Seattle, WA

Business Value Track

Monday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM · Room 619:620

Next level productivity with Microsoft Copilot

William Huneycutt

William Huneycutt

Upskill Tech

Are you looking to take your productivity to the next level? Microsoft Copilot will help you achieve just that! In this workshop, learn how Microsoft Copilot works across Microsoft 365. Discover how Copilot is integrated into Microsoft 365 to streamline your business processes, automate tasks, improve workflows, and increase productivity while saving time and effort.

Discover Microsoft 365 Chat, your powerful virtual assistant for work. Learn how Microsoft 365 Chat can help you catch up quickly, create content and brainstorm ideas, and get quick answers to your questions. Microsoft 365 Chat connects to your work data and apps to help you achieve more.

Deep Dive into Copilot for Microsoft 365 across pivotal apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote. Discover how Copilot enhances your capabilities for document creation, data analysis, presentation design, email management, and note-taking. It’s your digital companion, optimizing each task, making daily operations smoother and unleashing new potentials for efficiency.

You'll discover how to use Copilot in Microsoft Teams to summarize meetings in real time or after they end, highlight the key discussion points, action items, and decisions. You can also ask Copilot questions to get more insights or suggestions during or after a meeting. Catch up on chats or channels quickly without having to scroll through long threads. Create content in chat or channels by asking Copilot to generate text or replies based on your prompt.

The future of the modern workplace is here! Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how Copilot for Microsoft 365 can help you achieve more with less effort! With hands-on exercises and practical tips, you'll leave the workshop with a solid understanding of how to use Copilot for Microsoft 365 to maximize your productivity.

Tuesday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM · Room 602:603

The One Copilot Workshop to Rule them All

Mark Rackley

Mark Rackley

Group Manager, Modern Workplace Architect at Avanade

Let's face it, Copilot is everywhere, in everything, it's like the force... and sometimes just as confusing and hard to grasp. Those who learn to harness the power of Copilots within their organization will be able to go where no organization has gone before...

But what does it all mean? It all seems so overwhelming. What if your organization is unwilling to pay for Copilot licenses? What is the average person to do??

Join Mark Rackley in this full-day demo-filled tutorial where attendees will learn:

  • What is Copilot and Generative AI?
  • What do you need to do to prepare for Microsoft Copilot?
  • What are your options for extending Microsoft Copilot?
  • When and how should you use Copilot Studio?
  • How can you create your own Custom Copilot that doesn't require expensive licensing?

With practical demos and real-world stories from the trenches, you will leave with all of your Copilot questions answered and feeling empowered to embrace Generative AI in your organization.

Tuesday 9:00 AM - 12:30 PM · Room 607

Improve Findability in Microsoft 365

Agnes Molnar

Agnes Molnar

Founder, Managing Consultant

Findability is much more than technology. It needs to be the combination of culture, communication, and technology, as well as how your content is organized.

This workshop discusses the most important success factors of enterprise search in Microsoft 365: roles and responsibilities, search metrics, risk management, governance, search lifecycle, as well as how to implement it well. Agnes uses real world examples to go through all the steps to enable you to create an actionable plan for your organization.

Tuesday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM · Room 609

Automate Desktop Processes using Robotic Process Automation in Power Automate

Daniel Christian

Daniel Christian

Microsoft Business Application MVP

Automate routine tasks, eliminate the chance for errors, and free up time for more important work with robotic process automation (RPA) and Power Automate for desktop.

This workshop allows you to experience the utility of RPA and Power Automate for desktop and use out of box actions such as manipulating Excel documents as part of an end-to-end invoice processing solution.

In addition, with the Copilot feature available, building the desktop flows has become easier than ever! Hence join Daniel Christian, a Microsoft MVP and certified trainer as he walks you everything that Power Automate desktop has to offer.

Tuesday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM · Room 615:616

Power Automate Multi-Stage Approval Workflows Workshop

Amarender Peddamalku

Amarender Peddamalku

MVP | Practice Lead - Microsoft Modern Work @Perficient

In every organization there are a number of scenarios which require an Approval process. It could be Contract approvals, PTO/Leave Approvals, Event approvals and many other business processes.

In this workshop we'll learn how to design and develop Multi-Stage Approval Workflows using Power Automate. The workflow will move back and forth b/w different stages and will also learn how to restart a workflow from a given stage. We'll learn how to include Dynamic Approvers in the workflow process.

