Improve your professional skills by attending Convergence

Today’s business leaders actively pursue the skills they need to get the job done. Nobody is sitting around, waiting to hand you that knowledge; you’ve got to go out and grab it. Attending Convergence is one way to do that. Here are a few ways I improve my professional skill set every year.

Attend general and concurrent sessions to know what’s coming.  Make attending the general session for your ERP solution your top priority. This session is where you get the roadmap for the high level direction of the software. Knowing what’s coming as far as upgrade cycle, types of improvements, and strategic direction is important information to have when you’re back at home. Concurrent sessions are an even more detailed view into what you may see in the next year or two. Watch for trends and direct your thoughts to how the things you are seeing will affect future decisions at your company.

Keep your finger on the pulse of business and technology by networking with your peers.  Not all of the learning opportunities are found in formal sessions at Convergence. Take time to talk with people and ask them questions about how they do things in their businesses. What technologies are other people using? What’s working? What’s not working? What are best practices? What do they wish they could do? What’s being done in their industry? Take time to observe what devices people are using around you. Ask them about what app they’ve used lately that’s helped them out. Find out what books or blogs they are reading.

Learn directly from experts.  You’ve got huge opportunities at Convergence to talk directly with experts. Now is the time to ask those really nerdy, super technical, theoretical what-if type of questions. Microsoft experts are everywhere! Watch for members of the research and development teams for your software. Stop after sessions to talk with speakers about their content.  Make time to show up at the help desk to talk with the Microsoft gold support engineers who are there. All of these people are here at the conference specifically to talk about ERP software, so engage them in a conversation! You will often learn more in one of these conversations than you could ever imagine.

Get inspired by attending the keynotes.  One of the key skills I need to exercise as a leader is to instill hope for the future in my team. If you want to see a great model of this skill, go to the keynotes! I get my annual dose of inspiration every year at Convergence.

Make sure you plan to attend Convergence with some specific goals for improving your professional skill set.  The conference is full of opportunities.  What will you choose to pursue?

Kerry Rosvold has been the Corporate Controller at Augsburg Fortress Publishers since 2008 and has used Microsoft Dynamics NAV as her ERP of choice since 2004.  She blogs regularly at www.dynamicsnavfinancials.com.