The 2023 edition of the Power Platform French Summit was held at the Microsoft France Conference Center in Paris in December 2023. The two-day hybrid event featured the Business Day on the first day and the Technical Day on the second day, hosting 65 sessions with over 100 speakers. Like the previous event we featured in this blog, it proved to be a valuable opportunity for many attendees to enhance their learning about the Power Platform. Since they hosted the first event in 2020, their four events have attracted over 6,000 participants from 22 countries so far.
The conference was orchestrated mainly by a team of local French Microsoft MVPs, significantly contributing to its success. Notably, French Business Applications MVPs Aurélien Clere, David Vachala, Allan de Castro, Théophile Chin-Nin, Loic Cimon, Jeff Angama, Data Platform MVP Tristan Malherbe, M365 MVP Patrick Guimonet, and international MVPs including Business Applications MVP Raphael Pothin (Canada), Chloé Moreau (Switzerland), played major roles.
According to Aurélien, attendees were keen on learning about the latest updates and new features of the Power Platform. They also showed significant interest in Microsoft AI, including the Microsoft Copilot Studio. Furthermore, the event served as an occasion to revisit crucial announcements made at the Microsoft Ignite 2023 in November 2023.
Aurélien highlighted why guests enjoyed the summit, explaining that “the main reasons why people love this event is from the customer experiences they learned in the Business Day, and sessions in French😉”.
For this event, Aurélien focused on increasing the number of attendees visiting the venue. His efforts paid off, with the number of onsite participants doubling from 200 last year to 400 this year. However, Aurélien emphasizes the importance of reaching a broader audience as well as physical attendance, expressing a commitment to exploring better ways to deliver information in various formats. He remarked, "we launched this event during the pandemic and now run it in a hybrid format. It's always a challenge to find the right balance to be the best event in France for the Power Platform with all kinds of attendees. More than 1,000 people are still watching the event virtually!"
Aurélien also shared his growth mindset as a community leader who is dedicated to hosting better events based on the participants' perspectives. He said, "we also try to fulfill all kinds of feedback we received in the past four editions. We always learn year after year in the community!"
Finally, he concluded with words of appreciation for his community peers who worked together for the event, highlighting the collaborative spirit that underpins these gatherings. “A huge thanks for all MVPs, community members including all moderators, and three associations (Biz Apps French Community, aMS Community, and Club Power BI France) that help us organizing this event. It's always a pleasure to gather all kinds of different background profile such as BizApps, Modern Workplace, and Data Platform into one major global event in France. Also, Microsoft France is always a large support locally and that is a much-appreciated help.”
A highlight video of the event, After Movie - #PPFS2023, was released on their YouTube channel, Power Platform French Summit. It features sessions at the venue, moments of interaction among participants, and comments from the organizing team. We encourage you to watch this video to get a comprehensive view of the entire event and experience its atmosphere and the engagements it fostered.
Session videos are also available – check the playlist PPFS2023 - YouTube and watch the sessions to learn more from Power Platform French Summit 2023.