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One Build, Every Language: How MVPs Took Microsoft Build //localhost to the World

SoyoungLee — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 12:27:25 GMT

Microsoft Build is one of the year's biggest developer moments. In 2026, Build //localhost set out to take that moment further: take that energy off the main stage and carry it into communities everywhere — localized, hands-on, and led by the people developers already know and trust.

The idea was simple and powerful: turn a flagship conference into a global community activation movement, where curated Build content and hands-on labs flow through trusted local leaders, into in-person events, and out to developers worldwide.

By the numbers, it worked. Build //localhost reached 57 countries and 188 events, welcomed 14,996 attendees in person, and saw 8,973 hands-on labs completed — with Microsoft MVPs as the program's largest execution partner network, powering 92 events and reaching 4,883 developers.

From One Stage to Every Neighborhood

Build LocalHost events in Hyderabad, India and Lima, Peru

Content scales, but trust is built locally. MVPs didn't just relay announcements — they organized venues, recruited speakers, ran labs, and answered questions in the local language, often responding to demand that outgrew the plan. In Hyderabad, so many developers wanted in that the event spread across two venues and 450+ attendees:

“What started as a single-location plan turned into a bigger community celebration.” — MVP Amit Chandak, Hyderabad

For the MVPs themselves, leading was its own reward. In Lima, MVPs hosted Microsoft Build at the Microsoft Peru offices for a room full of first-time attendees exploring AI and agents in Spanish:

“The event was excellent; organizing it was an incredible experience.” — MVP Jesus Gonzales, Lima

Learning by Building, Not Just Watching

Build //localhost was designed for hands-on learning, not passive listening. Across the program, developers completed 8,973 labs — from “Get Started with Models in Microsoft Foundry” to “From Zero to Deployed on Azure with AI Agents” — turning announcements into working code. At Microsoft Denmark, the day struck exactly that balance:

Hands-on learning at the Build LocalHost in Denmark, Manchester and Cape Town in England.

“Great content, hands-on learning, and a local community showing up.” — MVP Magnus Mårtensson, Lyngby

In Manchester, the Northern Azure User Group put an entire room hands-on, shipping their own infra and app code:

“Everyone in the room got hands-on with GitHub Copilot CLI.” — MVP Elliott Leighton-Woodruff, Manchester

And in Cape Town, eight speakers and quick Skillable lab onboarding made a full day fly by:

“72 happy people arrived for the day.” — MVP Allan Pead, Cape Town

In Their Own Languages

Local didn't just mean local venues — it meant local languages and local platforms. In Beijing, the room was only the beginning:

“The event was streamed live, attracting over 23,000 online viewers.” — MVP Like Liu, Beijing

Shanghai reached even further across China's own platforms, from HuoDongXing sign-ups to video views:

“Online we had 7,155 views on Bilibili and 6,462 on Weixin.” — MVP Hao Hu, Shanghai

In Riyadh, the community gathered in Arabic under the Microsoft Reactor spirit. Build //localhost never simply translated a conference — it let each community throw its own:

“This is exactly what makes our community special: passionate professionals coming together.” — MVP Mahmoud Atallah, Riyadh

Community gatherings during the Build LocalHost in Saudi Arabia, Beijing and Shanghai, China

Where Community Becomes Belonging

Strip away the numbers and what's left is belonging — the feeling of being part of something. In Utrecht, the payoff was simple:

“The attendees were happy at the end — and that was so fulfilling.” — MVP Promise Nwachukwu, Utrecht

In Mumbai, a packed session on prompts versus agents left its speaker grateful:

“Blessed to be part of such a thriving community.” — MVP Rakesh Darge, Mumbai

In New York, 140+ developers packed #MSBuildNYC for ten sessions, mingling, and a sponsor raffle — the kind of night that starts a movement:

“You just wish you would have been there.” — MVP Peter Smulovics, New York City

And in Sydney, it all came down to curiosity — 50 developers eager to put the latest Build announcements straight to work:

“50 curious minds joined us to explore the latest from Build.” — MVPs Arafat Tehsin & Sam Alavi, Sydney

MVP-led Build LocalHost in Mumbai, India, New York city and Sydney

Keep Building Locally

Build //localhost validated a simple truth: the fastest way to reach developers everywhere isn't a bigger stage — it's empowering trusted local leaders who already have strong connections within their communities. MVPs turned a one-day flagship into a worldwide wave of local learning and gave thousands of developers their first hands-on step into AI-native development. And the best part? It's not over — the content is still live, the labs are still open, and the community is still here.

Run the hands-on labs (Microsoft Foundry models, Azure AI Agents) and bring them to your next meetup — see Microsoft Learn.
Host a local event with curated Build content — explore Microsoft Build.
Find and follow the MVPs in your region on the Microsoft MVP directory; they're the bridge from announcement to action.

Thank You, MVPs

From New York to Sydney, from Lima to Shanghai, none of this happened by accident. It happened because MVPs and community leaders chose to bring Build home — to organize, to teach, and to make thousands of developers feel like they belonged. One conference became a global community, one local room at a time. Thank you.

Want to Learn More About the MVP Program?

To find an MVP and learn more about the MVP Program visit the MVP Communities website and follow our updates on LinkedIn or #mvpbuzz.

Join us for a future live session through the Microsoft Reactor where we walk through what the MVP program is about, what we look for, and how nominations work. These sessions are designed to help you connect the dots between the work you’re already doing and the impact the MVP Program recognizes - with time for questions, examples, and real conversations.

Featured MVP Contributors

Amit Chandak (Hyderabad) · Jesus Gonzales (Lima) · Magnus Mårtensson (Lyngby) · Elliott Leighton-Woodruff (Manchester) · Allan Pead (Cape Town) · Like Liu (Beijing) · Hao Hu (Shanghai) · Mahmoud Atallah (Riyadh) · Promise Nwachukwu (Utrecht) · Rakesh Darge (Mumbai) · Peter Smulovics (New York City) · Arafat Tehsin & Sam Alavi (Sydney)

Resources

Across the U.S. to Beer City Code: MVPs Build Community in Grand Rapids, Michigan

BetsyWeber — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 15:58:27 GMT

Where practical learning meets genuine connection

Each year, technologists travel to Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S. for Beer City Code - a two-day, polyglot software conference built around workshops, practical sessions, and the conversations that continue after the slides are put away. In 2026, Microsoft MVPs came from across the United States to share what they are learning in AI, cloud, .NET, architecture, and modern software delivery. Organized by Microsoft MVP Jonathan “J.” Tower, the event shows what becomes possible when experts invest their time, experience, and curiosity in a community eager to learn together.