We'll also learn how to design and develop Automated escalations and Automated reminders. We'll implement timeout features in the workflows to escalate it to the next approver in the process. We will learn how to log and retain workflow history beyond what Microsoft Power Automate offers out-of-box. We'll develop a button to kick off the workflow from a SharePoint library/list.

Tuesday 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM · Room 604

Content Management for the AI Era: How to Optimize Your Content for Copilot

Daniel Glenn

Daniel Glenn

Microsoft MVP, Owner and Microsoft 365 Consultant at CollabFront

Content is the lifeblood of every organization. It is how teams collaborate, communicate, and create value. However, managing content effectively can be challenging, especially with the increasing volume and variety of content types. How can you organize, secure, and process your content to maximize its value and prepare it for the next-generation AI assistant, Microsoft 365 Copilot?

Join this workshop where you will learn how to get your content in order, so you can fully leverage the capabilities of Microsoft 365 Copilot. • Discover best practices for organizing your files, folders, and sites in Microsoft 365, ensuring easy access and seamless collaboration. • Prepare your content for Copilot, the AI assistant that transforms productivity by generating high-quality content, insights, and actions from your data. • Perform a security and governance audit to ensure information is not leaked through new AI tools. • Walkthrough integrating Copilot into your daily workflow, unlocking the full potential of AI-driven productivity.

By the end of the workshop, you will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to effectively organize your content within Microsoft 365, enabling you to harness the power of Microsoft AI and revolutionize your work experience.

Tuesday 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM · Room 612

How to Maximize Your Intranet Potential with Out-of-the-Box Features in Microsoft 365 and SharePoint

Susan Hanley

Susan Hanley

Information Architect/Business Analyst

Microsoft 365 is packed with powerful tools and features for building an effective intranet. But with so many options, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. In this presentation, we'll take a deep dive into the "out-of-the-box" features of SharePoint Online and Microsoft 365 and show you how to leverage them to build an intranet that meets your organization's unique needs. From creating and organizing content with SharePoint to enhancing communication with Teams and Viva Engage, we'll cover everything you need to get started, including new capabilities like the Brand Center and Copilot for SharePoint. By the end of the workshop, you'll have a solid understanding of the key features of SharePoint Online and how to use them to build an intranet that helps your organization communicate, collaborate, and succeed. You will also understand what is possible “in the box” and where you may want to invest in third party solutions or custom development.

Wednesday 9:50 AM - 11:00 AM · Room 607

Will AI replace search?

Agnes Molnar

Agnes Molnar

Founder, Managing Consultant

In today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, the question of whether artificial intelligence (AI) will replace enterprise search is becoming increasingly relevant. In many organizations, it’s not a question anymore - rather it’s an “all-in” on AI.

During this session, we will explore the evolving relationship between information retrieval and content generation. We will discuss the implications of AI in the context of governance, information management, information architecture, permissions, as well as the balance (or the lack of balance) between information retrieval and content generation.

Join us for this thought-provoking discussion on the future of enterprise search in the era of AI. Gain valuable insights, and discover strategies for harnessing the power of AI while ensuring responsible and effective implementation within your organization.

Wednesday 9:50 AM - 11:00 AM · Room 611

Mastering IT Documentation: Strategies for Success

Maria Popa

Maria Popa

Product Marketing Specialist - IT Glue

Sara Zorica

Sara Zorica

Senior Solutions Engineer, IT Glue

In the ever-evolving IT landscape, enterprises of every size grapple with a critical challenge: managing and consolidating vast amounts of data, especially within Microsoft environments. Effective IT documentation is more critical than ever. Whether you're overseeing a service desk, managing projects, or handling any critical IT function, intelligent documentation is key to managing IT assets, organizing information and standardizing processes.

Yet, many organizations struggle to develop and maintain documentation that truly supports their operations. This workshop is designed to equip IT professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to master IT documentation and drive success within their organizations. Participants will gain actionable insights to elevate their documentation processes.

This session will cover:

  • Fostering a Documentation Culture: Getting your team onboard with documentation is crucial for its success. We'll share practical techniques for inspiring your team to embrace documentation creation, utilization, and maintenance. You'll learn how to cultivate a culture where documentation is valued and prioritized.
  • Understanding Great Documentation: We'll highlight the characteristics of intelligent IT documentation that make them stand out, including clarity, completeness, and relevance. By understanding the hallmarks of great documentation, you'll be better equipped to elevate your own documentation practices.
  • Creating Process Documentation: We'll guide you through the process of creating comprehensive process documentation strategies, covering essential components such as naming conventions, workflows, templates and more. You’ll learn how to establish a robust documentation framework tailored to your organizational needs.
  • Strategies to quantify and maximize the ROI, productivity and utilization of your Microsoft environments. Discover insights for consolidating siloed Microsoft information to centrally track assets and users, securely access passwords and more.

