Making the Most of Focus 2016—Best Things to Do at THE BI360 Conference of the Year

In just a few weeks, from August 22 – 25, 2016, the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines in San Diego, CA will become the focal point where hundreds of BI360 Partners and Customers will gather to learn about one of the top full service business intelligence suites and corporate performance management (CPM) products on the market.
Determining which sessions and activities to attend at this year’s conference can be mind-blowing, making your head spin with all of the possibilities. To help you pinpoint key sessions and things to do at the event, check out my guide to this year’s conference.


 
Monday and Tuesday (08/22 – 08/23) – Two-Day ‘Nitty Gritty’ Practical Courses
Only pre-registered attendees are able to participate in these courses. For those seeking a deep dive into the ins-and-outs of BI360, then the two-day intensive workshops are for you. This year marks the inaugural addition of these highly sought after courses to the conference. So popular in fact, that both sessions have already sold out.
The hands-on training classes provide an instructor-led tour of the various BI360 features and functions, helping both beginning and advanced users gain much-needed practical experience on how to use BI360 and how you can use it to meet your own organization’s needs.
 
Tuesday (08/23) – Lessons for Partner Success
If you are a BI360 Partner and can only attend one day during this event, Tuesday is the day. Known as Partner Day, Tuesday offers two tracks of sessions filled with content specific to helping partners grow their BI360 business, whether you are a consultant, project manager, sales or marketing professional or a business strategist.
Begin the day with breakfast overlooking the renowned Torrey Pines golf course, then sit in on the Keynote where Nils Rasmussen, Solver CEO, welcomes everyone to Focus 2016 and introduces the award-winning Solver team. Then make sure to check out the first-ever Partner panel presented after lunch. Solver has asked several highly successful BI360 partners to share their thoughts and ideas that have helped them build a top-notch BI360 business.
Consultants, Project Managers and Implementers can round out Partner Day with must-attend sessions like: Simplify Standard Integrations with the new BI360 ETL Tool; Better BI360 Project Management = More Success; and BI360 Project Planning.
Sales, Business Strategists and Marketing Professionals should take time to attend: Position BI360 Correctly and Win More Deals; Tour de BI360: Web Portal and Vertical Presentations; Demo Training: Web Portal; Building a Successful BI360 Practice; and Power BI – BI360 Use Case.
Wind down the day at the Focus 2016 Welcome Reception featuring local culinary flavors of the various San Diego neighborhoods. With San Diego touted locally as The Craft Beer Capital, and ranked in the top six of CNN’s Top Beer Towns in the USA, Solver will deliver a sampling of various locally-made craft beers to Focus 2016 attendees. RSVP is required to attend.
 
Wednesday (08/24) – Juicy Info in Consumable Bits
Wednesday and Thursday offer more than 40 45-minute sessions geared towards users of all levels: beginning, intermediate, advanced and strategic planners. With so many choices, you will want to fuel up with an early morning buffet breakfast in the gardens. Then start the day with the Solver Executive Keynote presented by CEO Nils Rasmussen and CTO Mike Applegate as they share insights on BI360 and the Business and CPM industries.
Hottest morning sessions to check out include: Integrate your Strategic Planning with BI360 Budgeting and Reporting; How to Grow Revenue without Growing Staff, presented by Definity First; Simplify Standard Integrations with the new BI360 ETL Tool; Customer Showcase: BI360 – A Corporate Warehouse Solution; Using Power BI with BI360; and Got Allocations?
After a lunch buffet, be sure to attend the customer panel where five organizations share their experiences—the challenges and lessons learned—while implementing and using the BI360 solution.
Then join your fellow attendees in any of these popular afternoon sessions: Complete Dashboard Design; Top 10 Report Design Issues; doc-link, the Document Management & Workflow Solution You Need, presented by Altec; Introduction to the latest BI360 Web Portal; and Advanced Excel Budgeting.
If you’ve got the time, be sure to sign up in advance for one of the networking activities: Volleyball or the Driving Range. Then take time to clean up and dress to impress to enjoy the Customer and Partner Awards Banquet where best-of-breed BI360 implementations and organizations are recognized for outstanding efforts. RSVP required to attend.
 
Thursday (08/25) – More Learning. More Insights. More Collaboration.
After enjoying the usual morning buffet breakfast in the garden, hear guest keynote, Yvonne Camus, one of the top presenters on teamwork and performance, speaking on: Inside Eco-challenge – Lessons for High Performance Teams. Then try several of these trending morning sessions:  BI360 V 5.x Preview; Introduction to Dashboard Design and KPIs; Case Studies in Report Performance Optimization; Race to Win, by Yvonne Camus; Ad-hoc Reporting for Beginners; Web Budgeting for the Intermediate User; and Top 10 Report Design Issues.
After lunch, another panel of five different customers share their BI360 implementation stories and answer questions from the audience.
Highlighted afternoon sessions to attend include: How to Customize Live BI360-ERP Integrations; BI360 Security & Administration; Excel Tips and Tricks for Advanced Users; and BI360 Publisher 101.
The event will wind down with the Closing Session when Solver executives look ahead, evaluate this year’s event, discuss what’s up next for BI360, and how to hit the ground running when returning from #BI360Focus16.
 
Other Items to Check Out During the Conference
Many new features of BI360 Focus 2016 are available throughout the event. When you have a break in your schedule, be sure you try one or all of them:
-Hands-On Lab: Open Tuesday through Thursday during concurrent session times by registration only. You can work through a variety of tasks, try a new feature and more.
-Tech Support Room: Also open Tuesday through Thursday during concurrent session times. Support is available to help you troubleshoot a problem or answer any technical questions that you may have.
-Demo Room: Look for the demo schedule onsite and stop by when you have a moment. Along with reviews on BI360’s four modules, you’ll also find special demonstrations on the integration with Power BI and the all-new BI360 Process Improvement offering.
-Lunch Networking Opportunities by ERP or Industry: Be on the lookout for specially designated tables with signs indicating where particular ERP or industry professionals can enjoy their meal and targeted discussions.
These suggestions offer just a few highlights that should be considered when planning out your Focus 2016 schedule. We hope to see you there. And be sure to stop by the registration desk to say hi.