Kicking off the Beer City Code conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.

Why MVPs make the trip

For these speakers, the journey to West Michigan is about more than taking a stage. It is a chance to translate fast-moving technology into useful guidance - and to create the human connections that help people put that guidance into practice.

MVP Samuel “Sam” Gomez uses his sessions to show how Microsoft Foundry and the Microsoft Agent Framework can help organizations design agentic workflows that automate meaningful business processes. By sharing what he has learned in practice, Sam embodies a hallmark of the MVP community: helping others turn possibilities into real-world solutions.

As an MVP, speaking at Beer City Code gives me the opportunity to share different ways in which services like Microsoft Foundry and libraries like the Microsoft Agent Framework help organizations implement agentic workflows to automate key business processes. - Sam Gomez

That same commitment to practical learning motivates MVP Chad Green, who sees speaking at Beer City Code as an investment in a community that values connection and genuine craftsmanship in software. In his architecture workshop, Chad moves beyond buzzwords to help attendees choose structures suited to the problems in front of them, examine tradeoffs, and make decisions with clarity and confidence. He brings the same grounded approach to AI, encouraging architects to treat it as a thinking partner while retaining control: define clear constraints, validate assumptions, and shape the output into deliberate, human-driven decisions. For Chad, the learning extends beyond the scheduled session. Hallway conversations, late-night discussions, and next-day breakfasts create space for attendees to test ideas, ask candid questions, and think more intentionally about their systems and careers.

As an MVP, speaking at Beer City Code gives me the opportunity to invest in a community that values learning, connection, and genuine craftsmanship in software. - Chad Green

Speaker meet-up at Beer City Code. (left to right) David Giard (Microsoft), Avindra Fernando (community member), Sam Basu (MVP), Chad Green (MVP), Philip Japiske (MVP), Eric Boyd (MVP & RD)

MVP Chris Woodruff returns for the same reason: to give back to people he sees at events and meetups throughout the year. He describes a conference that succeeds by focusing on attendees, curating a strong lineup, and giving speakers room to share what excites them. The result is an experience where learning is not confined to a session slot. One memorable discussion sparked by his talk continued through lunch - a simple example of how an attendee’s question can become a deeper exchange of ideas. That attendee-first spirit turns a scheduled presentation into an invitation to ask one more question, consider a niche technology, test a different approach, or connect with someone facing a similar challenge.

Beer City Code succeeds because it focuses on attendees rather than speakers. - Chris Woodruff

For MVP Brian McKeiver, Beer City Code is both local and far-reaching. Born and raised in West Michigan, he values bringing lessons from the broader Microsoft and .NET communities' home while showing visitors that Grand Rapids, Michigan is a growing technology hub. He has watched the event develop into the largest technology conference in West Michigan without losing the close-knit character that makes it welcoming. Brian also points to the breadth and quality of the program: multiple concurrent tracks and speakers from across the country create value well beyond a developer-only audience. Product owners, project managers, designers, creatives, and other technologists can all find sessions relevant to their work. In three words, he describes the conference as local, welcoming, and high-quality.

As an MVP, speaking at Beer City Code gives me the opportunity to bring what I am learning from the broader Microsoft and .NET communities back home to West Michigan. - Brian McKeiver

Distance is also part of the story. MVP Sam Basu traveled roughly 400 miles from Erie, Pennsylvania, drawn by old friendships and the vibrant developer community created by the conference organizers. He submitted a session because he wanted to help developers move beyond AI hype and focus on workflows that matter. For Sam, Beer City Code succeeds by centering grassroots learning from real practitioners while creating space for student curiosity, grounded local perspectives, and candid conversations among attendees and speakers. His message is practical: AI is reshaping how software is built, but adoption is a spectrum. Teams should use what makes sense for their needs, bring meaningful context to AI tools, and stay focused on solving real problems.

That same sense of welcome is what brings MVP & RD Eric Boyd back. He describes Beer City Code as a “gem of a conference”: accessible, intimate, and strengthened by a thoughtful mix of Grand Rapids voices and speakers traveling from beyond the region. For Eric, collaboration among attendees, speakers, and fellow MVPs is not an extra benefit - it is central to the experience.

Beer City Code is a gem of a conference. It has a great community feel, and its inexpensive ticket price makes it accessible for virtually everyone. - Eric Boyd

Brian McKeiver (MVP) speaking at the Beer City Code conference

The ripple effect: clearer thinking, stronger networks

The value of Beer City Code is not limited to what appears on the agenda. Chad Green highlights the conversations outside sessions - hallway chats, late-night discussions, and next-day breakfasts - where a new idea can become a clearer career choice or a better-designed system. In his architecture workshop, the takeaway is not a buzzword but a habit: choose the structure that fits the problem, understand the tradeoffs, and make decisions with clarity and confidence. That mindset matters even more with AI, where architects must define constraints, validate assumptions, and keep people accountable for the outcome.

The same pattern appears across the conference. Sam Gomez sees in-person events as increasingly important when AI is creating challenges across the industry. Chris Woodruff remembers an attendee conversation that continued through lunch. Sam Basu recalls a nontechnical attendee recognizing that AI agents and models could be approachable tools for solving real problems. Each moment demonstrates how community learning works: expertise is shared, questions make it concrete, and a connection helps the insight travel farther.

AI is reshaping how we build software, but AI adoption is a spectrum - do what makes sense and bring context to AI tools. - Sam Basu

Your next community connection could start here

If you are building software, guiding technical teams, exploring AI, or simply looking for people who share what they know generously, add Beer City Code to your conference radar. Explore the MVP profiles of Samuel Gomez, Chris Woodruff, Eric Boyd, Sam Basu, Brian McKeiver, and organizer Jonathan “J.” Tower, then follow the ideas and communities they support. Consider how you can contribute to the community - by answering a question, mentoring someone, speaking at a local event, or sharing a lesson from your own work. Community impact begins with showing up.

