Expect a lot of buzz about SAP Cloud Platform at SAP TechEd this year.  I know — you’ve heard us say this before.  But given the promises we’ve delivered on in SAP Cloud Platform throughout 2017, you should believe it.

And we’re just getting started. If you’re interested in SAP Cloud Platform and SAP Leonardo, big things are in store for you this year at SAP TechEd indeed.  We won’t spoil all the fun, but here are some recommended ways to invest your time – you won’t be disappointed!  Here we go.

Note: we focus on the first SAP TechEd taking place – September 25-29 in Las Vegas – – but expect content to be similar in Bangalore and Barcelona.

ASUG Preconference

On Monday, September 25, just before we formally kick off SAP TechEd itself, ASUG invites you to kick off your week right. Join SAP Cloud Platform product management and other experts in a hands-on, full-day seminar on SAP Cloud Platform called SAP Cloud Platform: Business Agility for Your Digital Transformation.  You need to register for this in addition to TechEd, so head to this link to learn more and sign up.

Keynotes

No spoilers here — but as the world transforms the way it does business, expect massive focus on SAP Cloud Platform and SAP Leonardo from top SAP technology executives at the keynotes.  Pay particular attention to Bjoern Goerke, CTO and President of SAP Cloud Platform, starting Tuesday morning at 9am.   Given the keynotes of the past, expect to find the content “out of this world” for sure.

Show Floor

Just as in years past, the show floor will be packed with tables and people from all over, and will feature a variety of content in different formats such as strategy talks, mini CodeJams, customer lectures, and expert networking sessions.

What’s different this year in our showcase experience is that you can expect a much more immersive environment. Gone are the days of staid traditional booths with static slideware content presiding over an audience. This year, you will be able to get physically hands on with live demos as well as have a more interactive experience with SAP Cloud Platform experts around our tables. Stay tuned for more information from Dan Kearnan.

Sessions

This year at SAP TechEd, Themes are the new Tracks. There are five themes tying together SAP products and thereby all SAP TechEd session content:

• Know
• Run
• Transform
• Unlock Big Data
• Engage

SAP Cloud Platform joins together with SAP Leonardo in the theme we call Transform:

Create and scale new, intelligent applications that connect people, things and business

If you want to know that that phrase has real meaning to SAP and to you, watch none other than SAP CEO Bill McDermott explain it as he does best.

As of this writing, 233 of the 958 sessions in the TechEd Las Vegas catalog are in this Transform theme. Since you can’t attend them all, how are you going to make the most out of your time?

There are six subthemes in the Transform theme, so that’s the way to start breaking down your focus. Navigate to the Transform theme in the catalog, and you’ll see the subthemes and be able to filter session content accordingly:

One thing to notice is how session distribution across subthemes reflects how SAP Cloud Platform is gaining adoption. Now that customers are actively using the platform and not just finding out about it, DevOps topics are key to the journey together with our open stack messaging and Cloud Foundry environment, and you can see in the below that they take the lion’s share of the content, followed by integration topics which are also key to you.  IoT is a strong third for content, nearly tied with extensibility – one of our key platform differentiators. Finally, we don’t leave out the additional emerging SAP Leonardo topics of blockchain and machine learning, to help you get ready to innovate at scale:

Here is a brief overview of each subtheme and the sorts of content you can find in each:

Throughout the subthemes, you’ll find plenty of different kinds of content from code reviews to CodeJams to workshops to lectures to road maps to suit your needs. Here’s how that ratio currently breaks down:

This diagram tells more about which types of sessions you may want to focus on, given your individual needs:

Selected Recommended Sessions

Here are only a few top pics from the many recommended sessions by SAP Cloud Platform product management experts:

