For those unfamiliar with WPC, The Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) is Microsoft's largest event for partners, attracting more than 15,000 attendees from all over the world. In 2015 the conference took place in Orlando, Florida and featured a treasure trove of big ideas, fresh concepts, and the best minds in the industry.

The BrainStorm team eagerly awaits this conference every year. Some of our favorite things about WPC include:

• Learning more about Microsoft's vision for the future
• Networking with a lot of great partners and Microsoft employees
• Hearing positive feedback regarding our solutions
• Understanding Microsoft's greater emphasis on software adoption
• And of course, all the great parties!

WPC 2015 was particularly special to us as we were recognized as the Microsoft West Region EPG Specialty Partner of the Year! Learn more here.

Sadly, we understand that not everyone can or was able to attend WPC. In case you missed it, here are three of the major takeaways from this year's conference.

Productivity

Kicking off the conference, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, began his Keynote presentation by reiterating Microsoft's mission to "Empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more". Through out the conference the dedication to this cause was evident.

Now that's a mission we PropellerHeads can get behind! Also, check out Julia White's keynote on "Reinventing Productivity and Business Processes". We are excited to teach the world these new technologies.

BrainStorm's calling in life is to help every organization and every end user realize the immense productivity and power that Microsoft's software solutions offer. They build it, we teach it, you love it!

Adoption

Like never before, Microsoft and the partner ecosystem, are realizing the critical importance of end-user adoption. Not only do great rates of adoption increase organizational productivity, they also ensure successful deployments, greater customer satisfaction and higher rates of renewal.

Our favorite adoption line of the conference? "Successful deployments fail, not because of poor technology deployment and planning, but because employees and customers don't use the technologies." (Microsoft IT)

This year we learned more about how Microsoft software adoption and consumption is now more closely tied to performance metrics and compensation for both Microsoft teams and partners. We also couldn't possibly tell you how many conversations we had with organizations that are excited to move forward with us.

Partnership

As you would expect from a partner conference, the emphasis on mutually-beneficial relationships and networking was ever-present. We were excited to meet so many people and have such great conversations. A huge thank you to all that were able to attend our informal "Night Cap" party at the Hilton on July 13th. We had a tremendous amount of fun.

If you'd like to also join in on the fun and adoption success with us, check out our partner page for info on partnering with BrainStorm.

Closing Thoughts

As a Microsoft Partner, we can’t wait to put into practice all that we've learned from WPC and continue our mission to rid the world of mediocre software use. The most exciting thing of all is thinking about all the opportunity that lies before us and the great people we will be working with in the coming months and years. We look forward to seeing you in Toronto from WPC 2016!

For more information on BrainStorm's West Region EPG Specialty Partner of the Year award, please read the blog post or the press release.

For more information on WPC 2015, including recordings of the keynotes, visit the WPC site.