How does this two time Partner of the Year Award winner prepare for the 2017 Inspire Conference, formerly known as the Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC)? This year, the conference returns to Washington, D.C., a home city for New Signature, with the conference epicenter only blocks from New Signature’s US headquarters.

Preparations for New Signature officially kickoff in early February with award planning, carrying a theme of collaboration between the key stakeholders, who meet several times throughout February, March, and April to define, prepare, finalize, and submit awards to Microsoft for consideration.

Hotels are booked long in advance to try to accommodate our large team traveling from some of our other locations in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. As part of this planning process, we start to look at individual schedules to accommodate the right meetings, events, and speaking engagements. New Signature strives to make the most out of our time with the large group of Microsoft and fellow partners all in one place, so having a grasp on logistics is definitely key!

New Signature is in the running for a number of awards this year, including:

  • Partner of the Year for the United States
  • Partner of the Year for the United Kingdom
  • Internet of Things
  • Partner Seller Excellence in Technology, Sales and/or Licensing
  • Messaging
  • IMPACT – ISV cloud innovation
  • IMPACT – enterprise cloud productivity

And of course, the parties… Anyone who knows New Signature knows that we like to throw some great parties, so of course this is a big part of the Inspire planning process. New Signature plans two to four events surrounding the conference annually, including a Welcome Reception Happy Hour, Partner Team Dinner, and the VIP Canadian After Party.

Getting ready for an event of this size takes a great attention to detail and a lot of pre-planning for schedules. To make the most of the five-day conference, it’s important to prepare and have a plan for time on-site at the conference and off-site exploring the city.  It’s never too early to start planning – and it’s certainly never too early to begin networking.

We are so excited to be participating in the Microsoft 2017 Inspire conference and can’t wait to see everyone!  See you in Washington, D.C.!