo) seems to be able to organize a perfect conference: Infrastructure (it’s a movie theatre for crying out loud – there is no better infrastructure thinkable), food (Belgian food and beer .. :-)), Expo, Session length and depth, … really, it’s a treat! Every year it has been perfect, and still, every year he has been able to even rise the bar a little bit … he has a high level to live up to this year…
Yet again, I’m honored to be able to speak for this conference as well. This time, something completely different: “Thinking out-of-the-box with NAV development”. The idea is that I’m going to show some nice solutions/things you can do with NAV, which may be you haven’t or wouldn’t think of .. . Let’s just say: some creativity with NAV. I’m taking a risk here .. . If I’m enthusiastic about a solution doesn’t mean you are, does it ;-)? But still, I’ve got loads to show, one or two things will be interesting nevertheless – I promise ;-).