By the end of the session, participants will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to transform their approach to IT documentation, enabling them to drive efficiency, collaboration, and success within their IT teams and across the organization.

Whether you're a seasoned IT professional or new to the world of documentation, this session offers valuable insights to help you master the art of IT documentation.

Wednesday 9:50 AM - 11:00 AM · Room 612

Real World Tips and Tricks for Driving Software Deployment

Stephen Rose

Stephen Rose

Chief Technology Strategist for Petri IT / Owner of stephenlrose.com consulting

What do companies like Lego, AEG, Polaris, Takeda, and the Special Olympics have in common? They all have useful tips and tricks around driving internal usage of software to help them move from synchronous work to asynchronous work.

In this session we will hear from those customers and learn how they drove success in their organizations and how you can as well.

Wednesday 11:00 AM - 11:30 AM · Solution Stage

Save IT resources with email signature & branding automation

Ewelina Manka

Ewelina Manka

Sales Manager at CodeTwo

How to set up email signatures for an entire company? Sounds like an easy task: just send a signature template to your users and ask them to add it in their Outlook, mobile devices, etc. Done! Well... not really. In reality, you will end up with just a couple of signatures set up correctly and hours spent by your IT Team to fix the remaining ones. The cycle repeats when your company’s signature needs to be updated. With 120k+ customers worldwide (including Facebook, Samsung or UNICEF) and over 16 years on the market, we know that managing email signatures is actually a huge problem for many organizations.

Emails are still #1 communication channel in business: the average person sends 40 emails per day and spends 28% of their working time on emails. So, having a professional, fully branded email signature across all devices and email apps is also a straightforward way to increase brand awareness.

During this session, we will show you how you can easily automate email signatures and branding in a Microsoft 365 organization with CodeTwo, and unlock new marketing opportunities offered by email signatures. Find out how one person can set up signatures for everyone in your organization within just minutes, saving you both time and resources.

We will also cover the following: • Integrating email signatures with Entra ID (Azure AD) • Setting up different signatures for different teams or email recipients, or for internal and external communication • Delegating emails signature management task non-IT teams like Marketing • Automating email marketing campaigns & customer feedback collection • Central management of automatic replies and out-of-office messages, and more.

Wednesday 11:30 AM - 12:40 PM · Room 602:603

How to Avoid AI Disasters: Copilot, Data Security, and Unintended Consequences

Treb Gatte

Treb Gatte

Marquee Insights, make better, faster decisions with smarter data.

Say your company rushes in the coming months to implement a Copilot over their Intranet. An employee asks the Copilot, "How much does my co-worker make?" How will it answer?

This scenario becomes plausible as Copilot is connected to data sources for Q&A activities. If the data related to pay, layoffs, and other sensitive topics is accessible by the AI, it's possible that an employee could get an answer to their question. You should take great care before connecting it to your own internal data.

Unfortunately hearing GPT, AI and Machine Learning terms thrown about like doubloons at a Mardi Gras parade in the news is giving many organizations FOMO. We'll discuss what you should know before you jump in.

In this session, we'll address:

  • What are these technologies and how they will impact you
  • How can these technologies be used in your organization
  • Data and security considerations
  • Preparing for unintended consequences

Join us to learn about this brave new world and how you could apply it in your own work.

Wednesday 11:30 AM - 12:40 PM · Room 609

Migrating to Microsoft 365: Best Practices and Common Mistakes

Geoff Ables

Geoff Ables

Microsoft MVP, Best Selling Author

Migrating all of your email, documents, intranet and other content to Microsoft 365 is a great step in creating a modern digital workplace.

That goes both for those who are brand-new to Microsoft 365, and those who have been using the platform for a while, but still have some content in other places (like file shares, other cloud drives, different intranets, or other internal social engagement platforms).

This session equips attendees with insights and practical guidance on navigating through their migration journey.

Key topics covered include:

  • It's not longer an "intranet" it's a "modern digital workplace" - learn the roles of Teams, SharePoint, and Viva Engage to create a complete communication, collaboration and document management experience for your team
  • Understanding migration solution options
  • Information architecture - why it's important to plan your structure before migrating
  • Real-world case studies - learn from the successes and struggles of others to get to know the best practices and save yourself from potential pitfalls
Wednesday 12:50 PM - 1:20 PM · Collab Studio

The AI Arms Race: Protecting Against Cyber Attacks

Miles Walker

Miles Walker

Channel Development Manager

Did you know that malicious phishing emails have surged by a staggering 1,265% since the close of 2022? This alarming trend is largely attributed to the usage of AI by cybercriminals, rendering traditional detection methods obsolete. No longer can we rely solely on spotting poor grammar or misspellings to discern between genuine and fraudulent emails.

