Microsoft Convergence 2011 Atlanta - Day 4

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David Meego - Click for blog homepage

Today is the last day of the Convergence conference. I caught up with a couple of the GPUG team at breakfast, GPUG founder Andy Hafer and the "larger than life" John Lowther.


Andy Hafer, David Musgrave and John Lowther

After breakfast, all the attendees filed into the Hall B5 to see the Closing Keynote session. On the way, I caught up with some of the ex-Great Plains Software girls.


Brenda Smestad, Jane Olson, Brenda Ronson, Rebecca Nelson and Lynn Swenson

Now when I say "all the attendees", I should clarify that is "all the attendees" who managed to make it to the conference venue after the numerous conference parties that occurred last night. There had definitely been some attrition of the numbers as the hall was nowhere near as full as it was for the Opening Keynote.

For the Closing Keynote session we heard from Doug Kennedy, VP Dynamics Partners & Support Serice Programs.  He presented some interesting facts for the Convergence conference.


Doug Kennedy, VP Dynamics Partners & Support Serice Programs

Fun Facts:

  • 9.2 miles (15 km) of network cable utilised.
  • 410 tons of inbound freight received at the Georgia World Congress Center, in 89 trucks.
  • Consumed 22,500 cans of soft drink, 1,800 gallons (6800 litres) of coffee & tea, 3,500 pounds (1,600 kg) of fruit, 35,00 snack items.
  • Over 500 pounds (230 kg) of excess food donated to the Atlanta Food Bank.
  • Longest Title on a session Powerpoint slide: 17 words.

Other Statistics:

  • Over 300 Tweets at 11am on Monday.
  • Over 41,00 session badge scans.
  • Over 1,200 meetings facilitated through Convergence Connect.
  • 38 countries are represented.
  • Over 80 industries are represented.

He also highlighted the fantastic volunteer work that was completed by conference attendees on the morning of the first day of the conference. 4 children's playgrounds with landscaping were built and buildings were painted for the Thomasville Heights Community Center & Library and Forest Cove Apartments as well as the Shepherd Center Hospital. We then saw a video montage of the volunteers working (with live music from Nick Brophy and the Heroes). It was really heart warming to see the end of the video when the local kids started playing in their new playgrounds. The volunteer programs run as part of the Convergence conference is a brilliant initiative.  Thank you to all those who volunteered.  

The other really cool initiative as part of conference is that $5 will be donated to the Youth Ensemble of Atlanta (YEA) for each conference evaluation submitted. With over 9,300 attendees at the conference, there is a potential $46,500 donation.  We were then treated to a performance from the ensemble. They are very talented and great dancers and singers.

The final announcement that Doug made, was the details for next year's conference.  Convergence 2012 will be held in Houston, Texas, USA on 18th-21st March 2012 at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Here is Doug getting into the Texan theme.

  

Stay tuned for more on the keynote from guest speaker, Malcolm Gladwell. 

David