Now that you've returned from Convergence 2013, be sure to continue the learning! In addition to viewing the session downloads and recordings, extend the value of your Convergence attendance by leveraging the enhanced learning opportunities that are available with online Hands on Labs. To take the labs, all you need is your computer, so set aside some time during your day – or night! – for this informative, hands on training.

To get started, log into the secure portion of the Convergence website (using the same login credentials as when you registered for the event--either your username and password OR your Microsoft account), and navigate to Schedule Builder; search by session type “Hands on Lab”. You can also filter by product to drill down even further. When you’ve found the lab you want to take, launch the lab by clicking on “View Lab”.

NEW ORLEANS — March 19, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today opened a sold-out Microsoft Dynamics Convergence 2013 with a keynote address from Microsoft Business Solutions President Kirill Tatarinov featuring Microsoft Dynamics customers Chobani Inc., Habitat for Humanity International, Revlon Inc., Shock Doctor Inc. and Weight Watchers International Inc.

Speaking to more than 11,000 attendees, the largest in conference history, Tatarinov addressed how business leaders can reimagine the way they engage with customers, build brand relevance and collaborate with employees to stay ahead of the changing roles across all levels in business. Observing the increased influence of marketing and other areas of business over a company’s technology investments and the value of collaboration, Tatarinov reinforced the idea that business functions can work more effectively when they unite with their IT counterparts. Tatarinov noted that Microsoft Dynamics is uniquely positioned to serve as a catalyst for unity, and he announced new advancements in integrated marketing, embedded social capabilities, and new cloud and mobile scenarios enabled through Microsoft Dynamics solutions that will help businesses unite with their customers, unite their organizations, and unite their people and technology.

“To realize the promises and possibilities of a world ahead, organizations must be united” Tatarinov said. “Microsoft Dynamics solutions reimagine what’s possible for businesses, helping them unite to unlock innovation and creativity in people and to enable more meaningful experiences for their customers. When a business is truly united, great things happen.”

Revlon, one of the strongest consumer brand franchises in the world and a Microsoft Dynamics customer, brings the concept of unifying IT and business to life. The company is transforming the way people work and collaborate, starting by replacing 21 disparate business systems and 531 point systems with Microsoft Dynamics AX.

“The speed of beauty and glamour is unforgiving,” said David Giambruno, chief information officer of Revlon. “We are in a hypercompetitive market, and Microsoft Dynamics provides our employees with real-time information to access business-critical information virtually anywhere, anytime on almost any device, helping unite them with each other so they can innovate in a collaborative way across product development, manufacturing, sales and marketing.

Unite With Customers

Strengthening relationships by successfully engaging with customers is vital to business growth. Marketing, sales and customer service are essential to effective customer engagement, and the right business solution can unite these various functions. In addition, integrated marketing management has emerged as a critical strategy for companies that want to reach and engage with new customers while differentiating their brands, driving market excellence and making the most of their investments.

To help businesses achieve true integrated marketing, Microsoft announced a new version of the recently acquired MarketingPilot, which features a simplified user experience, a familiar look and feel, and seamlessly works with Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Through MarketingPilot, marketers get access to a complete marketing automation solution with rich business intelligence, enabling them to successfully plan, track and optimize customer interactions across digital, social and traditional channels. This capability, when combined with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, fulfills the Holy Grail of marketing: omnichannel marketing that enables top-line revenue growth while managing costs and measuring return on marketing investment. The new version of MarketingPilot will be available to customers in the United States in March 2013. Microsoft plans to make MarketingPilot available to additional international markets later this year. More information is available at https://community.dynamics.com/crm/b/crmconnection/default.aspx.

“Marketing is changing and evolving rapidly, and we need business solutions that help us grow top-line revenue while managing costs. Our marketing needs require us to engage and interact with our customers, while providing technical solutions to efficiently distribute the appropriate information to our dealers to complement and enhance the sales process,” said John Johnston, director, Digital Marketing at Volvo. “We’ve been using Microsoft Dynamics to better align our marketing and sales processes and are constantly developing our solutions to increase our sales potential and personalize our customer interactions.”

Microsoft’s vision is to deliver social monitoring and analytics features as an integral part of the user experience and provide these capabilities to all roles and functions in an organization. To help businesses analyze and act on market intelligence from social conversations, including measuring sentiment across a wide array of social channels, Microsoft today announced an initiative to seamlessly embed social monitoring capabilities across Microsoft Dynamics CRM offerings. This effort has been accelerated with the acquisition of Netbreeze GmbH, which delivers cutting-edge native language analytics combined with data mining, transactional and text analysis capabilities. More information is available at https://community.dynamics.com/crm/b/crmconnection/default.aspx.

