I attend and speak at many different Microsoft Dynamics conferences. This article is a summary of my experiences at those conferences so you know the pros and cons of each and can decide which one to attend or avoid.
Conferences are great for you to get a feel for a variety of subjects in a short two- to three-day period with bite-sized sessions (60-75 minutes each) or attending a full or half-day workshop for more comprehensive training.
Let's dig into each conference and the pros and cons of each.
| Conference Name | Date | Location | Estimated Attendance | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 365 PWR Con/TechCon365 | June 23-27, 2025 | Seattle, WA | 800 attendees | Focuses primarily on Microsoft 365 with limited Dynamics and Power Platform content. |
| Directions North America | April 7-9, 2025 | Las Vegas, NV | TBD | Connects Microsoft partners, System Integrators, and Independent Software Vendors. |
| Dynamics Community Summit | October 13-17, 2024 | San Antonio, TX | 4,000 attendees | The largest independent Microsoft Dynamics conference featuring a wide range of sessions. |
| DynamicsCon LIVE | May 13-16, 2025 | Denver, CO | 2,000 attendees | An intimate conference fostering connections among attendees and speakers in the Dynamics ecosystem. |
| DynamicsCon Virtual | November 13, 2024 | Virtual | 5,000 registrants | A free online event featuring global speakers with a superhero theme. |
| Power Platform Conference | October 28-30, 2025 | Las Vegas, NV | 4,000 attendees | The largest Power Platform-focused conference with many sessions led by Microsoft employees. |
The Dynamics Summit is the largest independent Microsoft Dynamics conference in the world. No contest. On average, it hosts more than 4,000 people at the conference (including attendees, speakers, and partners) solely focused on the Dynamics ecosystem.
This conference attracts the majority of Business Applications MVPs focused on Microsoft Dynamics and the Power Platform. Not as many sessions are presented by Microsoft employees - which in my opinion presents an unbiased view of what is really happening in the field and what you should be looking out for.
They record most sessions at the conference and make them available to attendees within 30 days of the conference. That's a big plus and something that no other in-person Dynamics or Power Platform conference does, unfortunately.
Here is a detailed article of my experience at Community Summit 2022.
Usual attendance at this conference: 4,000 attendees.
DynamicsCon brand is owned by the Dynamics User Group (DUG). The DynamicsCon live is held once a year and it's in a different city each time. It's a small conference, but because of that fact, it is also the type of conference where you can build lasting bonds with others like you.
Each Dynamics application has a separate room assigned to it: CE, BC, F&O, GP, etc. So you end up spending your entire time in one room if you are there for a specific Dynamics application. Or you can hop between the rooms for each track if you want.
The end effect is that you see the same people again and again in your rooms because of your similar interests. You start talking to others in the room, learning from them, and sharing your stories about your adventures in the Dynamics ecosystem.
In addition, the speakers at this conference are extremely approachable, especially because of this intimate setting that you are all in together.
Many of the speakers are MVPs. They hold multiple ‘Ask the Experts’ sessions at the conference where you can ask whatever is on your mind in a small gathering. The speakers also intermingle freely with the attendees in between sessions, in the hallways, and at lunch. As I said, the best feature of this conference is its intimate nature.
Here is a detailed article of my experience at DynamicsCon Live 2022.
2024 projected attendance at this conference: 2,000 attendees
DynamicsCon Virtual is presented by the same folks as DynamicsCon Live.
As the name says, it's all "virtual." Presentations are from folks around the world. The good thing is that you get access to knowledge from speakers around the world. The not-so-good thing is that it's not in person which, in my humble opinion, is always a better experience.
This conference is completely free to attend which is a huge plus obviously for the attendees. The cost of the conference is completely supported by the sponsors of the conference.
One very cool thing to note about the DynamicsCon brand is that it utilizes a superhero theme to set itself apart from others. It's a great way to acknowledge the superheroes in the Dynamics community and to establish itself as a unique brand.
2024 projected registrations for this conference: 5,000 registrants
The Directions conference is unique because it's focused on intermingling Microsoft partners - System Integrators (SI) and Independent Software Vendors (ISV) who focus on the Dynamics platform.
This conference was originally only focused on Dynamics Business Central, but they are slowly expanding and incorporating other Dynamics products as well. Definitely a good thing.
This is the perfect conference to go to if you are an SI and ISV. Also, if you're an end user, you could go there to shop around for which partner to do business with since all the ones that matter are there. Having said that, this is not the best conference to see what's new and coming up in Dynamics. I'm not saying that they don't have up-to-date content, but it's more focused on the partners in the ecosystem rather than on end customers.
This is currently the largest Power Platform-focused conference driven mostly by Microsoft folks themselves. This conference made the list for this article because it does have a few Dynamics-specific sessions.
The conference is cohosted by another third party that jointly runs the conference but the majority of the decisions on sessions and programming are made by Microsoft folks.
Lots of Microsoft employees presenting at this conference. The good thing is that you get the latest and greatest of what's here and what's coming down the pipeline directly from the horse's mouth. The bad thing is that it's a lot of marketing and a biased view of Microsoft products and services.
Here is a detailed article of my experience at the Power Platform Conference 2022.
Usual attendance at this conference: 4,000 attendees.
TechCon365 mainly focuses on Microsoft 365 topics. The amount of sessions related to the Power Platform and Microsoft Dynamics is still very small. Around 5 to 7 sessions at the entire conference. And EduCon is held in Seattle only then.
You want to attend this conference if you want a good mixture of mostly Microsoft 365 content and some Dynamics and Power Platform content.
Usual attendance at this conference: 800 attendees.
The above experiences are mine alone so take it for what it's worth. Hope it helps!
Best wishes!
Asif Rehmani, Microsoft MVP and CEO of VisualSP.
Fuel Employee Success
