🎙️ In This Episode of Joe Reads the News:

Live From a Trade Show Prep Bunker in Texas: Kristen Hosman & Murray Fife Crash the Show, Rye’s Coffee & Overnight Oats, Vibe Coding Your Own ERP, Backyard ERP, Business Central Trivia, Summit North America in Nashville, Ben Cole & the Algorithm Award, RUX Software’s Country Music Video, AI Fluency in the C-Suite, Dynamics User Group Regional in Ohio, Microsoft Surface, Kristen Hosman’s Microsoft MVP Renewal & Mystery Announcement, Motorcycles & Straight Pipes, LinkedIn Rage Bait, Partner in Vibe 2.0, Speaker Bandanas, Executive Credibility, Candy Crush, Mary Myers & the Hot Mess Express, Everything’s Bigger in Texas, Chad Howard on Sales Perks & Porta Potties, Partner Talks, Yellowstone, Colorado, Mountain Music, Vibe Discount Codes, Trade Show Prep, Technical Chaos, and Joe Trying Not to Offend Anybody.

Key Segments:

00:02:08 Joe kicks off Friday from the “trade show prep bunker in Texas,” wonders how it’s already Friday, talks mandolin plans for next week, experiments with Rye’s coffee and nearly eats overnight oats without actually leaving them overnight.

00:04:37 Joe officially introduces himself and the premise of the show: he reads the LinkedIn news—whatever everybody has been posting all week—and hints that breaking news may be coming next week.

00:07:39 Kristen Hosman unexpectedly joins the live stream after Joe sends out guest links, immediately joining the bad-hair-day discussion and getting introduced with several completely fabricated awards.

00:09:05 Murray Fife joins after promising he would come on if Kristen did, leading to French lessons, language-learning strategies, and Joe’s claim that knowing how to say “oui” basically counts as knowing French.

00:10:47 Joe and Murray get serious-ish about AI and ERP, discussing Murray’s post about a Dynamics customer vibe coding an entire ERP system and whether businesses will still need standardized ERP platforms in an AI-driven world.

00:12:14 “Backyard ERP” is born as Joe compares custom vibe-coded ERP systems to making and selling your own backyard products, eventually proposing a Texas smoker-themed ERP-building demonstration.

00:13:17 Kristen weighs in on whether businesses will vibe code their own systems and shares how she once built a full income statement, balance sheet, ledger, mileage tracking, and expense system for her house cleaner.

00:14:29 Kristen brings up BusinessCentralTrivia.com, a vibe-coded Jeopardy-style Business Central game that lets members of the community compete against one another.

00:14:52 Joe turns toward Summit North America and confesses that he’s broadcasting from a “trade show prep bunker” because he still owes Catherine Robinson his partner presentation abstract and needs to get it submitted.

00:16:21 Kristen teases that she has major news coming the following week but refuses to reveal it, offering only a clue involving the title she entered when joining the live stream.

00:20:01 Ben Cole and RUX Software win Joe’s Algorithm Award for the week with a full-blown country music video promoting Summit North America in Nashville—complete with forklifts, country lyrics, production value, and plenty of LinkedIn comments.

00:22:41 Joe challenges Murray to respond with his own country song. Murray admits he only produces bad music and jokes that the chord changes Joe was praising in another artist are the same ones his music teacher calls mistakes.

00:23:28 Kristen proposes that Ben Cole should ride a hobby horse around the Summit Expo floor, and the group decides this ridiculous idea has a surprisingly good chance of becoming reality.

00:25:30 Murray reads an AI-fluency post arguing that an organization’s AI capability is constrained by its lowest level of AI fluency, prompting discussion about executives, learning curves, and Murray’s Granny character.

00:27:29 Kristen reads a post about using the slow season to improve a business by working old leads, asking for referrals, tightening follow-up, and fixing operational leaks—earning enthusiastic support for roofers everywhere.

00:28:11 Joe revisits the Dynamics community following a regional event in Ohio, calls out familiar faces from the Business Central ecosystem, and reflects on how going to Dynamics events eventually starts feeling like seeing old classmates.

00:30:03 A Microsoft Surface promotion leads Joe and Murray into a discussion about ancient Surface devices, new AI hardware, bulging keyboard batteries, and laptops that refuse to die even after losing their “legs.”

00:32:12 Joe reads Kristen Hosman’s LinkedIn life update: her Microsoft MVP renewal, her kids starting high school, a new motorcycle, several weeks away from LinkedIn, and a major announcement she promises is coming next week.

00:34:26 Kristen tells the story behind her extremely loud motorcycle, which belonged to a friend who passed away earlier in the year, and gives Joe and Murray a preview of what the straight-piped bike sounds like.

00:35:58 Kristen reveals Ben Cole’s LinkedIn rage bait, including an edited image giving her a white goatee, and Joe officially determines that the behavior qualifies as genuine rage bait among friends.

00:36:47 The conversation turns to Partner in Vibe 2.0, with suggestions that Kristen ride her motorcycle to Utah and document the trip with a GoPro-style moto vlog.

00:37:32 Kristen offers Joe a discount code if he’ll attend Vibe, and Joe agrees while admitting that his growing pile of events, parties, and travel still needs to actually get booked.

00:38:00 Kristen reads KCB’s post about receiving a sparkly package containing the Vibe speaker bandana contest materials, kicking off discussion of speaker bandanas, pets, and the creative energy surrounding the event.

00:39:03 Joe promotes an executive credibility event involving Candace and Anya, discovers again that QR codes can also function as links, and somehow ends up debating when Candy Crush first arrived.

00:40:32 Candy Crush leads to Mary Myers, who apparently takes the game seriously enough not to answer Kristen’s calls mid-game, followed by stories about Joe ambushing people for interviews at Summit.

00:42:33 Joe and Kristen celebrate Mary Myers’ “Hot Mess Express” presentation energy, Taylor Swift pre-show music, and ability to bring serious enthusiasm to Dynamics community events.

00:43:26 Joe reads a Texas-themed post about billboards and logistics, connecting the episode’s “trade show prep bunker” location to the previous week’s “clever hideout in Texas.”

00:44:14 Joe introduces Chad Howard—the self-described ex-Harvard applicant and former Drake University intramural champion—and reads his post explaining why cool perks, sporting-event suites, and enjoyable salespeople can beat another Zoom sales call.

00:46:06 Kristen reveals that Ben Cole is also part owner of a porta-potty business, creating the unexpected crossover between Dynamics, LinkedIn, RUX Software, and the waste-retrieval industry that Joe didn’t know he needed.

00:46:45 Joe plugs Partner Talks, promises Murray a Yellowstone-themed appearance link, and the conversation shifts toward the Mountain West, Colorado Springs, horseback riding, and Joe discovering just how close he had been to Kristen’s house.

00:47:49 Joe recommends the folksy, bluegrass-flavored mountain song “On the Divide” as the perfect soundtrack for the conversation and proposes using it as the show’s going-out song.

00:48:35 Kristen tells Joe to watch his inbox because a substantial Partner in Vibe 2.0 discount code is headed his way, effectively removing one more excuse for not attending.

00:48:49 Joe closes with plans to join the “Vibers,” admits he has to keep his wisecracking trade-show humor under control after accidentally offending someone in the past, and thanks Kristen Hosman and Murray Fife for crashing the Friday news.