Join us for an eye-opening session where we dive into the world of offensive vs. defensive AI tactics. Explore how AI serves as a double-edged sword, empowering cybercriminals with sophisticated attack methodologies while offering cybersecurity experts innovative tools to fortify defenses. Discover how AI can be harnessed to shield against even the most advanced email attacks, providing you with unparalleled protection in the digital battlefield.

Wednesday 1:50 PM - 3:00 PM · Room 607

Elevating Your Experience: Improving Findability and Knowledge Discovery in Microsoft 365 and ShareP

Susan Hanley

Susan Hanley

Information Architect/Business Analyst

In today's fast-paced business environment, quick and easy access to knowledge is critical for success. Unfortunately, many organizations and people struggle with finding and accessing information within their intranets.

In this session, we’ll review several different strategies to improve findability in Microsoft 365 – from simple tips to help users be more successful with search to more strategic approaches for intranet navigation and structure using home sites and hubs, information delivery with Viva Connections, improving knowledge management with Viva Topics and Viva Engage, and how Copilot can help.

You will learn practical and actionable tips and tricks that you can implement immediately as you evolve your employee experiences.

Wednesday 1:50 PM - 3:00 PM · Room 609

Mastering Microsoft Loop: A Beginner's Roadmap to Productivity

Amit Vasu

Amit Vasu

Solutions Architect - MS 365

Microsoft Loop is an innovative, collaborative platform that revolutionizes how teams collaborate, seamlessly integrating content, tasks, and tools across multiple devices for a truly immersive co-creation experience.

Join this enlightening session to gain comprehensive insights and practical knowledge on leveraging Loop's versatile elements for enhanced productivity and seamless integration across Microsoft's suite of applications.

Wednesday 1:50 PM - 3:00 PM · Room 611

Two Guys and A Copilot - The DnA Show!

Daniel Christian

Daniel Christian

Microsoft Business Application MVP

William Huneycutt

William Huneycutt

Upskill Tech

Daniel and Andy (DnA) are two guys who work for enterprise level companies and must deal with day-to-day tasks that can be both time consuming and mundane. However, now with Copilot available across several Microsoft cloud services, these two Microsoft MVPs are finding ways to making their jobs a lot easier and, in some cases, automated.

So, join them as these two guys show share their tips and tricks with you to make your jobs easier and make you look like Copilot superstars. This session will cover both Power Platform and Microsoft 365 Copilot features.

Wednesday 1:50 PM - 3:00 PM · Room 613:614

5 Immediate Things You Can Do To Increase Microsoft 365 and Power Apps User Adoption

Asif Rehmani

Asif Rehmani

CEO at VisualSP

Traditionally training Microsoft 365, SharePoint or Power Apps users is a waste of time. Instead, increase user adoption and decrease support tickets by providing User Adoption as a Service (UAaaS).

Come to this session and I'll tell you the 5 strategies that will help you cut down on support calls and have your users Love the environment and content you create for them in Microsoft 365 and Power Apps.

Wednesday 3:40 PM - 4:50 PM · Room 611

Process Mining with Copilot and AI: A New Frontier for Business Intelligence

Derah Onuorah

Derah Onuorah

Product Manager, II Process Insights, Microsoft

Heather Orta-Olmo

Heather Orta-Olmo

Senior Product Manager, Process Insights

Process Mining is a powerful tool that helps organizations take an x-ray of their business processes for the purpose of finding opportunities for optimization and driving business decisions. However, it has historically been a tool requiring deep analytical knowledge and experience to wield.

With Power Automate Process Mining, the ability to drive process insights and make impactful changes to how processes are run within your business is now accessible to any business user through the power of Copilot.

In this demo, Heather will demonstrate how Copilot can help the business user understand the root causes of process deviations, to generate actionable insights and recommendations, and to communicate these results effectively to stakeholders.

Wednesday 3:40 PM - 4:50 PM · Room 613:614

Empowering Managers with Microsoft Viva

Daniel Glenn

Daniel Glenn

Microsoft MVP, Owner and Microsoft 365 Consultant at CollabFront

In today’s fast-paced corporate landscape, managers grapple with myriad challenges that can stifle team productivity and morale. From providing timely feedback to dismantling communication barriers, the hurdles are significant. Employees are more disengaged than ever, and managers need ways to avoid misunderstandings and decreased productivity in today's hybrid or remote working environment.

