The next edition of the 3-day Microsoft Ignite digital event will kick off on March 2, 2021, with keynote presentations featuring Satya Nadella and Mitra Azizirad. While Microsoft doesn’t want to share any spoilers about the event, but in a recent statement, the Redmond giants have announced that there will be “mind-blowing demos, opportunities to fly a drone, and a chance to win a special edition Microsoft AI flight jacket” during this edition of Ignite.
The AgreeYa team is super excited about this upcoming event and like the last year, we will be tuning in and listening to the amazing lineup of speakers, and sessions, and connecting with the Microsoft community. Last year, Microsoft had split Microsoft Ignite into two digital events due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The first virtual event held in late September 2020 was a grand success with nearly 270,000 attendees (compared to approximately 35,000 who usually attend the in-person conference). The same success is anticipated for the second event too.
Microsoft Ignite 2021 will comprise 341 sessions by Microsoft VPs, MVPs, experts, and Microsoft partners. Microsoft will broadcast all sessions live during daylight hours in Redmond, Washington, while those sessions will be rebroadcast to accommodate the global audience. There will be plenty of exciting content around remote working, mixed reality, digital transformation, data security, Artificial Intelligence, Microsoft Teams, Edge AI, and the recently released Microsoft Viva. However, with such a long list of impressive sessions, it can be pretty hard to pick among all the great speakers and build an agenda, so we’ve curated a list of 10 sessions you should not miss out on during the upcoming digital-only Microsoft Ignite 2021.
1: Satya Nadella Keynote
Speakers: Satya Nadella (CEO) & Alex Kipman (Technical Fellow AI & Mixed Reality)
Satya Nadella will set the tone for Microsoft Ignite 2021 with his stunning keynote presentation. This year he would be partnered by Alex Kipman, who is at the heart of Microsoft’s AI and Mixed Reality innovations. The keynote presentation is expected to have mind-blowing demos utilizing mixed reality. As ever many announcements are expected to be made around Microsoft technologies and the future roadmap will be revealed to the attendees.
2: Envisioning Tomorrow Keynote
Speaker: Mitra Azizirad (Corporate Vice President AI and Innovation)
Mitra Azizirad will provide the attendees an insight into how Microsoft approaches innovation, experience some of the projects pushing the limits of science and engineering, and find out how these innovations will transform the business world or even the world around us. The keynote presentation will take attendees behind the scenes and show how recent Microsoft technologies and AI are revolutionizing the healthcare industry.
3: The Hybrid Workplace
Speaker: Jared Spataro (Corporate Vice President)
2020 was the year when most of us worked from home and most work processes moved to the cloud. In 2021, flexible work in the form of hybrid working will continue. Organizations will have to stay prepared to support a hybrid workplace. Attend the session and learn how Microsoft is empowering people to work from home, on the go, and at the office.
4: Defend against Threats in Teams
Speakers: John Gruszczyk (Product Manager) & Brett Polen (Sr. Product Marketing Manager)
The global pandemic has not only accelerated technological adoption but also increased data security risks. Towards this, Microsoft Teams not only empowers users with a powerful cloud-based collaboration experience but also equips them with a variety of ways to ensure that data stays safe. Join the session to learn about the powerful tools that can help identify and protect your cloud-based services using Advanced Threat Protection (ATP), Cloud App Security, and Conditional Access.
5: Introducing the Future of Mixed Reality
Speaker: Simon Skaria (Director of HoloLens and Computer Vision Services)
Mixed reality is transforming the way people work, live, and play. Organizations across various industries are leveraging mixed reality to drive transformation and are seeing a strong return on investment. In just a few short years, mixed reality applications have gone from gimmicky tech demos and video games to supporting mission-critical business functions and helping people use products and services in more productive ways. Learn more about Microsoft’s vision for the future of mixed reality.
6: Roadmap for High Productivity Development in Power Apps
Speakers: Ryan Cunningham (Director PM Power Apps) & Clay Wesener (Principal Group Program Manager)
Power Apps have been an important enabler of business continuity and productivity during these uncertain times. It has enabled teams to use low code along with professional code to build powerful apps quickly and stay nimble. Join the session to discover how the Power Apps programming model, tooling, ALM, and more can be used to innovate faster, transform operations, and drive their businesses forward.
7: Meet Microsoft Viva: A New Kind of Employee Experience
Speaker: Chuck Friedman (CVP Employee Experience Suite)
The first employee experience platform built for the digital era, Microsoft Viva brings together communications, knowledge, learning, resources, and insights into an integrated experience that empowers people and teams to be their best, from anywhere. Powered by the full breadth and depth of Microsoft 365, Viva is experienced through Microsoft Teams and other Microsoft 365 apps that people use every day. Learn more about the capabilities and features of this new Microsoft solution.
8: Enhancing the Admin Experience with Power Platform Governance
Speaker: Julie Strauss (Partner PM Director)
By leveraging the Power Platform Governance features, organizations can safeguard their data and apps to meet today’s growing set of geographical and industry regulatory requirements. Microsoft has introduced new capabilities for Power Platform governance, security, and monitoring which will allow organizations to continue the digital transformation journey with peace of mind. Attend the session to learn more.
9: Accelerating Edge AI solutions
Speakers: Joe Coco (Program Manager IoT and Intelligent Edge Microsoft) & Steen Graham (GM IoT Intel)
AI and cloud-native applications, IoT and its billions of sensors, and 5G networking now make large-scale AI at the edge possible. But, a scalable, accelerated platform is necessary to drive decisions in real-time and allow every industry to deliver automated intelligence to the point of action. This session dives into the ideas, innovations, and real-world applications of edge AI that are transforming the way we work and live.
10: Power Automate Empowering the Democratization of Automation
Speaker: Stephen Siciliano (Partner PM Director)
Power Automate serves as a bridge between digital and robotic process automation to help create unique automation and address a myriad of business processes. The latest innovations in Power Automate and Power Automate Desktop (RPA) have opened new automation opportunities for organizations. Learn how Power Automate can connect with an ecosystem of 400+ connectors to meet all your organization’s automation needs.
Additional: Modernizing Security for Government data centers
Speakers: Dennis Guzy (Director of Security and Intelligent Cloud Strategy) & Dean Lacovelli (Director of Modern Work and Security)
Cyber is never a fair fight, especially in State and Local Government. As governments move to modernize their data centers and re-imagine them in the cloud, there is an opportunity to level the playing field with attackers by deploying advanced security capabilities and automating many of the manual processes that slow or complicate cyber-response today. Hear how we enable resource-constrained government customers to meet these challenges with Microsoft Cloud Security tools powered by Azure.
As a Microsoft Gold Partner, Power Platform Partner, and Cloud Solutions Provider, AgreeYa has been leveraging Microsoft-based technologies to help organizations transform their workplace experiences and be (virtually) unstoppable. We have launched a range of solutions to help organizations ‘Modernize, Optimize & Automate’ and meet the demands of a changing world.
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