You might have noticed that I’ve been silent for quite some time, I promise I’ll be back but right now I’m keeping it easy since I’m on maternity leave. But this is a blog post I really wanted to write and share.
This summer I was thinking about this crazy year Microsoft (and well everyone) had, so many great and interesting features have been shipped and a few others are still waiting. With Microsoft Ignite next week I decided to look at announced features at Microsoft Ignite that I’ve been longing for and see what actually happened 🧐. Does Microsoft ship everything they say they will?
Microsoft Ignite 2019
The last Ignite in real life? I hope not! I can tell this is a long time ago because some of the announcements feel weird and haven’t this feature existed forever, things worked differently back then.
Multi window in Microsoft Teams
Do you remember way back when meetings didn’t pop-out and you couldn’t multitask during meetings, well me neither 🤪. I’m glad meetings pop out, but I have never popped out a chat. Something that was supposed to come but still not available is pop out files – this is something I want and need.
Private channels in Microsoft Teams
It’s available, do I use it? No? I prefer transparent work.
Project Cortex
Well, it’s not called Project Cortex anymore, now we look at Microsoft Viva Topics and SharePoint Syntax instead. I’m really looking forward working with Microsoft Viva when I get back to work.
News for SharePoint
Everything I longed for is available 🙌🏻.
The new office app
Use it, love it, written a blog post about it 💞 .
The new Yammer
If I was bad at using Yammer in 2019, today it’s a lot worse. There is a new Yammer, have I opened it? No.
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You can read the full blog post here - My thoughts about Microsoft Ignite 2019
Microsoft Ignite 2020
The first virtual Microsoft Ignite, really nice to be able to see everything from home!
Insights app for well-being
This turned out to be part of Microsoft Viva as Viva Insights! Super nice and I’m looking forward to using all of its features (like wow cool “virtual commute”).
Power Virtual Agents moves into Microsoft Teams
I love Power Virtual Agents and think it’s so easy to build apps in Microsoft Teams, I’m glad we have this much simpler way of deploying bots now.
Pinning posts in Microsoft Teams
This feature is available, I’m not really pleased with the result but at least it’s something.
Register to an event and see attendee engagement
This is what at Ignite 2021 turned into the new meeting form Webinars. I barely got to test this features before my leave started, but it’s available. Here you can read a blog post about webinars by my friend Adam Deltinger - Part 1: What is Teams Webinar – Explained.
Home site app for Microsoft Teams
And here we have Viva Connections, I love how Microsoft announced bits and pieces of Microsoft Viva before they said Hey, here it is ✨. I think this is amazing, so valuable to have your intranet in Microsoft Teams, it’s exciting to see the intranet isn’t dead and make the hub for teamwork work hard when even our intranet is there 😉.
News for SharePoint
Everything is available to use 😍.
Add shortcut in OneDrive
If folders I added as a shortcut also were shown in the file explorer, I would probably use this a lot more. Maybe it’s a little old school but I do love the file explorer. But it’s a nice feature.
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You can read the full blog post here - My thoughts about Microsoft Ignite 2020
Microsoft Ignite March 2021
When Microsoft announced that there would be a new Ignite only a few months after the previous I don’t think I was the only one who was surprised. And now there’s a new Ignite next week, the world is truly upside down (sorry for that very bad joke). There aren’t a lot of news from this blog post, when having an Ignite so close to the one before I think there was less things to announce but enough to have an Ignite at least.
Microsoft Teams connect – shared channels
This is yet to come, the roadmap item says November but I’m cautiously optimistic until we actually see something. Here you can follow the roadmap item - Feature ID: 70766 - Microsoft Teams: Microsoft Teams Connect.
New presenter layouts and audience views for meetings
Available now – read more here. Something that’s also been announced since then is Microsoft Cameo that looks super cool. I think this video from Microsoft gives a nice overview over meetings and hybrid.
Webinars in Microsoft Teams
See comment about this above 😊.
New IT governance and security features for the Power Platform
I wish I had more time to play with this and test it, but I haven’t 🥺.
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You can read the full blog post here - My thoughts about Microsoft Ignite March 2021
Microsoft Ignite November 2021
In less than one week we have the next Microsoft Ignite, register here if you haven’t yet. Some of the session I’m looking forward to is:
I love listening to Jeff Teper, and this session will have him AND a few other familiar faces from Microsoft. My guess is that this session will be filled with exciting things to come for Microsoft 365, so this is the place to be: Rich, secure content and collaboration for hybrid work. Register here
As the SharePoint at ❤ girl I am of course I won’t miss SharePoint Experiences in Teams. Register here
I’ll be a co-host for a table talk this year as well 🙌🏻, this time in AltSpaceVR. This time it will be even more of a chilling and talking after a session kind of vibe. The theme is Optimizing Microsoft Teams for Hybrid Work. RSVP here
Last session I won’t miss is about Teams Connect, they announced it in March and let’s see what they say now. Seamless external collaboration with Microsoft Teams Connect, shared channels. Register here
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What about the future?
I’d prefer Microsoft Ignite to take place once a year to keep it as the biggest tech event of the year and not a bunch of small Ignites, but I understand that it’s faster and easier to come with new things when there’s less time between. If I compare Microsoft Ignite 2019 to the latest one there was a lot more going on in 2019 – we’ll see what happens.
Is this the last virtual one? As Microsoft (and everyone) is talking about hybrid and I really think Microsoft wants to do something hybrid when IRL conferences starts, but I also think it puts a lot of pressure on Microsoft because hybrid is tricky. Imagine a large session where you want to make it equally good for those not in the room 🙄.
I hope I get to see you IRL the next 💖.
Microsoft Ignite 2024 brings exciting advancements, particularly with Microsoft Entra, which is aimed at bolstering identity and security for future-ready enterprises. This year’s announcements reveal updates that focus on simplifying secure access and enhancing identity solutions across diverse platforms. If you're curious about these new features and their impact, check out this Soft2Share article for more details on Entra’s latest developments and Ignite’s broader announcements.