Next week is Microsoft Ignite. If you don’t plan for Ignite, you’ll be tempted to work through it and say you’ll catch up on videos later… not the best idea. This is going to be different from previous years. \ In a lot of ways Microsoft is designing it such that it is focused on the most meaningful content in smaller chunks. You’ll notice much of the keynote is broken into 20 to 30 minute sections. The various corenotes, as they have been recently called, are also broken into bite-sized chunks based on attention span.
Ignite is packaged into a 48-hour, round-the-world format with nearly all sessions repeated for a total of 3 deliveries. Essentially, you get the benefit of at least one of the 3 sessions delivered in your daylight hours, with two other possibilities. This post is designed to help you get the most of Microsoft Ignite. It’s time to register and get started. You aren’t going to want to wait as some sessions are limited.
https://myignite.microsoft.com/
7 Steps for Preparing to Get the Most From the Virtual Microsoft Ignite
- Use the Session Scheduler – Build your session schedule. You’ll notice right from the beginning that Microsoft has taken a start at building out your schedule, but you need to keep going. Lots of things happening at the same time and it will take you some time to sort out what works. This is where you should spend your time. I recommend investing an hour and building out the sessions you want. There are lots of intro sessions that may be valuable for business folks who have never attended an Ignite.
- RSVP to sessions you want to watch live. Believe it or not, for some sessions… Space is limited.
- Use the new “Backpack” to save sessions, speakers, partners, and attendee profiles you find interesting. It’s essentially like a favorite function. All sessions you’ve added as well as one’s you’ve added to the backpack will be available.
- Connect with the community in the Community Connect -There are table top topics for community discussion. You can set up meetings with Microsoft engineers, connect with local MS leadership, and then there’s some sessions of Yoga, brain games, and even some art + tech (very limited).
- Partner/expo hall – There are 17 partners with links, offers, ebooks, and videos. It won’t take you long to look through each of them. Looks like AvePoint is broadcasting a circus or something on Thursday at 4pm.
- Set up meetings – Microsoft has a meeting tool where you can invite others for meetings. Max 9 people up to 4 hours but as few as 2 people for 30 min. It will automatically set up a Teams meeting and the tool has an attendee picker. Realistically, will people use it? You can.
- Cloud Skills Challenge – Compete for a chance to win free certification test vouchers
After Ignite I hope to meet you at the Ignite Community Meetup.
