It is day 2 at the Microsoft Partner Conference. If day one can be summed up as inspiring, then I would have to classify day two as painful. My back hurts from carrying this darn bag around, my neck is stiff from the horrible hotel pillows, my head is pounding from not enough water and the Denver altitude (or too much wine) and my feet are sore and blistered from walking miles end-to-end across the conference center in “bad” shoes.

The keynotes seemed a little annoying this morning with blaring music and a light show somehow inappropriate on day 2. We were all pumped up yesterday and a little sullen today. Even Allison Watson noticed as she commented during her opening this morning, “it looks a bit thinner out there. I wonder if that’s because of the party on my hotel floor that was still raging at 4am!” The messages seemed a bit repetitive from yesterday’s announcements and the crowd is moving a lot slower. Even the presenters seem tired.

I had a good meeting with Julie Bennani who is the new VP for the Worldwide Channel Program. She took Sheryl Webb-Robin’s position and reports to Allison. I hope I didn’t insult her when I mentioned that our recommendations are actionable because the Amazon Consulting team all has extensive experience working in corporate in these channel strategy and management roles, not from a traditional consulting background, and we know what it takes to design a program that is implement-able. She comes from Accenture. Whoops.

I had lunch with about 8 solution providers from different organizations and different geographies. It was fun to talk about their specialties and market opportunities. I was surprised at how many of them sold the entire Microsoft suite. They believed that the new interoperability messaging from Microsoft was playing very well with their clients, because the Microsoft technologies could play along side the solutions they already had. The domestic resellers (about half the table) also sold Oracle ERP and CRM, but the international guys said they didn’t see Oracle at all in their markets. SAP was prominent in Germany and central Europe. The Swiss guys at our table were incredibly talkative and started to convince the others to go to the SharePoint hands-on sessions scheduled for later in the day. They were all pitching their favorite break outs and trying to sway the table to change their plans. These Microsoft partners are sure passionate about their technologies.

Tonight was the awards banquet. Conference chicken aside, it was an interesting and entertaining evening. My table mates were friendly and talkative and the award winners were really excited. I don’t know how Microsoft chose the companies that won the “best partner” categories (about 8 of them), but the winners looked like they won the Oscars as they bounded up on stage to collect their Lucite trophies.

Most of the attendees headed to one bar or another after the awards were handed out. I’m heading to bed as I’m just exhausted. I think the awards should go to those that make their breakfast meetings and the keynotes tomorrow.