In this session, we will dive into the Microsoft Viva Suite of tools to address these very challenges. Learn how you can foster a vibrant workplace culture by connecting leaders, coworkers, and communities together. Get timely feedback and deliver meaningful communications right where your employees are working. Have real data to show how your team's wellbeing improved by cultivating positive habits to tackle your organization's toughest challenges.

Thursday 10:30 AM - 11:40 AM · Room 604

Lead your Search Team to success

Agnes Molnar

Agnes Molnar

Founder, Managing Consultant

Leading a search team requires more than just technical expertise. It demands effective management, collaboration, and a keen understanding of information governance, management, architecture, and permissions. In this session, we will delve into the essential aspects of search team leadership and provide practical guidance on how to navigate these critical areas.

Join us to gain valuable insights and a set of immediate actions to take that can transform your search team's performance and drive better search performance, and better user satisfaction.

Thursday 10:30 AM - 11:40 AM · Room 615:616

Power Fx leverage in everything from AI to YAML

Greg Lindhorst

Greg Lindhorst

Power Fx PM Architect

Mike Stall

Mike Stall

A lot is happening in the Power Fx world. Let's start with AI: Copilot is helping makers generate and explain Power Fx in Power Apps and across the Power Platform. But not only that, Power Fx is being used in Copilot Studio for prompt generation to feed models with contextual data. Power Pages now leverages Power Fx! Reuse and organize your logic with low code plugins, User Defined Functions, User Defined Types. And finally, you can now edit your Power Apps in YAML directly in Power Apps Studio. Come see it all!

Thursday 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM · Collab Studio

Building an Intelligence-Driven IT Documentation Framework with IT Glue

Thomas Griffith

Thomas Griffith

Product Owner - IT Glue

In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, efficient IT documentation is essential for businesses to stay competitive and secure. Discover how intelligence-driven IT documentation becomes a linchpin, enabling IT teams to excel in this transformative journey with critical IT information at their fingertips.

In this Solution Showcase, discover how IT Glue helps over 16,000 partners globally to revolutionize their IT documentation by centralizing and streamlining critical information, enhancing operational efficiency and bolstering security measures.

Join the session and discover how to: • Build intelligent IT documentation using out-of-the-box templates and workflows. • Create relationships between your documentation, so that no matter what information you need, it’s always at your fingertips. • Integrate Intune, Microsoft 365, Active Directory and Entra ID documentation into IT Glue, to track Microsoft assets, users and licenses, in one easy place.

Don't miss this opportunity to elevate your IT documentation and learn how to unlock the full potential of your IT teams.

Thursday 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM · Solution Stage

How to Run a Successful Intranet

Gemma Saint

Gemma Saint

Director, Customer Success and Growth at SWOOP Analytics, North America

Unlock the blueprint for running a successful intranet that empowers your workforce and drives organizational success. This session will take a deep dive into the secrets of running a thriving intranet and unveil the groundbreaking insights from the inaugural global benchmarking report on intranet success.

Discover the key findings, best practices, and actionable strategies shared by leading organizations worldwide. From optimizing user experience to enhancing collaboration and maximizing productivity, explore the vital ingredients that differentiate a mediocre intranet from a truly exceptional one. Key Takeaways:

  1. Insights into optimizing the user experience for maximum engagement
  2. Strategies for enhancing collaboration and knowledge sharing
  3. Best practices for driving productivity and efficiency
  4. Actionable tips for maintaining and evolving your intranet over time Don't miss this opportunity to gain invaluable insights, network with industry peers, and revolutionize how you manage your intranet.
Thursday 12:40 PM - 1:50 PM · Room 604

Demystifying Copilot Studio

Mark Rackley

Mark Rackley

Group Manager, Modern Workplace Architect at Avanade

Copilot Studio offers the power of bringing Copilots to the masses! Now anyone can create their own Copilot and harness the power of Generative AI! But what's the real story? What are the costs of Copilot Studio? What is the cost? How does it integrate with Microsoft 365 Copilot?

Join this demo-packed session with Copilot veteran Mark Rackley and discover the truth beyond the marketing.