Chobani, maker of America’s No. 1-selling yogurt brand, uses a wide range of Microsoft technologies, including Microsoft Dynamics AX and CRM to keep pace with its aggressive plans for future global growth. The company uses Microsoft Dynamics CRM to communicate and connect with its consumers around the clock.

“As our company grew, so did the volume of messages from consumers across the world. We receive hundreds of contact messages and phone calls daily,” said Maureen Hurley, vice president of information technology at Chobani. “Microsoft Dynamics solutions have enabled us to make that feedback actionable, better track and understand what our customers want, and continue to provide best-in-class service. This has helped us build deeper, more immediate connections with our fans and continue our growth.”

Chobani also recently opened a new domestic manufacturing facility in Twin Falls, Idaho — considered the world’s largest of its kind — and was able to bring it online with Microsoft Dynamics AX in just 27 days.

Unite With Technology

Microsoft today announced a set of new applications for phones and tablets, which will be available with the next update to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. Designed to be personal, social and immersive, these mobile applications will provide a more relevant experience based on people’s roles and devices, help them connect with their social networks, and provide an engaging and actionable experience. In addition to the Business Analyzer application, which is currently available in the Windows Marketplace, the company unveiled a new set of application capabilities for mobile usage, targeting the following:

• Expense management. Helps workers both capture and reconcile expenses while traveling, cutting down time and effort — meaning getting money back more quickly; helps organizations implement expense policies more seamlessly

• Time. Captures time on projects “on the go,” simplifying this administrative burden while providing businesses with the opportunity to improve working capital through decreased billing cycle times

• Approvals. Enables managers to approve business requests such as budget requests, time sheets, submitted expense reports and purchase requisition to cut down on administrative task and time spend

These applications will be available for Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets, Windows Phone 8, Android phones, and iOS phone devices.To ensure extensibility and encourage innovation, Microsoft is also releasing documentation for its mobile APIs to help customers and partners build their own mobile applications. Learn more about these new applications at http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dax.

In addition, Microsoft will deliver a mobile CRM sales application with the next Microsoft Dynamics CRM release in the second half of 2013. Optimized for tablets, this application will help people manage an opportunity from lead to close and easily connect with customers and colleagues, regardless of location. The application brings guided selling to Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets as well as the iPad. Businesses can configure this application, enabling them to tailor the experience to fit their sales processes and approaches.

Microsoft today announced the availability of the Community Technical Preview of the new Microsoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services helping IT professionals simplify the application lifecycle experience. These services help organizations improve predictability of Microsoft Dynamics AX implementations by simplifying and standardizing implementation processes. They also allow them to proactively manage the application and reduce downtime. As an online service, Microsoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services helps minimize an organization’s IT burden. Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 and Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 were released in Q4 2012 and were received positively by customers and partners. Enabled for the cloud, these solutions offer customers a complete choice of deployment both in the cloud and on-premises. In addition, these products will be available through partners to customers hosted on Windows Azure in June 2013.

Reaffirming the road map for Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft expects to release updates to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 in the second half of 2013. In addition to new mobile scenarios for phone and tablet devices, this release will also include capabilities such as warehouse management and transportation management, giving customers a real-time global view of supply chain operations. The company also reaffirmed availability of the next major release of Microsoft Dynamics AX in the cloud on Windows Azure and on-premises with early adoption programs commencing in 2014.

Microsoft Dynamics Momentum

Microsoft announced the latest Microsoft Dynamics CRM adoption numbers, with more than 3 million users and more than 39,000 customers. Microsoft Dynamics AX continues on a strong growth path with more than 18,000 customers and an increase of more than 50 percent license growth in North America in the last Microsoft fiscal quarter. Microsoft Dynamics also announced a number of global independent software vendor (ISV) partners supporting Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM, including Acorn Systems Inc., Bull, Flintfox International Ltd., Dominion, Hitachi Solutions Ltd., Hubwoo and XAPT Corp. These partners join Microsoft’s broad portfolio of other leading global ISVs, which view Microsoft Dynamics as a critical component in helping propel customers become Dynamic Businesses.

