Show notes

🎙️ In This Episode of Joe Reads the News:

Live From South of Yellowstone, America: Campfire TruthCam in Grand Teton, John’s Mandolin Morning Show, the 7 Stories Launch, Community Summit Nashville, Mudwater With Extra Silt, Rocket the Miracle Foal, Sitting-in-the-Truck Therapy, ChatGPT’s Supreme-Bougieness Greece Planner, Lumpy Mailers, AI-Powered Scheduling, the Partner Executive Summit, Voices 2026, Campfire Dump Cake, Carmelo Anthony on Community, Porta-Potty Wisdom From Madrid, the Best Microsoft Dynamics BI & Reporting Tools, LinkedIn Algorithm Secrets, AI Operations Playbooks, MVP Year Nine, Going Camping America & Mikey Renames Yellowstone “Redstone”

Key Segments:

00:00:00 intro

00:01:42 John counts in the broadcast and provides live mandolin music before Joe officially goes live from Grand Teton National Park, just south of Yellowstone, America.

00:02:01 Joe establishes the mountain-news headquarters among the bears, trout, berries and “Christmas trees,” introduces the rickety tripod, and explains why the Friday edition is airing on mountain time.

00:04:26 Joe announces the launch of 7stories.ai, where a company’s systems and data finally start telling the same story as the company itself.

00:06:00 Community Summit Nashville takes center stage, with four days of Microsoft AI and business applications education, hundreds of sessions, academy classes, partner sponsors and aggressive encouragement to bring the whole team.

00:07:14 John brews a sturdy cup of Mudwater, Joe becomes fascinated by the sediment, and the episode gains its unofficial beverage sponsor.

00:08:19 Carol Livingston delivers the latest update on Rocket, the formerly underweight miracle foal who is growing, learning manners and burning off energy around the barn.

00:09:35 Joe revisits the timeless therapeutic principle “Down on your luck? Try sitting in your truck,” admires his AI-generated truck portrait and checks the Algorithm Award leaderboard.

00:12:07 Joe deploys the classic “Why the long face?” horse joke, explains it to John against John’s wishes, and awards Rocket the prestigious Algorithm Award.

00:13:57 Jess Ramos explains how she used ChatGPT to plan a ten-day Greece trip around sunset views, walkable locations and “supreme bougieness,” while managing a pile of flights, hotels, ferries, excursions and reservations.

00:16:10 Anya receives a Rockton Software package, introduces the valuable marketing concept of the “lumpy mailer,” and sends Joe into a side investigation of her wood-framed windows.

00:17:21 Rick McCutcheon’s Partner Talks episode explores Henrik Buelens’ journey from Big Four consulting to software leadership, plus the role of AI-driven optimization in scheduling and field-service planning.

00:18:52 The AI Business Solutions Partner Executive Summit arrives under a dense cloud of corporate nouns, supply-chain planning, sponsor announcements and a rapidly approaching Bellevue deadline.

00:20:39 Joe pauses the news for a tour of the campsite, including the Airstream, Mercedes Sprinter van, diesel truck, awning, campfire and professionally trained camping assistant John.

00:22:36 John Rivers reminds Microsoft partner marketers that July 24 is the deadline to submit sessions for Voices 2026, prompting Joe to consider adding his own contribution to the conference.

00:24:00 Mark introduces the show to dump cake: a cast-iron, one-pot campfire dessert built from pie filling, dry cake mix, soda or butter and absolutely no mixing bowls.

00:26:25 Carmelo Anthony reflects on growth, authentic storytelling and community following a Cannes conversation with marketing leaders and fellow athletes.

00:27:19 Kate “KCB” Bacon submits her own Voices 2026 session, Joe assigns her an improvised Southern-belle voice, and the call for speakers turns into marketing jazz.

00:28:11 Chad Howard—the portable-toilet entrepreneur, former Harvard applicant and future Joe Reads the News guest—shares a message from Madrid about passion, joy, encouragement and getting stuff done.

00:31:20 Anya unveils her list of seven standout Microsoft Dynamics ERP tools for BI and reporting, Joe discovers his company on the list, and a passing bird temporarily becomes the biggest story in enterprise software.

00:34:47 Anya reveals that she read a 200-page LinkedIn algorithm report so everyone else would not have to, promising practical answers about tags, hashtags, links and platform penalties.

00:37:36 Notion offers an AI Operations Playbook for small businesses, but the eleven-page guide quickly traps Joe behind a lead-capture form.

00:38:03 Rick McCutcheon returns with a conversation about how leading systems integrators are adapting their business models for the AI era, followed by congratulations to AJ Ansari on his ninth year as a Microsoft MVP.

00:39:19 The kids join the closing broadcast, Mikey proposes renaming Yellowstone “Redstone,” and Joe previews the end of traveling summer, the return to school and the next chapter of 7 Stories.

00:41:03 John plays the Yellowstone edition out on the mandolin as Joe, Cora and Mikey deliver the final round of goodbyes.