Thursday 12:40 PM - 1:50 PM · Room 607

Elevate Your Workforce: Harnessing Microsoft Teams & AI for Employee Empowerment

Steven Karachinsky

Steven Karachinsky

ZIRO Technologies

Join us for an enlightening session that dives into communication and collaboration's impact on employee experience, focusing on empowering your workforce with Microsoft Teams best practices.

During this session, we'll share how AI will revolutionize how employees work and share a wealth of insights, strategies, and real-world examples to equip you with the needed knowledge.

Session Highlights:

  • Gain a better understanding of employee motivations
  • Overcoming Hybrid Work Challenges
  • Leveraging learnings from CX to improve EX
  • Making communications seamless
  • The current and future role of AI
  • And more

Join us and discover the power of Microsoft Teams in fostering productive and engaged hybrid teams. Whether your team members work from home, in different offices, or in different time zones, this session will equip you with the insights needed to create a seamless and collaborative hybrid work environment.

Thursday 12:40 PM - 1:50 PM · Room 611

An end-to-end look at SharePoint Premium Content Processing

Joanne Klein

Joanne Klein

Microsoft 365 Independent Consultant

SharePoint Premium is a big step forward for Content Services in Microsoft 365 by providing the ability to integrate AI into the flow of work. Unstructured content is being produced at an alarming rate in modern workplaces today and organizations need a way to improve the effectiveness of business processes surrounding it.

SharePoint Premium's content processing capabilities help by automatically classifying content, extracting metadata, improving search, enhancing knowledge sharing, and applying appropriate governance controls. SharePoint Premium is this and so much more!

To demonstrate, Joanne Klein will walk through a live demo of building and training an Unstructured Document Processing model in SharePoint as well as the additional capabilities it provides once classified.

The walkthrough will cover setup, training, deployment, and some of the "extras" you get with SharePoint Premium.

Thursday 12:40 PM - 1:50 PM · Room 613:614

From Clicks to Insights: Leveraging Microsoft Clarity in Your M365 Environment

Asif Rehmani

Asif Rehmani

CEO at VisualSP

Want to get inside the minds of your Microsoft 365 users without relying on hit-or-miss surveys to increase digital adoption? This eye-opening session will show you how to leverage the free Microsoft Clarity product for real-time behavioral analytics.

Learn how to spot popular pages, dead clicks, rage clicks, and more in your environment and interpret them to improve your user training and support initiatives. By the end of this session, you'll know how to utilize heat maps, session recordings and other dashboard insights available in Microsoft Clarity to identify key areas where users struggle, ensuring your governance and compliance measures are both effective and user-friendly. Don't miss out on this chance to revamp how you understand and support your M365 users!

Thursday 2:00 PM - 3:10 PM · Room 607

Helping Your New Intranet Reach Airspeed Velocity

Sean McDonough

Sean McDonough

Solutions Architect, Consultant, and Microsoft MVP

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 in complexity.

In this session, we’ll be looking at the modern intranet with a focus on SharePoint-based design and implementation. 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 the things I wish I had known before I ever started working on intranets in the hope that they will spare you some of the pain I endured.

Thursday 2:00 PM - 3:10 PM · Room 613:614

Bye, Bye Power Virtual Agents, Hello Microsoft 365 Copilot Studio!

Daniel Christian

Daniel Christian

Microsoft Business Application MVP

At the Microsoft Ignite event in November 2023, Microsoft announced Copilot Studio and that it is built upon the foundations of Power Virtual Agents. So what does this mean? Is Power Virtual Agents gone? Do our chatbots need to be rebuilt?

Join Daniel Christian, a Microsoft MVP and a certified trainer as he walks you through these changes made to Power Virtual Agents and will provide you the guidance you need to adapt to these new enhancements.

Thursday 3:50 PM - 5:00 PM · Room 604

Copilot to Enhance the Employee Experience

Jay Leask

Jay Leask

Modern Work Architect

Microsoft Copilot is getting a lot of hype for personal productivity, but how do you break beyond the simple technology and understand how Copilot truly enhances the Employee Experience?

During this session, we will use the common experience of onboarding a new employee to guide you in understanding not only what Copilot is available in the productivity suites, but dive into Microsoft's Employee Experience platform and showcase how combining those personal productivity solutions with Copilot in Microsoft Viva con take Employee Engagement to the next level.

Thursday 3:50 PM - 5:00 PM · Room 611

Migrating to Microsoft 365 – Your Guide to a Successful Move

Daniel Glenn

Daniel Glenn

Microsoft MVP, Owner and Microsoft 365 Consultant at CollabFront

Your organization’s content is likely stored in many places, from user’s computers to file shares. However, if your organization wants to take advantage of all the benefits in the cloud, where do you begin when planning your move to Microsoft 365? What are the frequent roadblocks to a migration to Microsoft 365 and how do you adapt your efforts? Do you have to pay for third-party migration software, or can you use out of the box tools?