More Information

More information about Microsoft’s Dynamic Business vision can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/about.aspx. More information and news from Convergence 2013 is available at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/presskits/dynamics. The opening keynote presentation and general session keynote speeches are available on the new virtual event platform for Convergence 2013 at http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/convergence. Those who want to follow and engage with the Microsoft Dynamics Twitter community can do so at @MSFTDynamics and @MSFTConvergence using #CONV13.

About Microsoft Dynamics

At the heart of every successful business are the people who make things happen. Microsoft Dynamics designs modern business solutions that empower individuals with intuitive tools that allow them to do their best work. Our proactive, easy-to-use business applications adapt to the way people and systems work, enabling businesses to rapidly deploy and be forward-looking in an ever-changing world.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

Congratulations to Jerry Weinstock from CRM Innovation LLC —winner of the Convergence 2013 Share Your Story contest! For being chosen as the People’s Choice award winner, he will receive a free all-event pass to Convergence 2014. Thanks to Jerry and all those who contributed their compelling stories about the amazing things that can happen during Convergence.  Check out his excellent tale on the Convergence contest site, and don’t forget to wrap up any last-minute registration or event plans for an tremendous conference next week. See you in New Orleans!

If attending Convergence 2013 wasn't in your budget this year, or schedule conflicts arose, never fear--Virtual Convergence is here! Virtual Convergence is our free online event experience. Beginning March 19, 2013,  Virtual Convergence will live broadcast the event keynote and our product-focused general sessions, with integrated social media so you can join the conversation online. In addition, concurrent sessions and deep dive sessions will be available on Virtual Convergence within 24 hours of their designated time. You'll be able to view as much of the session content as you wish, picking up much of the same information and knowledge as in-person Convergence attendees. Virtual Convergence will remain available for 12 months following the event.

While Virtual Convergence can never replace the in person experience, by making select content available, we hope to raise awareness about Convergence and build momentum with your future attendance.

For a limited time, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, and Microsoft Dynamics SL existing customers who attend Convergence 2013 to be held in New Orleans, LA March 18-21, 2013, are eligible to receive a 20% discount on additional GP, NAV and SL users and/or modules meeting a minimum System Price List value of USD $2,400 (EUR €1800 for EU/EFTA countries). The discount may be applied across certain product line or edition transition fees.

For all the promotion details, including the terms and conditions, visit the Attendee Offer page.

We hope you’ve made plans to join us as we cap off what’s sure to be a terrific Convergence 2013 with a fantastic closing celebration!  The Convergence Closing Celebration will take place on Thursday, March 21 from 7:30-11:00pm at the Woldenberg Riverfront Park located in the heart of the city. You’ll enjoy great local cuisine, refreshing beverages, fabulous music, and exclusive access to the city’s state-of-the-art aquarium.

And after 9:00pm, chart-topping, multi-platinum rock band Matchbox Twenty takes the stage! The concert will be held on the Great Lawn with the beautiful Mississippi River as the backdrop. You definitely won’t want to miss this amazing concert and celebration – it’s the perfect way to bring Convergence to a close and spark a bright future with friends and colleagues!

(An informational flyer with a detachable wristband will be handed out at the Registration Desk at the Convention Center upon conference check-in that will include more information about guest passes, transportation, weather and other details.)

The great news is:  you DO have the chance!  Our keynote speaker on Thursday, March 21, Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of United Nations, will be sharing his worldly perspectives with us and we’d like to ensure that he covers the topics that you’re most interested in. Take a few minutes today to send off an email to us  with your questions and--your question just may be discussed!

Desiree Rogers, CEO of Johnson Publishing Company, LLC, will be the featured presenter for the Business Leadership general session on Tuesday, March 20 at 2:00pm.

Through leadership roles that include White House Social Secretary (2009-2010) and president of People’s Energy’s two natural gas utilities, she has earned a reputation as one of America’s most successful businesswomen. With a Harvard Business School degree and stellar business experience, Rogers has redefined every leadership position that she has held while playing a major philanthropic role in the communities in which she has lived. She is widely credited for her ability to identify and motivate talent to challenge existing assumptions using brand discipline and superior communication skills thus creating new pathways for success.

During her Convergence presentation, Rogers will share some of her brand expertise and experiences to help us gain greater insight into “Connecting to the Customer.” For more information on the general session or on Desiree Rogers, visit Session Catalog on the Convergence website. 

We're proud to announce the winner of our Name It. Claim It. Contest, who not only named the closing celebration at Convergence 2013, but who'll be enjoying a meet-and-greet with Matchbox Twenty. 

