For software companies hoping to get the most out of SuiteWorld this year, it’s going to require some special planning because the annual conference in San Jose next month is filled with more content than any one attendee is probably going to be able to handle.

We’ll get to some of the sessions with particular appeal to software companies, but first some general advice.

Plan ahead. This year in particular it’s going to be hard to piece things together after you arrive. Be sure to use the agenda builder to find the sessions that are right for you. There are so many amazing sessions; you’ll likely find yourself spending more time arranging your schedule vs. actual learning if you don’t plan ahead. And a slight heads up to SuiteWorld veterans, this year look for sessions tagged for the ‘High Tech’ industry as a starting point.

Prioritize. The NetSuite software customers that I’ve talked to who have gotten the most out of their SuiteWorld experience tend to be the ones that come with a list of the top five things they want to accomplish, along with five back up items. Whether it’s learning how to take advantage of revenue recognition, evaluating SRP or getting advice on how to set up and share a saved search, identify what you need early, stick to your plan and adapt as needed.

Connect. Even if your attitude towards flair aligns with the Jennifer Anniston character from Office Space, I encourage you to at least wear your software badge. It’s an easy way to identify and connect with the many other software industry attendees. Meanwhile, be sure to check out the product roundtables and talk to a product manager directly (this year they’re scheduled during breakfasts, not lunch). Do lunch at the Birds of a Feather tables and meet more software vertical customers.

To get you started on session selection, let me offer a few suggestions.

Be sure to attend the Wednesday afternoon IMPACT keynote, Innovate Now! How High Tech and Services Leaders are Thriving in the Age of Fast Innovation. It will feature R “Ray” Wang, principal analyst, founder and chairman at the analyst firm Constellation Research, Anthony Lye, CEO of HotSchedules, a leading provider of employee scheduling and labor management solutions for the restaurant industry and Jay Prasad, VP, Global Business Development and Partnerships, atTubeMogul. The keynote will explore how innovators, from startups to mature organizations, are mastering the ‘art of reinvention’ to disrupt existing business models and win market share.

We also have a number of customer-led sessions that will provide real world examples of how software and cloud companies are leveraging NetSuite to the fullest. In particular check out:

  • Twilio’s session, The Secret Sauce. Baking Internal Controls into Everyday Transactions, Tuesday at 11:30 a.m.
  • Qlik’s presentation Moving On Up. QlikTech’s Global Shared Services Center Moves both ERP and Automated Invoice Processing to the Cloud, on Tuesday at 3:45 p.m.
  • CommVault’s multi-book session Customer Success: How CommVault Systems Reaps the Benefits of NetSuite Multi-Book Accounting on Wednesday at 11 a.m.
  • ESET, presenting When Do-It-Yourself Doesn’t Do-It-Best. How ESET Extended NetSuite with Cloud-Based Transactional Tax Automation on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
  • ADP AdvanceMD with their own customer success story How ADP AdvancedMD Slashed Quote to Implementation Processing Time also on Wednesday at 1 p.m.

There’s plenty of NetSuite-led sessions that will be of value as well. There are two back-to-back sessions dedicated to revenue recognition and a financials/OneWorld road map session that software attendees should be sure to attend. Those sessions will fill up quick, so be sure to register. For software companies with embedded services organizations (and that’s more and more of you by the minute) there’s a whole track dedicated to people in a professional services/consultant role that are worth considering and there are some very good sessions for software companies in the IT/administrator track.

The Ask Us Anything sessions were a huge hit last year and are sure to be popular again. Those have some of the most knowledgeable NetSuite professionals from our professional services, solution consultant and finance center of excellence organizations. The audience asks some really tough questions and it’s a chance to get your biggest challenges addressed during your time at SuiteWorld. You might even learn about a solution to a problem you didn’t know you had.

Once you’ve got all that squared away, be sure to save a little time for the SUITEfest on Wednesday night, that’s your chance to kick back with your new software friends.

See you there.

To register for this year’s conference, visit the SuiteWorld event page.