🌍 Seven Months of #CommunityLuv with MGCI

What a great seven months, MGCI! From Dublin to Dubai, Orlando to Oslo, and Cologne to Cotonou, this community showed up on stages, in hallways, on watch-party couches, and in every "let's get a photo together" moment.  Here's a look back at what we've done together so far.  

 

🗺️ We showed up around the world  

Community was in motion on every continent.  

Throughout the year, community leaders, speakers, sponsors, and attendees kept the momentum building at events large and small. Whether gathering at Microsoft Ignite, ColorCloud Hamburg, M365 Community Conference, TechCon Chicago, or local Community Days and CollabDays events around the globe, people came together to learn, collaborate, and support one another. From Oslo, Madrid, Lyon, Warsaw, Cologne, and Utrecht to Montréal, Memphis, Mexico City, Tunis, and Cotonou, these connections continued to strengthen and grow, proving once again that community knows no borders.

 

 

 

🎂 We celebrated 25 years of SharePoint  

SharePoint turned 25, and we threw a party worthy of the milestone. From a pre-celebration in Dublin to the global digital event in March (#SPat25), watch parties popped up everywhere, from the SharePoint product team to the Twin Cities User Group. Add a SharePoint Hackathon and the More Than Code short film, and it was a fitting tribute to 25 years of shaping the digital workplace.  

 

 

 

💜 We lifted up Women in Tech and Allies  

 

Powerful panels lit up shows and conferences around the globe.  

Our Women's History Month General Session spotlighted organizations creating real pathways for mentorship, leadership and inclusion, including TechStylers, the WIT Network, Rockstar Women in AI & Security, Women in Power, The Mentoring Hub, Women in M365, and Women in Cloud.  

Community members are continuing to grow Women in Tech and Allies motions. Kudos to Sharon Smith Founder: The Mentoring Hub who reached out to the CEO of Sessionize and got the Women in Tech speaker directory on Sessionize, making it easier for organizers to build inclusive, well-rounded events.  

 

🌱 We grew, and welcomed new leaders

 

We introduced a new cohort of 118 Regional Leaders, community builders, speakers, mentors, and storytellers who will help shape the future of our global community. We also celebrated newly awarded MVPs in our MGCI meetings every month, highlighted the next generation of builders through Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors, and helped grow the Microsoft Community LinkedIn community to over 42,000 followers worldwide.  

🎓 We learned together, every month 

MGCI General Sessions got a fresh, short, focused, community-first makeover and now has a new name: Community Builders Network Monthly Meeting.  

Event Producer Trainings covered the real work behind great events, from sponsorships and speaker selection to run of show, marketing, branding, and yes, even food.  

Mondays at Microsoft with Heather Cook and Karuana Gatimu moved from an every other week cadence to every week, plus the Microsoft 365 Champions Program kept everyone in the know on AI and what's coming next.  

All MGCI meetings, Mondays at Microsoft and Microsoft 365 Champions Program meetings are always available on-demand on the Microsoft Community Learning YouTube channel.

🛠️ We built better tools, because of you  

 

CommunityDays.org will celebrate four years of events and leveled up again this year with performance improvements, region-aware event listings, calendar sharing, and better sponsor tools, all driven by your feedback. It has become the one-stop shop to discover events, sign up for calls for speakers and get spotted by sponsors.  Thank you to Tom Daly who leads the MGCI Tech and Tools subcommittee and to all the members of the subcommittee who volunteer their time fixing bugs, dreaming up new ideas and creating cool features. 

🕊️ We honored one of our own  

We also said a heartfelt goodbye to Nicki Borell, a Microsoft MVP from Germany a Regional Leader, and a beloved speaker at ECS, and so many community events. We are grateful for everything he gave to this community. Rest in peace, Nicki.  

💫 Here's to us  

MGCI isn't powered by programming. It's powered by participation. Every event organized, every speaker coached, every sponsor secured, and every new attendee welcomed at check-in is this community in action. When you bring someone new into the room, you expand what's possible. When you share what you learned, you strengthen someone else's event. That's how momentum becomes movement.  

Thank you for an unforgettable seven months. Thank you for every event organized, every session delivered, every volunteer hour given, and every new connection made. Keep building, keep sharing, and keep showing what #CommunityLuv looks like in action. See you out there.

 

 

Enjoy the rest of August! We'll be back with our MGCI meetings in September.

All of us at MGCI