We will discuss how your organization can take advantage of tools like SharePoint and OneDrive in Microsoft 365, what the process of mapping data looks like, and what are the many options for migrating. We will also examine the process of discovering business processes that will affect your migration.

Using information from real-world projects, you see the common issues that organizations encounter with migrations. You will know the tools you can use, and just how to use them to make your migration a success.

Thursday 3:50 PM - 5:00 PM · Room 612

Automate content processing using AI & SharePoint Premium (Microsoft Syntex)

Amarender Peddamalku

Amarender Peddamalku

MVP | Practice Lead - Microsoft Modern Work @Perficient

We'll learn how to use SharePoint Premium (previously known as Microsoft Syntex) that uses advanced AI and machine teaching to amplify human expertise, automate content processing, and transform content into knowledge.

Thursday 3:50 PM - 5:00 PM · Room 613:614

I didn't know you could do that with OneDrive!

William Huneycutt

William Huneycutt

Upskill Tech

OneDrive is more than just cloud storage for your files. It’s a smart way to work and collaborate across Microsoft 365. Whether you need to share documents with your team, sync files to your desktop, or protect your work from accidental loss, OneDrive has you covered.

In this engaging and practical session, I will show you how to make the most of OneDrive’s features to boost your productivity and make work easier.

Learn how to:

  • Let OneDrive track activity and sharing for you
  • Open and save files directly from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, & OneNote
  • Manage changes with document version history
  • Securely share content with people inside & outside the organization
  • Quickly access SharePoint documents and libraries without leaving OneDrive
  • Move and copy files quickly and easily with between - OneDrive and SharePoint
  • Sync files locally with OneDrive files on-demand
  • Share files in Microsoft Teams
  • Restore files if they get deleted, overwritten, corrupted, or infected by malware
  • Automate repetitive activities with flow And more!

Don’t miss this chance to learn how OneDrive can transform the way you work.

Thursday 3:50 PM - 5:00 PM · Room 615:616

The Project Master Guide: 5 Ways to Manage Projects with Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365

Geoff Ables

Geoff Ables

Microsoft MVP, Best Selling Author

Managing projects goes beyond just checking off tasks and setting milestones. It's a meticulous (and sometimes maddening) blend of documentation, communication, teamwork, monitoring, and more. Microsoft makes myriad solutions available to aid in this process - but finding and tailoring the right ones to your specific needs can be challenging.

Join us for this lively session as we demystify the diverse range of Microsoft's project management tools. Our deep dive includes:

  • Fundamentals Exposed: Start simple with To-Do and Planner.
  • Progressive PM Tools: Delve into Microsoft Project for the Web and Project Operations.
  • Create a PMO Solution: Integrate Teams, SharePoint, and Hub sites with your selected PM tools for a comprehensive solution.
  • AI in Action: Discover the transformative power of AI in boosting project management outcomes.

There's even more! We'll also guide you through instances where balancing multiple tools is optimal, and times when it's not.

Join our expedition, equipping yourself with the knowledge to lead projects, from the simplest to the most intricate.

Friday 9:00 AM - 10:10 AM · Room 604

Governance made easy: How to plan an effective governance strategy for your intranet

Susan Hanley

Susan Hanley

Information Architect/Business Analyst

Are you tired of your intranet and Microsoft 365 being a mess of unorganized, outdated, and non-compliant content? Do you have a governance plan that no one reads, follows, or cares about? Do you want to learn an approach to make your digital workplace more efficient, engaging, and secure?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this session is for you! Join us to learn how to plan and implement governance for your intranet, Microsoft Viva, and Microsoft 365 in a way that actually works – and provides a framework to address new capabilities like Copilot.

Whether you are new to governance or a seasoned pro, this session will give you the tips, tricks, and templates you need to succeed!

Friday 9:00 AM - 10:10 AM · Room 606

How Copilot Studio Uses Generative A.I. to Build Custom Copilot

Daniel Christian

Daniel Christian

Microsoft Business Application MVP

Microsoft Copilot Studio makes creating chatbots as easy as 1, 2, 3. The generative A.I. feature is able to take natural language from end-users and helps transform that into bot logic which can also be extended to Microsoft 365.

Join Daniel Christian, a Microsoft MVP and certified trainer as he shows you how Copilot Studio makes bot building truly low-code.

