My One Post Convergence Gripe – No CPE!

Hopefully someone at MS will read this. I have one post Convergence gripe. Microsoft didn’t offer Continuing Professional Education (CPE) at Convergence this year. Even worse, they didn’t communicate whether or not it was offered. No one at registration, attendee services, etc. had any idea. I got a different story from everyone. I blogged about it here and I’ve gotten comments like this one from Ken Hunt:

I was told at the registration desk, and was extremely annoyed, that Microsoft had not filed for CPE approval this year and would not be offering CPE for this Convergence. If a Microsoft staffer is reading this, I would appreciate either a confirmation or correction of this information. Also, if you are not offering CPE, that is something that needs to be prominently highlighted in your literature for Convergence; this would affect my decision on whether or not to attend (Note: CPE had been offered in all previous Convergences I attended). I was left with the feeling that Microsoft had pulled a “bait & switch” routine on me.

So maybe I can help clear up for MS why this important. A lot of us are accountants. We’re not conference junkies. Those of us who need CPE are usually balancing a heavy workload with the educational requirements. We have to pick an choose how we spend our time to get those credits. In the past, Convergence was a great way to improve our tech knowledge on financial systems we use and get CPE. There will be people like Ken who won’t come without CPE. If you’re dealing with financial folks, it’s the price of entry. But if you’re not willing to pay that price, TELL US UP FRONT. Yes, I’m yelling for that little part. It’s good to yell once in while.