Congratulations to Cory Hudepohl of Cincom Systems in Cincinnati, Ohio. His winning entry, "Spark the Future," captures the energy and spirit of Convergence, and hits just the right note for the finale of what promises to be a superb event in New Orleans.

Thanks to all the contest entrants and your great ideas. It was a close race!

If you're still on the fence about attending the premier Microsoft Dynamics event of the year, check out www.microsoft.com/convergence to discover the rich selection of keynote speakers, educational sessions, discussions, and networking opportunities that await. Register now to make the most of your Microsoft Dynamics investment. 

Please join us in celebrating the 2013 Customer Excellence Award winners. These winners will be highlighted at Convergence and you'll have the opportunity to hear from them in person during Q&A sessions in the Convergence Theater, located within the Convergence Experience Center. Watch the Session Catalog for the arrival of the dates and times of these special customer Q&A sessions in early March. 

The entries are in and we're ready for you to help us decide the theme for the closing ceremony at Convergence 2013.

Numerous Convergence attendees have sent in their ideas for themes and titles for the closing ceremony, which will feature a performance by Matchbox Twenty. The lucky winner will get an exclusive meet-and-greet with the band--as well as the pride of having their concept chosen for the conference.

Which of the themes can you best visualize rocking out and celebrating to? Cast your vote to have your say in the final decision. Voting will be open now through February 12, 2013.

The finalists are:

• Light the Way - Susan Ziegler
• Spark the Future - Cory Hudepohl
• Rockin' the Bayou - Julie Rado

Vote now!

The Convergence 2013 content development is nearly complete so we have rolled out all the dates and times for our breakout sessions, which includes general sessions, concurrent sessions, interactive discussions, deep dive sessions, sponsor sessions and roundtable discussions. A view of sessions by timeslot is now available in both the Agenda pages and the Session Catalog.

In addition, if you are already registered for Convergence, you can login to Schedule Builder to begin creating your own personal breakout schedule. We suggest reviewing the catalog of sessions, choosing all sessions of interest, and then closer to the start of the event, narrow your choices down so that you have an option or two for each timeslot (our most popular sessions may fill to capacity so it's good to have a backup plan!) The sessions available will continue to fluctuate over the next several weeks as we work to fine tune our schedule. 

To login to Schedule Builder, you'll need the same credentials created when you registered for the event. The login page has an option for a login or password reminder.  

While you're on the My Convergence page, take some time to review the tools that will be available to you during and after the event. We've got some exciting resources that will be made available to enhance your onsite experience and make the most of your time in New Orleans!

If you've been putting off entering the big Convergence Share Your Story Contest, this is your last chance. Send in your videos and written stories to win big!

Take the opportunity to recall some of your favorite moments at past Convergence conferences, and then submit them in written or video form.

If your story makes the cut, you could win a $250 American Express gift card and be entered to win a free pass to Convergence 2014.

Did you do some impactful networking at Convergence? Did the conference give you some new perspective on your business? Maybe you had some sort of zany adventure while you were there? We want to know about all of these.

Here's how it works:

• Submit a one minute video or 250 word max written story at http://convergence13.strutta.com

See the full contest terms and conditions.

Send in your entry today before it's too late!

We’re one step closer to recognizing the 2013 Customer Excellence Award winners! Check out this year's finalists and stay tuned for the announcement of this year’s winners on February 8, 2013. 

Convergence 2013 is coming to New Orleans, LA, March 18-21, and discounted pricing is only available through January 25, 2013. Take advantage of the early registration discount and save $300 USD off the regular registration fees. 

Register early to:

• Save $300 USD per attendee!
• Start planning your schedule for Convergence in New Orleans
• Secure the best travel arrangements and hotels.

For more information on this year's event, visit the Why Attend and New in 2013 pages, and go to the Registration page to REGISTER TODAY!

Our closing celebration at Convergence 2013 will be so impressive that we're having trouble naming it. If you're heading to New Orleans, help us name our finale event--and win a VIP pass to meet musical guest Matchbox Twenty! 

Submitting is easy: Just visit the contest site to give us your best celebration title. Here's what we're looking for:

• Capture the Spirit of Convergence.
• Make us smile--have fun with it!
• Keep it concise.

It's that simple, so enter ENTER NOW!

Submissions will be accepted from January 15 at 12:01 A.M. Pacific Time (UTC-8) to February 3 at 11:59 P.M.  For details on contest rules, requirements, and restrictions; please visit the contest page.