Want to Learn More About the MVP Program?

To find an MVP and learn more about the MVP Program visit the MVP Communities website and follow our updates on LinkedIn or #mvpbuzz.

Join us for a future live session through the Microsoft Reactor where we walk through what the MVP program is about, what we look for, and how nominations work. These sessions are designed to help you connect the dots between the work you’re already doing and the impact the MVP Program recognizes - with time for questions, examples, and real conversations. 

You Belong Here: Three MVPs on Imposter Syndrome

BetsyWeber — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 17:11:39 GMT

Imposter syndrome is the persistent feeling that your success is undeserved - or that others may discover you are not as capable as they think. It can surface before a presentation, while learning a fast-moving technology, or after receiving recognition such as the Microsoft MVP award. In candid conversations, MVPs Rachel Irabor, Dan Barber, and Cat Schneider described self-doubt not as proof that they do not belong, but as a familiar signal to pause, seek perspective, and reconnect with what they contribute. Their stories remind technologists at every stage: confidence can fluctuate, while your value remains real.

Rachel Irabor (MVP) speaking at a conference about Microsoft Power Platform

Three paths through self-doubt

Rachel’s response begins with a question: Why do I believe I am not enough? Early in her Microsoft Power Platform journey, she nearly discounted a Power Automate presentation because it seemed “too basic” for a call filled with experienced community members. She delivered it anyway - and MVPs told her they had learned an action they had never tried. That moment became evidence that usefulness is not measured by seniority. A beginner can notice, explain, or connect something an expert has missed.

Her story is also one of motion. Soon after university, Rachel relocated from Nigeria to Malta for her first corporate role - her first time travelling and a move she initially treated as simply the next task. Only later did she pause long enough to recognize its scale. Today, she tries to compare herself with “the 2022 Rachel,” who was still a student and unsure of her next step, rather than with a room full of people decades into their careers.

Before speaking, Rachel changes the conditions around the fear. She arrives early, gets familiar with the room, plays upbeat music, and dances until her body relaxes. She may begin with anxiety, but once she starts, she finds her flow. The goal is not to wait until doubt disappears; it is to create a routine that helps her move with it.

That same approach shaped her public learning. She shared modules, small projects, problems, and fixes even while wondering whether people would judge the posts as too simple. Over time, those small acts helped build a career and a community. Her reminder is direct: one article, video, or explanation does not need to reach hundreds of people to matter. If it helps one person solve a problem or see a possible path, it has made an impact.

“Get out of your head… I’m just doing my own part. I’m just being me.” - Rachel Irabor

Dan Barber (MVP) speaking at a conference about technology leadership

Dan’s perspective is shaped by more than two decades in technology leadership. Experience has not silenced his inner critic; he describes it as a daily voice that can turn recognition into suspicion and opportunity into self-rejection. When he received the MVP award, his first response was disbelief. His community work often centers on the human side of technology - mentoring, coaching, leadership, consulting habits, and high-performing teams - and he wondered whether that belonged beside more visibly technical contributions.

The volume of new opportunities after the award created another pressure: the feeling that he should add more to everything he was already doing. Dan learned to replace, not simply add. When a new “shiny thing” appears, he asks what he will stop doing so that work, family, community contribution, and wellbeing can remain sustainable. The award recognizes what someone has already contributed; it is not an instruction to raise the bar until burnout.

When doubt starts “nibbling away” at his confidence, Dan conducts an evidence check. He writes down contributions, mentoring, invitations, feedback, and people who sought his help. Then he asks whether the internal story - that he is a fraud or does not do enough - actually fits those facts. This is not forced positivity. It is a deliberate decision to give empirical evidence at least as much authority as the loudest thought in the room.

Dan also refuses the idea that an MVP must acquire every other MVP’s strength. He compares the community to a network of people with different superpowers: each member brings something distinct and gains access to expertise they do not need to reproduce themselves. “Do not lose track of your superpower,” he advises. Belonging comes from contributing your own value, not becoming everything to everyone.

“Your uniqueness is your superpower… Take pride in what you do and how you do it.” - Dan Barber

Diego Domingos da Silva (MVP) and Cat Schneider (MVP) speaking at a conference about their MVP journey

Cat’s imposter syndrome often sounds like a question: Who made the decision to bring me in? She can look around a technical community and feel unlike the people producing content every day - then remember that her contribution is different, not lesser. She builds community, helps people find one another, and can offer “15 different ways” to approach a problem. The award did not erase doubt, but it gave her another piece of evidence: Microsoft continued to recognize a voice and a form of impact worth hearing.

She has also seen what can happen when self-doubt gets to make the decision. In 2022, Cat received an offer for a Microsoft role while considering another opportunity. The scale of the role made her worry that Microsoft would eventually regret hiring her, and she said no. She does not treat the choice as a failure - the path she took gave her new skills and room to grow - but she can name the part imposter syndrome played. That honesty matters: the inner critic does not only make us uncomfortable; sometimes it quietly removes us from opportunities before anyone else can decide.

Today, rapid changes in AI can recreate that feeling. Cat has attended sessions, asked product experts questions, and kept experimenting, yet she can still feel behind when a tool does not click. Her response is patient rather than performative: everyone learns at a different pace, sometimes persistence works, and sometimes the next right step is asking for help.

Cat turns that compassion outward. At conferences, she notices people on the edges and “adopts” them - making introductions, showing them where to go, and helping them approach others. She offers new speakers smaller, lower-pressure formats such as short presentations, co-presenting, or interviews. As the self-described leader of the “Heckle and Hype crew,” she also shows up to cheer others on. Her story makes belonging tangible: sometimes we believe we have a place because someone actively makes room for us.

