Tuesday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM · Room S102bc

Information Architecture for SharePoint Intranets and Viva Connections in Microsoft 365

In this workshop, we will explore the basics of Information Architecture (IA) and its role in creating effective intranets using Microsoft 365, SharePoint, and Viva Connections.

Whether you are just starting out or looking to improve your current intranet design, this workshop will provide you with the necessary tools and techniques to make the most of new and upcoming features, capabilities, and best practices. We'll cover key topics including creating and organizing content, building site structures, creating metadata, and leveraging search functionality.

You will take away:

• Approaches for planning navigation across the entire intranet and on individual sites
• Tips and best practices for audiences, hubs, and home sites
• Page design guidance that supports accessibility and great user experiences • Effective use of metadata on pages and documents – and whether it is OK to use folders to organize your content.

You'll leave with a clear understanding of what IA is, why it matters, and how to get started with creating effective intranets that meet your organization's needs.

Tuesday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM · Room S103bc

Microsoft 365 Purview: Maintaining and Protecting Your Data Throughout its Lifecycle

In recent years, the amount of digital content moving to the cloud has been dramatic. No doubt, this has made collaboration easier and more versatile, but it's also brought with it a new set of problems, such as oversharing, exfiltration of data, and non-compliant destruction of data. Organizations like yours must ensure data is available when required and protected when sensitive.

In this workshop, your expert presenters will share their collective knowledge and experience with a deep dive into what Microsoft Purview can do, including coverage of features such as Data Lifecycle Management, Records Management, and Microsoft Information Protection.

But it's not all theory. You'll leave the workshop with their recommended approach for implementation using a Day 1/Day 2/Day 3 incremental model that maintains a balance between the user experience and the necessary protections for your organization.

Now's the time to ensure your data is safe from prying eyes. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from two of the best in the industry on exactly how to make that happen.

Tuesday 9:00 AM - 12:30 PM · Room S104b

Fix that intranet! Improve your intranet content, structure, and processes

Intranets built in SharePoint Online are running on the galaxy's best platform for enterprise communication and collaboration.

In this half-day, beginner-friendly workshop, we'll learn about SharePoint but with an intranet focus. We'll cover tips and ideas for content strategy, planning and structuring an intranet, best practices for facilitating internal communication and collaboration, how Teams and Viva Connections play into things, digitizing forms, and using the Power Platform to create, automate, and visualize throughout SharePoint.

Note: This is not a hands-on build-an-entire-intranet-in-three-hours workshop. This is entirely focused on best practices and ideas for improving your intranet's content, structure, and processes.

Let's fix that intranet!

Wednesday 9:50 AM - 11:00 AM · Room S103d

The Intranet is dead... long live the Intranet!

What's going with intranets these days? Should corporations be investing in creating or modernizing their Intranets? How does the rise of Teams and new tools like Viva impact your intranet? What does it all mean?

Join Stephanie Donahue and Mark Rackley for a frank discussion about the future of Intranets and what you need to do today to prepare for tomorrow.

Wednesday 11:30 AM - 12:40 PM · Room S103bc

The Ultimate Shopping List for a Successful Intranet in Microsoft 365

If you are shopping for or planning a new intranet, what capabilities do you need to have? What do you need to think about to ensure that you deliver success? How does Microsoft Teams factor into your intranet? How can Microsoft Viva deliver value for your intranet users? How can the new features introduced for SharePoint, including Copilot, help me advance my intranet outcome goals?

If you are wondering about the answers to these questions and more, this session is for you! We’ll review key concepts, ideas, capabilities, and planning tips to help ensure that your intranet drives value for everyone in the organization.

Whether you are a seasoned intranet professional or just starting your journey, this presentation will provide you with valuable insights and practical guidance on what to include in your ultimate shopping list.

Wednesday 1:40 PM - 2:50 PM · Room S102bc

Reaching Airspeed Velocity to Get Your New Intranet Off the Ground

The creation of the first intranet happened in the latter part of the 20th century, but no one would recognize that as an intranet by today’s standards. Since then, intranet implementations and the platforms they’re built on have matured significantly and grown more complex.

In this session, we’ll be looking at the modern intranet through the lens of SharePoint. There are plenty of decisions to consider and points to deliberate even before you jump into action. We’ll discuss optimal team composition, roles that should be factored-in, technological considerations, stakeholder involvement/representation, project lifecycle needs, launch considerations, and more.

