Microsoft Convergence 2012 Houston - Day 2

David Meego - Click for blog homepage

Tuesday 20th March 2012 .... The second and middle day of the Convergence conference.

I think everyone was slowing down this morning as there were a lot of people having breakfast at the hotel and by the time we (Jennifer, Mariano, Frank Hamelly and myself) had eaten it was already a bit late for first session of the day.

Mariano and I had our second "Advanced" Support Debugging Tool in the second timeslot of the day and had a great turnout (some 270 plus attendees) at our CSGP23-R1 Microsoft Dynamics GP: Advanced Administration with the Support Debugging Tool presentation. Mark Polino came and visited with a surprise for the attendees.


Mariano, Mark Polino and David

Mark had brought along his slingshot with some freebie goodies to launch into the audience. Thanks Mark for setting the scene and waking the audience up.


Firing a GPUG T-shirt into the audience

After we had launched the stash of goodies we had, Mark joined the audience and Mariano and I presented our session. This was an advanced session that included many of the areas of the Support Debugging Tool that we just don't have the time to cover in the introductory session. While this session does have a number of demos which use Transact-SQL and Dexterity code, the main aim was to show some of the possibilities that can be achieved with the tool.


David and Mariano presenting

After lunch, Mariano and I attended Leslie Vail MVP and John Lowther's session CSGP20-R1 The New Microsoft Dynamics GP Administrator. Over the years Leslie has been instrumental in making our Support Debugging Tool sessions great. Her feedback has improved the tool itself and streamlined our presentations. Now it was our turn to support her and John as they presented their session.


John Lowther and Leslie Vail ... the caped crusaders.... well maybe

The next stop was the interactive discussion on security IDGP02-R1 Ask the Experts: Security in Microsoft Dynamics GP. This session run by Bob McAdam, Beat Bucher, Jeff McDowell and Steve Baute with Brian Roney as Subject Matter Expert (SME) was a great open forum to discuss application security and related issues. Mariano and I joined the session as application security usually involves a discussion of the Support Debugging Tool's Security Profiler and Security Information windows. Bob was kind enough to promote the repeats of our sessions on the next day.

With the sessions over for the day it was time to find Jennifer and head up to Pam Misialek's room at the hotel for a "Thank You Open House" for the Microsoft Dynamics GP presenters. Of course the usual crowd was there.


Usual Suspects: John Lowther, David Musgrave, Leslie Vail, Mariano Gomez and Beat Bucher

During the evening, we got to talking technical stuff (as you do when you have a room full of geeks), so then Jennifer and Pam decided to have a private non-technical chat.... I don't think I want to know what they were talking about, but I am worried now that Pam knows things about me that she should not really know.


Jennifer and Pam discussing something important

Later the technical stuff made way for jokes and we managed to get John laughing so much that he started having trouble breathing and ended up having tears down his face and had to go to the other room to calm down. The "Giggle Loop" strikes again.


John caught in the "Giggle Loop"

We finished the night with a pleasant dinner down at McCormick and Schmik's in the Houston Pavillions. While some of our group went into the Spot's party, the rest walked back to the hotel.

Once back at the hotel we ended up having a discussion (joined by Kim Peterson, Mark Polino and Ian Stewart) about how to track usage of the Support Debugging Tool. This information is important as it will help justify the continued development of the Support Debugging Tool to management.

Action Item: Just as a quick measure, if you use the Support Debugging Tool and want to see it continue, post a comment on this blog article and tell us of your experiences. What parts do you use? How much time has it saved you?  [Edit] Note: There are no plans to stop work on the SDT, but I do need to be able to justify the time I put into development, documentation and testing.

One more day to go.

David