“If I wasn’t meant to be here, then I wouldn’t be here. I’m meant to be here.” - Cat Schneider

What helps when the inner critic gets loud

Rachel, Dan, and Cat do not offer a single cure. Instead, they show how to interrupt the spiral from several directions:

Name the thought, then ask why. Is the evidence really that you do not belong—or are you responding to a new room, a new responsibility, or people with different experience?
Compare backward, not sideways. Measure your growth against an earlier version of yourself instead of someone else’s visible highlight reel.
Collect evidence of impact. Save feedback, invitations, solved problems, mentoring moments, and messages from people you helped. Review the record when memory becomes selective.
Change the conditions around the fear. Arrive early, rehearse, play music, bring a co-presenter, choose a shorter format, or ask a trusted person to sit in the room.
Turn expertise into curiosity. If you are not the smartest person in the room, you are in a room where you can learn. Ask a follow-up question instead of treating a gap as a verdict.
Protect your capacity. Recognition does not require endless expansion. For each new commitment, decide what you will pause, delegate, or decline.
Do not tackle it alone. Ask for perspective from someone who knows your work, collaborate with a peer, or tell the truth about where you are stuck.

Most importantly, take one small action before certainty arrives: submit the session, share the lesson, ask the question, or introduce yourself to one person. Action creates new evidence, and new evidence gives the inner critic less room to invent the whole story.

When someone else’s inner critic gets loud

The most useful response is rarely “You’re brilliant - stop worrying.” Start by listening. Ask what happened, what the person is afraid of will happen, and what evidence they are using. Then offer specific observations: name the question they asked, the person they helped, the clarity they brought, or the preparation you witnessed. Specific evidence is easier to trust than broad reassurance.

Community leaders can also design for belonging before anyone has to request it. Rachel emphasizes foundations where beginner and expert questions are welcomed with empathy. Cat shows the power of personal invitations, introductions, and low-pressure ways to contribute. Dan models visible honesty from a senior position, making it safer for others to seek support instead of becoming “lone wolves.” Together, their practices create a healthier message: you do not have to hide uncertainty to be credible, and you do not have to carry it alone.

Your contribution counts

If imposter syndrome has made you hesitate - to publish an article, submit a session, ask a question, or pursue the MVP path - choose one small next step. Share what you learned, ask someone you trust for perspective, and keep a record of the people your work helps. Learn more from Rachel Irabor, Dan Barber, and Cat Schneider. Want to learn more about Imposter Syndrome? In a recent podcast, Dan explores how imposter syndrome can show up in a technology career, why experience does not always quiet the inner critic, and how awareness, evidence, and support can help us move forward without facing self-doubt alone. You do not need to know everything to contribute something meaningful. You only need to begin.

Want to Learn More About the MVP Program?

To find an MVP and learn more about the MVP Program visit the MVP Communities website and follow our updates on LinkedIn or #mvpbuzz.

Join us for a future live session through the Microsoft Reactor where we walk through what the MVP program is about, what we look for, and how nominations work. These sessions are designed to help you connect the dots between the work you’re already doing and the impact the MVP Program recognizes - with time for questions, examples, and real conversations. 

Community Says “Hitzefrei”: 38 MVPs Turn Summer into a Season of Learning

alicepiras — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 07:42:41 GMT

By Guest Blogger Anastasios Ntaflos, Microsoft MVP for Microsoft 365 and Copilot, Modern Work specialist, and initiator of the MVPTreff. community platform.

Participating Microsoft MVPs in the "Hitzefrei" campaign:

Anastasios Ntaflos, Tomislav Karafilov, Sebastian Meyer, Matthias Braun, Billur Şamdancıoğlu, Stefan Riedel, Patrick Wahlmüller, Alexander Eggers, Christian Forjahn, Marcel Lehmann, Raphael Köllner, Giuseppe “Joey” Basirico, Therese Triemer, Hans Brender, Laura Korn,Andreas Schlüter, Sven Sieverding, Ragnar Heil, Martin Rövekamp, Daniel Wessels, Michael Greth, Michael Megel, Ferdi Lethen-Oellers, Christoph Twiehaus, Fabio Bonolo, Engin Eser, Julian Kusenberg, Pascal Brunner-Nikolla, Markus Franz, Amelia Hernández, Robert Mulsow, Andreas Hartig, Gregor Reimling, Christian Decker, Anja Schröder, Florian Bader, Florian Lenz, and Michael Plettner

Our Story

Summer is often described as a quiet season in technology. People take time off, calendars become lighter, and many initiatives slow down. But learning does not have to pause.

That simple idea inspired MVPTreff. to launch Hitzefrei (HeatFree), a community-led summer campaign across the German-speaking region designed to keep practical Microsoft knowledge flowing, even while many people were away from their desks.

The name Hitzefrei comes from a uniquely German tradition: when temperatures become exceptionally high, schools may dismiss students early to give them a break from the heat. With another particularly warm summer across Germany and parts of Europe, we thought: why not give people something valuable to enjoy during their "Hitzefrei" moments?

MVP Anastasios Ntaflos presenting the Hitzefrei campaign and celebrating the community effort

The campaign started with a simple question: What if the summer break became an opportunity to learn something useful in just a few minutes a day?

Rather than organizing another large virtual event, we invited Microsoft MVPs from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland to share practical insights drawn from their own experience and expertise.

More than 38 MVPs answered the call.

Throughout the summer, from August 1 through September 15, 2026, participants are publishing new content every day, sharing technical insights, real-world experiences, and practical guidance across Microsoft technologies. The campaign is creating six weeks of continuous learning, collaboration, and community-driven knowledge sharing through articles, videos, practical tips, personal experiences, and learning resources covering Microsoft 365, Copilot, Azure, Security, Compliance, Collaboration, and Modern Work.

Some contributions focus on solving specific technical challenges. Others explain complex concepts in an approachable way or demonstrate how Microsoft technologies can be applied in everyday work.

The campaign is coordinated through MVPTreff., a community platform dedicated to connecting people with Microsoft-related knowledge and the experts behind it. Our goal is not simply to publish content, but to create an open and welcoming pathway into the community. Readers can discover new topics, connect directly with authors, explore additional resources, and continue learning beyond each daily contribution.

To make the experience even more interactive, we have also introduced quizzes and community activities that encourage participants to test and reinforce what they learn.

Impact and Insights

One of the most important lessons from Hitzefrei is that meaningful community learning does not always require a large stage. Sometimes, all it takes is a shared purpose, a consistent rhythm, and a group of people willing to contribute their time and knowledge.