Friday 9:00 AM - 10:10 AM · Room 612

Essential Microsoft 365 security features crash course

Karinne Bessette

Karinne Bessette

Technologist, PS @Veeam

Security is top of mind for any business moving to the cloud and even more so for those who had to move out of necessity without a clear action plan. Knowing where to start and what is available can be half the battle.

This session will cover some of the top concepts when it comes to securing and monitoring your Microsoft 365 environment, the best tools to start with, and which admin center you can find them in.

Including but not limited to a look at the Microsoft Purview compliance portal and Microsoft 365 Defender admin center and the osmosis process that has happened since parting ways from what was formally known as the Security and Compliance center.

The best part is that some of these are available in your subscription now at no extra charge!

Friday 10:20 AM - 11:30 AM · Room 604

How to do Search and Content Assessment in Microsoft 365

Agnes Molnar

Agnes Molnar

Founder, Managing Consultant

Before you start improving findability in your organization, it’s essential to do a reality check: what content you have, how everything is stored, how everything is being used, who the key users are, etc.

Based on real-world examples, this session demonstrates how to do a search/content assessment and plan your short/middle/long term action plan to improve findability (based on real-life case studies).

How to do a systematic review of your Microsoft 365 content and Information Architecture, and how it contributes to your organization’s key activities, and where are the gaps.

What the “Report on Findings” should contain, including:

  • Landscape and gap analysis;
  • Suggestions and recommendations;
  • How to enhance the out-of-the-box search in Microsoft 365;
  • Where and why you might need custom search application(s);
  • Recommend roadmap and action plan;
  • Governance and maintenance

Benefits of Attending this Session:

  • Understand the lay of the land – where your organization is at the moment
  • Evaluate potential improvements and enhancements
  • Create an actionable plan – start implementing right when you’re back from this conference
Friday 10:20 AM - 11:30 AM · Room 612

From SQL Developer to Business Analyst: Harnessing Fabric's Innovations

Charles Webb

Charles Webb

Leading a PM team focused on citizen and pro-developers, self-service and enterprise analytics, and AI for Microsoft Fabric

Data warehouse in Fabric is made for developers of any skillset. Learn how to take advantage of the newest innovations and developer experiences whether you are a SQL developer or a business analyst.

In this session we’ll provide an overview of capabilities, share best practices and enable you to use Fabric to power your analytical use cases from enterprise reporting to self service BI - and easily manage it in production.

Friday 12:30 PM - 1:40 PM · Room 611

Power employee engagement with Microsoft Viva, SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams

Sarah Haase

Sarah Haase

Microsoft MVP | M365 enthusiast | Principal Product Manager | User adoption advocate

Hybrid and remote work are the new normal, but work trends indicate the greatest challenges are a sense of community, connection, relationship-building, and inspiration.

This session highlights how Microsoft Viva, SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams come together to foster company culture, unlock communication and engagement opportunities, organize content, and spark employee creativity.

Friday 1:50 PM - 3:00 PM · Room 608

Keeping up with change in Microsoft 365 in the AI Era

Daniel Glenn

Daniel Glenn

Microsoft MVP, Owner and Microsoft 365 Consultant at CollabFront

Every month there are dozens of changes made throughout the services in Microsoft 365. The changes can bring brand new features, but also change aspects on which your business solutions are based.

How do you stay informed about the changes and prepare your environment for all the updates? How can you keep your users up-to-date with the features that are available and manage the process of change? How does Ai and Copilot help (or not)? During this session, we will discuss how IT Pros and collaboration enablers can keep up with all the changes, promote adoption with your users, and help your organization stay focused on what you do best. Real-world examples of how you can manage all the data available to you will be shared. You will leave with the tools you need to be proactive in managing cloud changes in your organization.

Friday 1:50 PM - 3:00 PM · Room 611

Beyond Copilot: Integrating Custom AI Into Apps

Geoff Ables

Geoff Ables

Microsoft MVP, Best Selling Author

Chat GPT has been out for over a year and Copilot has been rolling out for over 6 months. It's time for your company to take AI to the next level and integrate custom AI capabilities that accelerate the productivity of every member of your team.

In this non-technical session, we'll take a look at the capabilities and case studies of AI capabilities available through AI Builder, the OpenAI API, Azure Cognitive Services and more.

You'll walk away with over 20 case studies and ideas for how you can integrate AI into the tasks your team has to manage every day. You'll lower costs, improve productivity, create better customer and employee experiences, and unleash your team to be super-humans!

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