I’ll be sharing my experiences, highlights, triumphs, and painful lessons learned architecting intranets of varying sizes for the last decade or so.

In short: we will be covering all of the things I wish I had known before I ever started building intranets in the hopes they will spare you some of the pain I endured.

Thursday 10:40 AM - 11:50 AM · Room S103d

Planning Effective Governance of your Intranet in Microsoft 365

In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, organizations need to ensure that their intranets and Microsoft 365 environments are effectively governed to meet both business and compliance requirements. But having a governance plan is not enough. Unless you can effectively define and communicate roles and responsibilities, provide actionable guidance and best practices to site owners, content authors, and end-users, your governance plan will not be effective or sustainable.

Attend this session to learn how you can effectively plan and implement governance for your intranet, Microsoft Viva, and Microsoft 365 to support your organization's digital transformation. We will also talk about governance planning for new capabilities - like Copilot and other generative AI tools. Whether you are just starting your governance journey or looking to take your existing efforts to the next level, this presentation will provide you with actionable insights, practical guidance, and content to help you get started!

Thursday 1:20 PM - 2:30 PM · Room S103d

Setting Up Effective Onboarding and Contextual Support For Your SharePoint Intranet Users

Lots of companies are enhancing their existing SharePoint based intranets and portals or migrating to SharePoint Online from third party tools. The challenge now is to make sure your users will be using the SharePoint intranet and finding information and support at their moment of need.

This session will show real use case scenarios of how companies around the world are onboarding their users on their SharePoint intranet as well as keeping them engaged and fully supported in context of their SharePoint environments. The result: increased usage of SharePoint portals while reducing internal support costs.

Thursday 1:20 PM - 2:30 PM · Room S106b

SharePoint portals: Launching your intranet into the future

Creating your organization's intranet - across portals and sites - can empower your users to collaborate, create, and connect in new and exciting ways. Learn more about all the best practices for your portal strategy using SharePoint, Teams, Viva Connections and more.

We'll have tons of demos across big features and small, tied together with guidance and best practices to make the most of your intranet investments.

Friday 9:00 AM - 10:10 AM · Room S103d

Case Study: Launching a modern Intranet when stakeholders won't engage

When you want to launch a global Intranet on top of Microsoft 365, you need to engage the right stakeholders before you ever get started. What do you do it no one will engage and take ownership?

This session talks about the steps we took to remove the road blocks to launch a successful Intranet. In the early days of SharePoint, some of us failed because they took a "build it and they will come" approach. However, SharePoint is different now. Building an Intranet doesn't require months of planning and development. You can mock up concept pages very quickly now which are visually engaging.

In this session, you'll lean how we build SharePoint sites directly with our stakeholders and drove adoption like never before. If you're struggling to get your Intranet off the ground, this session is for you.

Friday 10:20 AM - 11:30 AM · Room S103d

Enhance Your Intranet with Viva Dashboard Cards

In today's fast-paced business world, an effective intranet is essential for staying connected and productive. The Viva Connections Dashboard enhances every employee's experience by delivering flexible and dynamic information in their flow of work. Using the Dashboard's adaptive cards, we can bring a customized experience for each user. Creating adaptive cards that bring value to your users can start with simple, no-code solutions. Developers can also create cards to connect to data sources and bring enhanced functionality by creating complex integrations.

In this session we will discuss how to create true, no code solutions in the Viva Connections Dashboard, as well as low and full code adaptive cards. Learn how to create and customize adaptive cards, as well as best practices for integrating them into intranets. By the end of the session, attendees will have a better understanding of how to use adaptive cards to improve their intranet and make it more engaging and user-friendly.

Friday 12:30 PM - 1:40 PM · Room S103d

How to leverage Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Viva to improve employee communications and engagement

Microsoft Viva provides critical applications and experiences to improve employee engagement and connection. New features and capabilities provide opportunities to ensure that your employees are both connected and engaged, no matter where they work.

In this session, you will learn practical approaches for employee communications in Microsoft 365 – from SharePoint news to the personalized Viva Connections feed in Teams to Yammer, Viva Engage, and Viva Amplify.

Take away insights into what you need to know about what is possible, what is coming, and how to improve communication and engagement outcomes with Microsoft Viva and Microsoft 365.