Even during the first days of the campaign, the response exceeded our expectations. Readers from multiple countries engaged with the content, and activity on the platform grew significantly compared to a typical summer period.

MVP Alexander Eggers sharing the Hitzefrei campaign and its focus on community learning

But the real impact goes beyond numbers.

Hitzefrei showcases something many of us already know about the MVP community: MVPs are much more than conference speakers, technical authors, and subject matter experts. They are approachable community members who are willing to answer questions, exchange experiences, and help make complex topics easier to understand.

That accessibility is especially valuable for professionals working in IT, HR, business transformation, and digital workplace initiatives who are trying to turn Microsoft's rapidly evolving capabilities into practical outcomes for their organizations.

Perhaps the most important takeaway is that communities thrive when people contribute in different ways. Some write. Some record videos. Some organize. Some promote. Some ask thoughtful questions that help others learn. Every contribution matters, and every contribution strengthens the community.

MVP Matthias Braun sharing a practical Azure cost management insight as part of the Hitzefrei campaign

Looking Ahead

The Hitzefrei campaign is demonstrating what can happen when a community comes together around a shared goal: making knowledge accessible, practical, and enjoyable.

If you're looking for inspiration, practical guidance, or fresh ideas around Microsoft 365, Copilot, Azure, Security, or Modern Work, we invite you to explore the Hitzefrei campaign and connect with the people behind the contributions.

And if you're an MVP, community leader, or technology enthusiast with something useful to share, don't wait for the next conference or major event. Sometimes a short insight, a practical tip, or a lesson learned can become someone else's breakthrough moment.

What would you share with your community this summer?

What community initiative has inspired you recently? We'd love to hear your story and learn how your community is helping others grow through knowledge sharing.

Want to Learn More About the Microsoft MVP Program?

Interested in learning more about the program or nominating a community contributor who is making a difference? Visit the official Microsoft MVP website to learn about the award and nomination process.

Follow the MVP community on X and join the conversation in the Microsoft MVP LinkedIn Group.

My MVP Story: Jess Stratton on Sharing, Storytelling, and Lifelong Learning

BetsyWeber — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:00:00 GMT

How One Question Sparked a Lifetime of Sharing

Jess Stratton’s MVP journey is rooted in a simple idea: share what you know. Long before she was recognized as a Microsoft MVP in July 2026, Jess was asking questions, solving problems, and helping others learn in technology communities. Over time, those contributions grew into articles, conference demonstrations, training videos, courses, a book, and a TEDx talk. Becoming an MVP brought that story full circle - and opened the door to a global network of people who share her curiosity, generosity, and belief that technology becomes more approachable when we learn together.

In her LinkedIn Learning course, "Learning Microsoft 365 Copilot for Work", MVP Jess Stratton shares practical guidance for using Microsoft 365 Copilot in everyday work.

The Moment the Questions Turned into Answers

Jess’s community story began in the Lotus Notes world in the 1990s, where she worked as an administrator and developer. Like many people entering a new technical space, she relied on forums to ask questions and learn from others. Then, almost without noticing, the balance shifted: she was answering more questions than she was asking.

A turning point came when Jess created a solution to a problem no one else had addressed and made it available online. That contribution led to a how-to article, then a conference demonstration, and eventually a much larger network of peers. Connections from that community helped launch the training-video work she continues today. The path was not a carefully plotted career ladder; it was a series of opportunities created by generosity, curiosity, and a willingness to share.

It all started with that very root principle of just sharing what you know. - Jess Stratton

That same spirit lives in “Nerd Girl Jess,” the identity she carried forward from a group of women in the Lotus Notes community who hosted conference panels and proudly wore Nerd Girls pins and shirts. When Jess later started working independently, keeping the name became a way to honor those relationships and the community that helped shape her.

Her first MVP nomination brought another unexpected milestone. After the long wait, the award email arrived as a joyful surprise. Excitement quickly mixed with nerves: there was much to learn and a desire not to miss anything. More than recognition, however, the award meant belonging.

Now there’s this whole network of brilliant people that’s just opened up to me. - Jess Stratton

After years of creating and teaching from a home office, Jess is especially energized by the chance to connect with other MVPs, exchange ideas, and spend time together in person. That network, she says, makes the work feel less solitary - and makes the next chapter feel full of possibility.

A TEDx Detour: Humanizing History Through Story

When TEDxURI invited speakers to propose unusual viewpoints for its “Now That’s Funny” program, Jess submitted an audition that took her beyond the familiar rhythm of technical instruction. Her idea began during a walk in the pandemic, when a podcast about the mysterious Voynich manuscript prompted an unexpected, funny question: what if its childlike drawings and undeciphered writing came from a child helping a deadline-driven medieval parent? That playful theory became the starting point for her TEDxURI talk, “Humanizing history, one mysterious book at a time.”

While Jess is an experienced speaker, preparing for TEDxURI pushed her outside her comfort zone in new ways. TEDx events often pair speakers with speaker coaches because developing a TEDx talk is different from preparing a typical lecture or conference session. Working alongside a TEDx speaker coach, she spent weeks refining her story, rehearsing her delivery, and focusing on the single idea she wanted the audience to remember. The experience helped her approach speaking from a more personal and story-driven perspective than a traditional conference presentation. Learn more in TED’s rehearsal guidance.

Within that collaborative process, Jess’s coach helped her see that the talk’s most personal details could also make its central idea more vivid and relatable. The coach encouraged Jess to include photographs from her own life - images of bringing her daughter to Lotus Notes conferences - and place them alongside the imagined medieval parent in her story. Those photographs connected past and present, turning an unusual theory about an old manuscript into a deeply human reflection on working parenthood, technology, and the families whose lives unfold around our work. They also helped the talk come full circle: history was no longer an abstract mystery, but a story about real people balancing deadlines, creativity, and care.

I feel like we should always be learning new things. I’m going to try this new skill and see if I can take people on a journey with me. - Jess Stratton

The experience changed how Jess thinks about technical communication. Storytelling invited her to bring more of her personality into the room, connect ideas to real human experiences, and make learning feel less dry. In her reflection on the talk, she emphasized that history involved real people with their own challenges and experiences - a perspective that also makes technical teaching more relatable.

