Based on word of mouth and ‘war stories’ from previous years, there are a number of things I’m looking forward to at Sage Summit 2013.
1. Washington, D.C.
Yes, Sage Summit was based in DC two years ago, but what a stunning location, one worth returning to! As a South African who has only visited a few US cities, Washington D.C. not being one of them, I am particularly excited to see the home of Capitol Hill, the Whitehouse, the Smithsonian, the Lincoln Memorial, Georgetown, and the Potomac River. But first we need to ‘survive’ the week, as a number of the Sage Alchemex team will stay on after Summit to do some sightseeing. Any suggestions from locals or regular travellers to D.C. as to which attractions we should visit are most welcome!
2. Sage Intelligence Sessions
As a first time attendee of Sage Summit, I have not had the opportunity of presenting or attending sessions before. This year I’ll be doing both! The Sage Alchemex team has been working really hard to bring you quality sessions that will add tremendous value and improve your business insight. There are many sessions to choose from – certainly something that will be applicable to everyone. Download the details of the various Sage Intelligence sessions for partners and customers and be sure to register for some today! You may even be the recipient of some awesome little giveaways.
Some of the sessions I’m looking forward to attending are:
- Sage Intelligence: The Road Ahead–Product Vision and Roadmap (Session C-232 for customers or P-178 for partners). Get more detail here.
- Various Report Designer Add-In sessions which will explore the power of the Report Designer’s new in-memory processing engine and show you how you can take full control of the design aspects of your financial reporting layouts through the Add-In’s drag-and-drop Excel financial functions and formulas. (Lectures C-229 or P-175, or hands-on labs C-239, C-240 or P-182 for Sage ERP 100 and 500 Intelligence Reporting, and C-241, or P-183 for Sage ERP 300 Intelligence Reporting). Find out more here.
- A choice of Excel sessions which have always been oversubscribed in previous years. Everyone loves using Excel and, with Excel being the front end for Sage Intelligence, our team can provide some expert tips and tricks for using Excel to power up your business reporting. Consider attending any of sessions C-234, C-235, or C-236 for some great Excel insight from Ruth Gray.
- Sage Intelligence: Using Dashboards for Sage 100 and 300 ERP (Session C-230 for customers or P-177 for partners). Guillermo Tellez will be talking profitability dashboards and how Sage Intelligence can quickly and easily help you measure customer and product value.
- Sage Intelligence: Run Your Business Better (Session C-230 for customers or P-176 for partners). A great opportunity to hear from Eric Anderson, Technology Consulting Manager from Eide Bailly, who will impart real-world examples of how Sage Intelligence has helped to consolidate information, track progress, and encourage collaboration among teams.
Together with Bron Dorrofield, I’m also looking forward to sharing how Sage Intelligence can help change your view. We’ll be taking a look at how partners and customers have had real success with the module and will introduce you to the array of marketing and learning resources that are available to you to make a success of it too. If you are keen to change your view, register for customer session C- 227 or partner session P-172 – we’d love to see you there!
3. The Booth
I’m particularly looking forward to meeting Sage customers, partners and colleagues at the Sage Intelligence booth. We’d love to show you more about Sage Intelligence, hear about your successes with the module, as well as understand any frustrations. Be sure to visit us at the Sage corporate booth, No. 634, and pick up a funky ruler which doubles as a quick reference guide to Excel function key shortcuts. We’ll also be giving away an Excel Tips and Tricks booklet with 15 useful tips for making the most of Excel PivotTables and PivotCharts. Doesn’t everyone just love free stuff that’s also useful?
In addition, we will have, for the first time at Sage Summit, a presence at the Technical Support Centre, so make sure you book some time with Nic Hanafey, our Technical Integration Specialist who will be on hand to assist with your queries.
4. Sage City
The signature networking event at Sage Summit, which serves as the kickoff for the customer conference, promises to be better than ever! Customers will have the opportunity to meet like-minded peers, share ideas, and overcome similar business challenges and we’ll be there to assist in whatever way we can. In fact all Sage employees have a training webcast just next week. I’m looking forward to finding out what to expect and the role we need to play to help make this event a great success.
5. Fun!
The Sage Alchemex team is known for having fun and Sage Summit 2013 will be no exception! The reputation of the 19th Floor at the Gaylord precedes it, so we’ll no doubt be hitting the dance floor there on more than one occasion. Of course the Partner Party and Customer Appreciation Party should be fun events. I can’t say I‘m particularly looking forward to the 5km Fun Run (note to self: only 6 weeks to get the fitness levels up a bit!) but the team will be there in full force to enjoy the early morning run (walk?).
Follow us on Twitter and see what we get up to: @SageAlchemex, @StephenCoull, @gtellez, @DebbieHill5, @RuthieGray, @Sage_MichaelB, @LorenTaljard, @BronDorrofield, @davidpSageIntel, @Heidi_Alchemex and @NicHanafey