Cloud Application Development and Operations Subtheme

• SAP Cloud Platform: Overview – Matthias Steiner — https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=50322_470794&locale=en_US
• Continuous Delivery: Introduction – Christoph Szymanski – https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=50360_470799&locale=en_US
• Road Map for SAP Cloud Platform: Cloud Foundry Environment – Holger Seubert — https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=50355_471698&locale=en_US
• A How-to: Microservices on SAP Cloud Platform – Matthias Steiner — https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=50326_470796&locale=en_US
• Developing Multitennant Applications on SAP Cloud Platform – Anuj Mehta, Pankaj Kumar, Manjunath Baburao – https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=50469_471299&locale=en_US
• Speeding Up Innovation with Built-In Business Services – Holger Seubert — https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=50323_470795&locale=en_US
• Develop and Operate Cloud-Native Applications with SAP Cloud Platform – Ina Ivanova – https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=50384_471644&locale=en_US
• The Path from Classic to Advanced SAP HANA Extended Application Services – Sven Kohlhaas – https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=49711_470789&locale=en_US
• SAP HANA: Native Development with Cloud Foundry – Johannes Scheerer, Christian Paulus – https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=49714_470792&locale=en_US
• SAP Cloud Platform: A Security Overview – Stefanie Garcia Laule – https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=49268_470587&locale=en_US

Integration Subtheme

• Our Integration-Platform-as-a-Service Offering on SAP Cloud Platform – Sindhu Gangadharan — https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=49433_470508&locale=en_US
• Road Map for SAP API Management and SAP API Business Hub – Carsten Boennen — https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=49472_470859&locale=en_US
  Add Workflows to Your Application on SAP Cloud Platform – Krassimir Kondarev — https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=49839_471165&locale=en_US
• Concur Solution Programming with SAP API Business Hub: A Beginner’s Guide – Divya Mary – https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=49512_471166&locale=en_US
• Road Map for SAP Cloud Platform Integration — Gayathri Narayana – https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=49473_471649&locale=en_US
• Road Map for SAP Process Orchestration – Christian Loos, Katrin von Ahsen – https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=49510_471655&locale=en_US
• SAP Cloud Platform Integration: The Platform for Integrating SaaS Solutions – Sujit Hemachandran – https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=49447_470511&locale=en_US

Extensibility Subtheme

• SAP S/4HANA Extensions for Customers and Partners with SAP Cloud Platform – Thomas Bieser, Carsten Ziegler – https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=50268_470790&locale=en_US
• Tailor HR Solutions with SAP SuccessFactors Software and SAP Cloud Platform – Tsvetan Stoyanov – https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=50401_470807&locale=en_US
• Extending SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer Using SAP Cloud Platform – Vladimir Pavlov – https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=50403_471411&locale=en_US
• Learn How to Extend SAP SuccessFactors Solutions with SAP Cloud Platform – Colin Kraczkowsky, Tsvetan Stoyanov – https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=50406_470812&locale=en_US
• SAP Cloud Platform: The Extension Platform for SAP Products – Stanimir Ivanov – https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=50398_470805&locale=en_US
• How to Simplify Security when You Extend a Standard Cloud Solution from SAP – Jeff Gebo – https://sessioncatalog.sapevents.com/go/agendabuilder.sessions/?l=157&sid=50411_471645&locale=en_US

The bottom line: There’s SAP Cloud Platform content for everyone at SAP TechEd. The catalog is live now, and the Agenda Builder goes live on August 25 — so head on over at that time to start building your calendar for the week!

Still Can’t Decide?

This year the great folks who organize SAP TechEd are trying something new: Sample Agendas.  If you need help “filling your dance card” at SAP TechEd, we’ve prepared seven different sample agendas according to different areas of interest.  Check them out!

Online

Finally, if you can’t be there in person (or even if you can), you can get involved online by following @sapcp on Twitter and interacting with us there, contributing your own impressions on the SAP Community, and watching the keynotes and selected live sessions, which you will be able to stream from the TechEd web site almost as if you were there.

SAP TechEd Season starts in Las Vegas, September 25-29, and while we hope this blog has given you an idea about what to expect, it’s always best to come ready to expect the unexpected.

See you there!