Watch Microsoft MVP Jess Stratton's TEDxURI talk, where she shares insights from her personal and professional experiences.

What Happens When Learning Feels Possible

Jess has taught through more than 50 published courses, and learners have shown her what happens when knowledge is made practical and welcoming. People have approached her at conferences to share projects they created using lessons from her courses. Some of those courses even became in-flight learning, giving passengers the chance to build skills while traveling. For Jess, the most meaningful measure of impact is not how much content she produces, but what learners feel empowered to do next.

Technology becomes less intimidating when you have somebody show you what it can really do. - Jess Stratton

That practical mindset also shapes her approach to Microsoft Copilot. Jess prefers to start with the work she enjoys and does well, then use AI for areas where she needs support - such as design, organizing tasks, or follow-up - instead of “fixing things that aren’t broken.” As she works on the second edition of her Copilot for Microsoft 365 book and uses Copilot to grow her business, she continues to bring learners along for the journey.

Community remains central. Jess values virtual connection, but she is especially looking forward to the face-to-face conversations that can solve a problem in minutes and spark new ideas. For a new MVP who has learned from other MVPs for years, the award feels both exciting and humbling.

Being an MVP is very humbling. I’ve got very big shoes to fill - and I have to keep that helping going. - Jess Stratton

Keep Sharing What You Know

Every MVP journey begins with a question, a solution, or a moment when someone chooses to share what they have learned. Jess’s story shows how those moments can grow into articles, talks, courses, friendships, and new communities. Whether you are answering a forum question, demonstrating a useful technique, telling a more human technical story, or learning a skill outside your comfort zone, your contribution can help someone else move forward. What person, community, or unexpected opportunity helped shape your journey? Share your story - and keep the ripple of learning going.

Connect with Jess

Learn more about Jess Stratton on her Microsoft MVP profile, explore her extensive library of more than 35 LinkedIn Learning courses covering AI, Microsoft technologies, cybersecurity, and professional development, watch her TEDxURI talk on YouTube, and read her LinkedIn reflection on the experience.

Want to Learn More About the MVP Program?

To find an MVP and learn more about the MVP Program visit the MVP Communities website and follow our updates on LinkedIn or #mvpbuzz.

Join us for a future live session through the Microsoft Reactor where we walk through what the MVP program is about, what we look for, and how nominations work. These sessions are designed to help you connect the dots between the work you’re already doing and the impact the MVP Program recognizes - with time for questions, examples, and real conversations. 

How MVPs Use AI - Loop engineering: Building safer AI agent workflows for high-stakes infrastructure

kimsanchez — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 15:00:00 GMT

By Guest Blogger Rafael Ferreira, Microsoft MVP in Azure, Cloud & DevOps engineer based in Florianópolis, Brazil. Community organizer with Azure User Groups Brasil, speaker at DevOpsDays, TDC and KCD, and volunteer mentor in cloud and DevOps programs. He writes in Portuguese at orafaelferreira.com.

From prompting agents to designing reliable loops

I have been working with LLMs and coding agents for about two years, most of that time with GitHub Copilot. Over the last few months, the shape of the work changed: I stopped writing prompts and started designing the thing that writes them.

That shift has a name now: loop engineering. You replace yourself as the person who prompts the agent and design the system that does it instead. But the interesting part is not the autonomy. It is that a loop only works when something outside the model can say "this is wrong." Agents need ground truth from the environment, not from their own opinion.

My context makes that impossible to skip. I work on multi-tenant platform engineering on Azure: Terraform, AKS, GitHub Actions. When an agent is wrong in application code, a test turns red. When an agent is wrong here, an environment goes down.

I use AI agents this way because the stakes in my work are real: a mistake here does not just fail a test; it can take a shared production environment down. Letting the agent handle the repetitive, error-prone checking, and keeping every judgment call for myself, is what lets me move faster without handing away the decisions only a person should make.

That matters beyond my own setup. Loop engineering gives us a practical way to use AI agents safely in high-stakes engineering. Lightweight hooks, explicit verification gates, restricted tools, and human approval make repetitive work easier to automate while keeping judgment and accountability with the engineer.

My story: four guardrails that held up in practice

The cheapest verifier in my setup has no AI in it: a thirty-line shell hook catches a mistake and feeds the correction back into the loop. When the hook exits with code 2, whatever it writes to stderr is added to the model's context as an error. The model receives the correction at the exact moment of the mistake, expressed in words I chose. That is the feedback path from the theory, implemented in Bash.

Guardrails before generation, not after. The standard pattern is generate, then verify. I moved part of it earlier: my rules force the agent to validate provider versions and resource schemas through an MCP server before it writes the first line of Terraform. The cheapest verifier in the world is the rule that keeps the error from existing.

Order the gates by cost and risk. In infrastructure, each later check runs closer to the real environment and carries a greater potential blast radius. So, the verification ladder is explicit: lint first, validate the configuration and schema, run the plan, then perform health checks after apply. The agent never skips a rung. It is the test pyramid, priced in operational risk rather than execution time.

Separate the writer from the checker through tools, not instructions. Telling an agent that it is read-only relies on compliance; withholding write tools enforces the boundary. My reviewer agents cannot edit, real clusters give agents read-only access, and only a local cluster accepts agent-initiated writes. That asymmetry is the guardrail.

One more hook I would write first if I started over: every destructive operation stops and asks for confirmation, in every permission mode, including the one where I told the tool to stop asking. I have already told the story of the Friday I took production down with my name on the log; I am not curious about the version where an agent typed the command. In twenty days, that hook intercepted 100 destructive operations, about five a day. A simple confirmation gate can prevent an automated action from proceeding unchecked.

Impact and insights

Two habits changed my results more than any model upgrade.

The first is an anti-reward-hacking rule: when the agent adds a regression test, it has to prove the test fails if you revert the fix it protects. Agents are excellent at writing tests that pass. "Write a test and show me it catches the bug" is a different request.

The second is letting the agent read CI results directly, but only the failed steps. The command gh run view --log-failed returns the broken portions of a GitHub Actions run rather than the complete workflow log. That keeps the relevant error visible and avoids filling the agent's context with unrelated output.