The nomination process is now closed and the Microsoft judging teams are selecting finalists for Phase II of the awards process.

The award finalists will be posted to the Customer Excellence Awards page in mid-January, so check back to see this year's list of contenders.

Happy New Year! Remember to get those Customer Excellence Award nominations in by Wednesday, January 9 at 11:59pm PT. All details can be found on the Awards information page.

Has Microsoft Dynamics made a big impact on your organization? If so, you could be a 2013 Customer Excellence Award winner! 

Nominations are open now through January 9 for the 2013 Customer Excellence Awards. The Customer Excellence Awards recognize, honor, and celebrate customer organizations that are achieving outstanding success with their Microsoft solutions.

This year we have 16 award categories, ranging from recognizing technology innovation in the workplace to celebrating individuals who are sharing their knowledge with the greater Microsoft Dynamics community.

Does one of those award categories fit you or your organization? Let's get you nominated. You can either submit the nomination yourself or you can work with your partner or a Microsoft team member to submit it. Head out to the Awards page to get started. Nominations will be accepted through January 9, 2013, at 11:59pm PT. After that date, judging committees will convene to select award finalists for Phase II of the nomination process. You can read the whole protocol, as well as the winner benefits, on the Awards page.

Celebrating customer success is wonderful and important part of Convergence, and we hope to see your nominations come through soon!

Here's a reminder that we're nearing the end of the two opportunities for you to get involved in the planning of Convergence 2013, with our new online tools closing on November 30, 2012. We'd love to hear from you as we work to finalize our content plans for this year's event.

Speaker Nominations:   Do you have experience to share, wisdom to impart or stories to tell?  Our product track owners are on the lookout for customers to add their real life experiences to Convergence presentations. If you have something to say, let us know!  The Speaker Nomination tool is designed to gather up contact information from those Microsoft Dynamics customers that are willing to speak - in one way or another - at the coming event. Nominate   yourself - or others (with their permission, of course!)-today!

Content Survey:   To help our planning team better assess the needs of our Microsoft Dynamics conference attendees, we invite you to let us know what your personal learning priorities are for Convergence. What products, features, functionality or technology do you hope to learn more about?  Take a few minutes to give us your learning needs-the more people we have to complete our survey,  the better equipped we'll be to create breakout session content that's desirable and relevant to your interests!  

Whether you're already planning to attend, or you're still considering the possibility, here's the last chance to let us know how we can meet your needs -and help make Convergence 2013  another unforgettable event!

Calling all Convergence alumni! We want to hear your best Convergence story. And we're offering a $250 American Express gift card for the best one each month. There is still time to enter for November, so spread the word.

Not only could you win that gift card, but you might even win the grand prize and get a full pass to Convergence 2014 for free. Video entries are fun, but your entry can be written, too. Here's the kind of story we're looking for:

• Tell us how Convergence helped you form a new business relationship.
• Share an experience from the conference that changed your perspective somehow.
• Make us laugh with your funniest story from Convergence.

Head over to the contest site, and see if you think you can beat the other entries. Seriously, wouldn't $250 right before the holidays be nice? Of course it would. Enter now!

Early registration is now open! Save $300 per attendee by registering right away. Check the Convergence 2013 website for the latest information.

Ball Corporation has won the 2013 Ongoing Evangelism Award for their continued advocacy of Microsoft Dynamics. The Ongoing Evangelism Award recognizes a past award winner for evangelism activities such as case studies, presentations, and reference calls.

Ball Corporation is based in Broomfield, Colorado, and is a metal packaging company that uses Microsoft Dynamics CRM. They won the Technology Innovation Award at Convergence 2012 Houston and their partner is Pariveda Solutions. Ball Corporation will be celebrated at Convergence 2013 New Orleans with the rest of the Customer Excellence Award recipients.

For more information on this year's categories and qualifications for the 2013 Customer Excellence Awards, visit the Convergence website.

With much anticipation, we're excited to announce that registration for Convergence 2013 is now open. Prospective attendees who register before January 25, 2013 take advantage of the best pricing possible, and get the first crack at reserving hotel rooms within the Convergence block. Every hotel within the Convergence block resides within a two mile radius of the Ernest R. Morial Convergence Center--the hub of all Convergence activities. Registration details and hotel information can be found on the Convergence website, along with the link to register for the event.

