Microsoft Ignite 2018 – Skype & Teams Developer Picks

Microsoft Ignite is Microsoft’s annual IT Pro and Developer conference. This year it’s happening on September 24-28 in Orlando. Registration is open.

Here are my picks of sessions, aimed at Skype for Business & Teams Developers.

BRK2159 – What’s new in Microsoft Teams, the hub for teamwork

Microsoft Teams is one of the most exciting and dynamic apps in Microsoft 365. Built on the strength and scale of Office 365, Microsoft Teams delivers chat-based collaboration, meetings, calling, and a full range of enterprise voice features – all underpinned by the Microsoft Graph. Join us as we showcase some of the big feature innovations we’ve made in the last year, and give you a sneak peek at some of the exciting new innovations coming to Microsoft Teams. This demo rich session will highlight the best Teams has to offer! View on Session Catalog.

My thoughts: if you’re completely up to date with what’s happening in Teams then this session might mean some repetition. But, as developers, it’s important to stay on top of the platform we’re developing for, and Teams changes so quickly at the moment that this is a good overview session to catch up on everything.

BRK3171 – Drive Digital Transformation through Apps in Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams as a platform provides valuable tools for integrating actionable experiences alongside your chat experience. Creating these interactive bots, apps, and cards is straightforward and includes the ability to craft a first-class mobile experience. This session for developers demonstrates the framework for creating these experiences for a variety of business scenarios. View on Session Catalog.

My thoughts: If Teams development is still new to you then this session should get you up to speed with what’s possible today. 

BRK3119 – Deep dive into building apps for Microsoft Teams

Empower your employees by building an app for Microsoft Teams. Learn how to build, package, and distribute an app by walking through an example showing tabs, bots, compose extensions, and more. View on Session Catalog.

My thoughts: This seems likely to be a repeat of a similar session last year, but it’s always good to get an update on what’s new.

BRK3276 – Using bots to aid the adoption of Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams provides a brand new way of working collaboratively for organizations. With most employees used to working in Outlook, Microsoft Teams can feel like quite a step change. This session demonstrates how to build a bot that will aid employee adoption of Microsoft Teams; from Microsoft Teams set-up to automating content that your employees need to do their best work. View on Session Catalog.

My thoughts: If you’re looking for inspiration or need to get corporate sign-off for your next bot, then this could be a good session to attend.

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Did I miss one? If you think I’ve missed a session which should be on this list – let me know in the comments!

It’s worth noting that my picks were based on the Session Catalog as of August 12th 2018. New sessions may come along at any time, so it’s worth periodically checking the Session Catalog to make sure you’re up to date.