The piece that surprised me most is a weekly scheduled routine that reviews my working sessions and turns recurring patterns into written procedures. On its first real run, it proposed one new procedure worth keeping, improved two existing ones, rejected four and recorded why, and corrected one of my notes that was simply wrong. The loop does not just execute the process; it improves the memory that guides future runs.

Start with guardrails, not autonomy

The part I will not delegate is the outer loop. The objective comes from a work item, and the merge is mine. Delegating the inner loop is leverage; delegating judgment is abdication.

If you want to start, do not start with autonomy. Write one hook that blocks destructive commands and forces you to confirm, especially in the mode where you already told the tool to stop asking. It protects against you on autopilot, not against the model, and it costs an afternoon.

Key learnings

Safer AI agent workflows begin with clear boundaries: ground truth from the environment, verification gates ordered by risk, tools that enforce permissions, and human control over objectives and final decisions. Together, these guardrails turn repetitive automation into dependable engineering practice without giving away accountability.

What is one guardrail you could add today to make your next AI agent workflow safer? Let us know in the comments.

Want to Learn More About the MVP Program?

To find an MVP and learn more about the MVP Program visit the MVP Communities website and follow our updates on LinkedIn or #mvpbuzz.

Join us for a future live session through the Microsoft Reactor where we walk through what the MVP program is about, what we look for, and how nominations work. These sessions are designed to help you connect the dots between the work you’re already doing and the impact the MVP Program recognizes — with time for questions, examples, and real conversations.

Interested in becoming MVP member

Misheck_Mutuzana — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:36:03 GMT

My name is Misheck Mutuzana. I am a Curriculum Development Specia;list and Computyer Science teacher in Zambia. I am interested in becoming an MVP member and would like to learn more about the requirements, application process, and opportunities available to MVP members. I am particularly interested in contributing to the community, sharing knowledge and experiences, supporting other educators and technology enthusiasts, and participating in relevant events and activities in Zambia and the wider Africa region.

I would appreciate any guidance on how I can get started and work towards becoming an MVP member.

Microsoft Global Hackathon 2026: Where MVP and RD Community Expertise Meets Innovation

alicepiras — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 12:23:55 GMT

What happens when passionate community leaders, technical experts, and innovators from around the world come together to solve problems, explore new ideas, and build something meaningful?

The answer is the Microsoft Global Hackathon 2026.

Last year, MVPs and RDs brought that same spirit of innovation to the event, collaborating across communities and technologies to turn bold ideas into meaningful solutions. Revisit the highlights in MVP & RD Impact at the 2025 Microsoft Global Hackathon.

This September, MVPs and RDs will once again join Microsoft employees from across the globe for a week of creativity, experimentation, collaboration, and learning. Beginning the week of September 14, Microsoft Global Hackathon 2026 will bring together people with diverse experiences, skills, and perspectives to turn ideas into reality.

A Community Built on Curiosity and Impact

MVPs and RDs are known for sharing knowledge, helping others grow, and creating opportunities within their communities. Through conference talks, open-source contributions, technical content, user groups, mentoring, and peer support, they consistently demonstrate the power of community-driven impact.

That same spirit comes to life during the Microsoft Global Hackathon. Each year, participants bring their unique experiences, passions, and perspectives to projects that explore new technologies, address real-world challenges, and inspire new ways of thinking.

Where Great Ideas Meet Great People

One of the most exciting aspects of the Hackathon is the opportunity to connect with people you might never otherwise meet.

During the event, MVPs and RDs can:

Create and lead their own projects

Join existing project teams

Collaborate with Microsoft employees and Product Groups

Share technical expertise and community insights

Explore emerging technologies and new ideas

Build relationships with innovators around the world

From AI-powered solutions and developer tools to accessibility initiatives and community-focused projects, Hackathon teams bring together a remarkable variety of talents and perspectives.

Bringing Community Experience to the Table

MVPs and RDs bring a valuable connection to the broader technology ecosystem. Every day, they engage with developers, architects, IT professionals, security specialists, data practitioners, students, business leaders, and technology enthusiasts around the world. Through these interactions, they gain firsthand insight into real-world challenges, emerging trends, and the needs of diverse communities.

Those experiences help shape Hackathon projects in meaningful ways, whether by identifying customer pain points, validating ideas, sharing practical knowledge, or helping teams consider new perspectives.

The result is a richer, more inclusive environment where ideas can be challenged, refined, and strengthened.

More Than a Hackathon

For many participants, the greatest outcome is not just the project itself. It's the relationships built, the lessons learned, the unexpected conversations, and the opportunity to work alongside people from different backgrounds who share a passion for technology and continuous learning.

The Microsoft Global Hackathon creates space for curiosity, experimentation, and collaboration at a global scale. It encourages participants to step outside their comfort zones, explore new possibilities, and work together to create something remarkable.

And that mindset feels right at home within the MVP and RD communities.

Looking Ahead to Hackathon 2026

As preparations continue for Microsoft Global Hackathon 2026, we're excited to see the ideas, projects, and connections that emerge from this year's event. Whether they're launching a new concept, contributing specialized knowledge to an existing project, mentoring teammates, or helping transform an idea into reality, MVPs and RDs continue to demonstrate the incredible impact that passionate technology communities can have.

We look forward to celebrating the ideas, achievements, and innovations from this year’s Hackathon and sharing how MVPs and RDs are helping shape the future through collaboration, creativity, and community.

Join the Conversation

Have you participated in a Hackathon before? What idea would you love to bring to life? We'd love to hear from you in the comments.

Want to Learn More About the MVP Program?

To find an MVP and learn more about the MVP Program visit the MVP Communities website and follow our updates on LinkedIn or #mvpbuzz.

Burnout, AI, and the Gap Between Expectation and Reality

BetsyWeber — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 16:06:38 GMT

When AI Raises the Bar Faster Than Reality Can Follow

The promise of AI is everywhere: greater productivity, faster results, and the ability to accomplish more than ever before. But what happens when reality does not match those expectations? In a conversation with Microsoft MVP Robert Bogue, we explored why burnout remains a persistent challenge for technology professionals and how AI is reshaping the discussion. Drawing on years of research, teaching, and lived experience, Robert explains that burnout is often less about workload alone and more about the widening gap between what people expect from themselves and what they are actually able to achieve.