It's with greater excitement that we also announce the keynote speaker line-up for 2013.  Opening the event on Tuesday morning is our own Kirill Tatarinov, President of the Microsoft Business Solutions division within Microsoft Corporation. Tatarinov will help set the tone for the week in New Orleans as he grabs our attention and points us toward A World Ahead. With broad and mindful strokes, he'll paint a portrait of the current horizon within the world of Microsoft Dynamics, and then challenge us as we ponder the road ahead.

Following the opening keynote, attendees will divide and conquer as the conference kicks into full gear with an active Convergence Experience Center, and an abundance of breakout sessions. Then, on the morning of Thursday, March 21, we'll gather up again as we welcome the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, as our closing keynote presenter. Sharing his perspectives on important issues that we're faced with here in our global economy, Convergence attendees will be enthralled with Annan's insight and intellect as he helps us gain an understanding of the impact we each can have on the world at hand.

Another notable announcement is our Convergence Celebration headliner, band Matchbox Twenty. Their recent studio release, NORTH, debuted in the #1 position on the Billboard Top 200 album chart and Convergence attendees are sure to delight in-- and rock out to--their concert set at the closing festival.

Finally, we now invite partners and customers alike to submit nominations for this year's Customer Excellence Awards. The Customer Excellence Awards recognize, honor, and celebrate customer organizations that are achieving outstanding success with their Microsoft solutions. Phase I of the nomination process continues now until January 9, 2013 and features the gathering of the customer's award qualifications. Nominations that meet or exceed the criteria will be invited by Microsoft to move onto Phase II as award finalists. For more information, visit the Customer Excellence Awards page on the Convergence website.

Bookmark the Convergence website  as details continue to unfold for the coming event and don't forget: registration is now open with the best pricing available so don't delay--register today!

Convergence 2013, set for March 18 - 21 in New Orleans, will not only see new networking and learning opportunities, but a reversal in agenda as well. With the Convergence 'reception' moving to the final night--Thursday, March 21--the Convergence Celebration will help bring an official close to the event and provide all attendees a chance to relax, and enjoy the accomplishments of the week.

To help set the tone for the Convergence Celebration, we're excited to invite the chart-topping band, Matchbox Twenty, to join the festivities. Formed in Florida, Matchbox Twenty entered the world with a blockbuster -- 1996's YOURSELF OR SOMEONE LIKE YOU. The debut set spawned five hit singles -- "Push," "3 am," "Real World," "Long Day" and "Back 2 Good" and snagged an RIAA Diamond Award certification for U.S. sales exceeding more than 12 million to date. Lead singer Rob Thomas also raised the band's profile by co-writing and singing on Santana's Grammy Award-winning 1999 smash "Smooth." Matchbox Twenty maintained the momentum with MAD SEASON in 2000 and "MORE THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE in 2002, both of which went multi-platinum and continued to spit out hits such as "Bent," "Unwell," "If You're Gone," "Bright Lights" and "Disease."

After a hiatus which saw each of the band members heading off into new directions, the band has re-grouped and recently released NORTH, the band's fourth album--and the quartet's first release in five years. NORTH brought Matchbox Twenty their first album to debut at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart and is the band's first set of all-new material in a decade.

Watch the Convergence website for further details on the Convergence Celebration and make plans today to take it all in-from start to close-March 18 - 21, 2013 in New Orleans, LA.

Convergence is filled with learning opportunities and the Hands on Labs are a way for you to - quite literally - get your hands on Microsoft products. These labs are computer-based exercises that help you learn more about the features and functionality of your Microsoft and Microsoft Dynamics products. From basic overviews to detailed procedures, you're sure to learn something that will help you when you return to your office after Convergence.

Last year we invited community members (users, partners, consultants and Microsoft Certified Trainers) to submit best practices and "tips and tricks" in the form of a lab.

We invite you to share your tips and tricks this year. It doesn't have to be complicated or multiple hours' worth of content. If you've discovered something great and want to share it with others, we want to hear from you!

Here are some of the highest rated topics from last year's labs:

• Quick queries
• Menu maintenance
• Printing forms
• Office add-ins
• Workflows
• Reporting

Your lab can be a step by step exercise, video with narration, or even a couple of paragraphs outlining a best practice.

Read other Convergence Spotlight blogs.

Simply email mbs-evnt@microsoft.com and we'll help you get started with your lab. We look forward to hearing from you soon and seeing your lab debut at Convergence 2013!