What I’m watching at this November 2021 Microsoft Ignite

Microsoft Ignite is back on November 2-4 2021 as a virtual event. As time has gone on, these virtual Ignites have evolved from being essentially the in-person event done online, to having their own identity and format.

In this iteration, there are more smaller and more collaborative sessions and fewer “lecture-style” breakout sessions. Some of these include Product Roundtable sessions which are limited in number and some of which require Microsoft approval to join. The intent is that attendees will participate and not simply listen. All of these sessions will be available for everyone to watch on-demand though.

Here are the sessions I’m going to be keeping an eye out for. As with previous virtual events, I’m a heavy user of on-demand, as it means I can watch session content on my own schedule. Also, (top tip this!) I watch many sessions at 1.5x speed or higher, occasionally slowing down for deeply technical content.

• What’s new for developers building apps that power the hybrid workplace – added to get the latest on the Fluid project.
• Get started with Microsoft Viva Connections Extensibility
• Prepare for the future of calling with Microsoft Teams Phone – I’ve added this one because one of the speaker is Scott Van Vilet who has announced previous improvements to Azure Communication Services and so I’m interested to see what (if anything) he going to say regarding Microsoft Teams Phone and Azure Communication Services.
• The future of business is seamless collaboration – how Teams + Power Platform engage your entire workforce
• Azure Communications Service – The Future of Notification Services
• Purchase and Manage app subscription in Microsoft Teams and Teams Admin Portal
• Empower your organization to build apps faster fusion teams
• Take an in-depth tour of all the new announcements for Power Apps at Ignite