by Rabon Bussey, Partner Technology Advisor for Microsoft Lync, Microsoft US Partner Team
With the Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston just a few weeks away, I have put together a list of the sessions about Unified Communications and about Lync that I recommend you consider when building out your conference schedule in WPC Connect.
In the Unified Communications track, sessions will cover how Microsoft is bringing the next generation of tools to an even larger community of users that can now span from the living room to the boardroom. This track will focus on the Lync platform’s evolution towards re-humanizing communication and putting people first to create a user experience that is simple, convenient and natural.
This year, the Lync product group will be in booth #CC-9A in The Commons, co-located with the Microsoft Office Division. The booth will feature a ‘hands-on experience’ with a social lounge and demos that showcase Lync and Lync Online, as well as the recently announced Lync-Skype connectivity. Lync solution providers will be showcased in the Lync Partner Connect booth #701.
How to add sessions to your WPC schedule
A more comprehensive guide is downloadable from the main WPC Connect page.
- Sign in to WPC Connect and click on your Session & Meeting Scheduler tile (this will only be visible to you if you are a registered attendee).
- Select the Session Scheduler tile, and then choose to filter sessions on the right hand side.
- Type “Lync” into the Search bar, and click Apply. All the tiles in your screen should now be Lync-related. Mouse to the top right corner to close the filter menu.
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- Click on any session tile to open it, and you will see the session title, number, date/time/location, and description.
- Select “Add to my schedule” from the left side of the pop up, and you’ll get a notification that the session has been added.
- While you’re in the session screen, you can Show Attendees to see who else has added that session to his or her schedule, you can find a list of Related Sessions, and you can Like and Comment about the session. Close the session details and add more sessions to your schedule.
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Microsoft Lync session recommendations
| Day | Session # | Session title |
| Monday | UNVK | Value Keynote – From Living Room to Boardroom, the Future of Unified Communications |
| Monday | UN01 | Lync 2013 Partner Opportunity and Programs |
| Monday | UN02 | Lync 2013 and Lync Online Technology Overview for Office 365 |
| Tuesday | UN03i | Growing Lync Practice with Readiness Programs and Communications Competency |
| Tuesday | UN05i | Lync Accelerate: Best Practices Along the Customer Journey |
| Tuesday | UN04 | Lync: A Complete Primer |
| Tuesday | UN06 | Winning the Lync Meeting Deployment with Lync Room Systems |
| Tuesday | UN07i | Competing with Lync |
| Tuesday | UN09 | Lync Partner Hosted Offer: Why and How? |
| Tuesday | UN08 | Lync as a Platform: All About the Apps! |
| Tuesday | PAR06 | Service Provider Opportunities with Lync 2013 |
| Tuesday | US08 | Driving Your Lync Business in FY14: US Go-to-Market Program for Lync Partners |
| Tuesday | DYN26 | Conquering the Cloud Contact Center |
| Tuesday | GEN07 | Capitalize on Your Social Enterprise Investments with Microsoft Translator |
| Tuesday | HCVK | Value Keynote – Microsoft Cloud Vision for Hosting Partners |
| Tuesday | HC10 | Compete by Growing Your Microsoft SaaS Portfolio |
| Tuesday | HC17t | The Key to Lync Enterprise Voice Conversion (Theater session) |
| Tuesday | WP01 | Growing Your Business with Windows Phone and Consumerization of IT |
| Thursday | US18 | Growing and Expanding Your Lync Practice in the US |
| Thursday | US21 | Office 365 Education: Tens of Millions of US Students Connecting with Partner Apps and Services |