That tension was at the heart of Robert’s recent VSLive! sessions, Burnout in Software Development and From Business Problems to AI Success: Closing the Gap Between Promise and Reality. In both conversations, he challenged an increasingly common assumption: access to AI should automatically make every person dramatically more productive.

“I’m supposed to be hyper-productive. This is supposed to do everything for me - and it doesn’t.” – Robert Bogue

Robert’s Story: Making the Complicated Simple

Robert’s work sits at the intersection of technology and the human systems around it. A Microsoft MVP in the M365 award category, he is the president of Thor Projects and an author, consultant, educator, coach, and community leader. His long-running approach is to learn deeply, synthesize what he finds, and make complicated ideas easier for others to use.

Burnout became part of that work long before it became a regular workplace headline. Robert first wrote about the topic in 2001 while researching articles for TechRepublic. The deeper he looked, the more he recognized a recurring pattern in his own life and in the lives of others: people were judging themselves against expectations that did not fit their real capacity, circumstances, or results.

“What I eventually learned from it was I have to either expect less or do more,” he said. “Doing more - there’s a limit to that.”

That insight grew into years of study, workshops, and practical resources developed with his wife, Terri Bogue. In one exercise, participants identify the expectations tied to their roles and responsibilities, estimate the time each requires, and fit them into the 168 hours available in a week. Across six years and tens of thousands of participants, Robert said only one person - a recent college graduate with relatively few established commitments - mapped fewer than 168 hours. For nearly everyone else, their expected commitments exceeded the time available. The exercise makes an invisible problem visible: many people are not failing to manage a reasonable workload; they are trying to meet a set of expectations that cannot realistically fit into one week.

“If you expect your normal results and you’re under high stress, there’s a gap. That gap is burnout.” – Robert Bogue

Robert Bogue (MVP) speaking at VSLive! about Burnout

Impact and Insights: Efficacy, Stress, and the AI Expectation Gap

Robert describes burnout through the relationship among actual efficacy, perceived efficacy, and expectations. When those elements fall out of alignment, people can feel ineffective even when their work is objectively improving. AI can widen that gap. A tool may make someone faster in one task and feel, in Robert’s memorable phrase, like “coaching a toddler how to fly an airplane” in another. The problem is not that AI has no value; it is that its uneven reality collides with a story of effortless, exponential productivity.

Stress contributes indirectly by making people less effective. Robert compares the body’s stress response to a payday loan: it reallocates resources for the immediate threat, but restarting the systems it paused costs energy. If expectations remain unchanged while capacity drops, the gap grows.

The Bathtub Model: A Practical Way to Restore Agency

When someone asks what they can do today, Robert turns to what he calls the "Bathtub Model". Imagine personal agency - your ability to act and get things done - as the water in a bathtub. Three inputs help fill it. The first is results, which includes accepting recognition rather than dismissing it. When someone says, “That was a great job,” Robert advises resisting responses such as “It was nothing” or “Anyone could have done it.” Instead, simply say, “Thank you.” The second input is support, including asking for the help you need. The third is self-care, including making time to replenish yourself. Demands drain the tub, often faster than people realize because their own standards may exceed what others expect of them.

Each input and drain has a valve. Adjusting those valves - acknowledging progress, lowering the barrier to support, protecting recovery time, or renegotiating demands - can restore personal agency in the moment. Robert distinguishes that immediate agency from efficacy, which is the later judgment people make about whether their efforts worked. For leaders, the model offers an equally practical guide: recognize effort and explain why it matters, build systems that make help easy to request, visibly model self-care, and ask what should move whenever a new priority is added.

For leaders, his advice is concrete. Each new request should trigger a second question: What else needs to move? Adding reasonable tasks without renegotiating earlier commitments creates unreasonable total demand. Robert pointed to a familiar software pattern: a project runs late, but the testing window does not move. Burnout prevention requires honest trade-offs, not simply asking people to absorb the delay. Learn more about the Bathtub Model and more with Robert's free Burnout Prevention Toolkit.

“When we talk about community, we’re fundamentally talking about relationships.”- Robert Bogue

Presenting at the SHRM conference: (left to right) Terri Bogue (speaker & author) and Robert Bogue (MVP)

Community as a Protective Factor

Robert’s MVP journey also informs how he thinks about resilience. Technical communities do more than exchange knowledge: they create relationships, perspective, and places where people can say that something is not working. Connection cannot remove every demand or uncertainty, but it can interrupt the isolation that makes difficult periods harder to navigate.

“If you believe that loneliness is an epidemic, then community is the cure.”- Robert Bogue

That perspective is especially relevant for MVPs and other community contributors who balance volunteering with work, family, learning, and life. Sustainable contribution does not mean saying yes to everything. It means choosing what matters, making trade-offs visible, and staying connected to people who can help recalibrate expectations.

Start by Closing One Gap

Burnout can feel enormous, but the first step does not have to be. Look at one expectation that no longer matches your capacity or current tools. Renegotiate a deadline, remove a task, ask for support, or make space for recovery. Leaders can help by treating every new priority as a trade-off, not an addition. Robert’s free Burnout Prevention Toolkit offers practical guides and short videos to help people recognize burnout and begin responding. What expectation could you reset this week - and who in your community could help you do it?

Explore Robert’s Work

Learn more about Robert through his Microsoft MVP profile, connect with him on LinkedIn, or explore his work at Thor Projects. You can also download the free Burnout Prevention Toolkit for practical guides and short videos designed to help people recognize and respond to burnout.

Want to learn more about the MVP Program?

To find an MVP and learn more about the MVP Program visit the MVP Communities website and follow our updates on LinkedIn.

My MVP Story: Curiosity, Community, and Baked Beans - Jeremy Sinclair’s MVP Journey

BetsyWeber — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 20:30:13 GMT

What Do DOS, ADHD, and Baked Beans Have in Common?

What do DOS, PowerToys, ADHD advocacy, community building, and baked beans have in common? They are all part of Jeremy Sinclair’s MVP journey. From a curious kid exploring computers in Wheeling, West Virginia, to a globally connected Microsoft MVP, Jeremy has built a reputation for diving deep into technical challenges, amplifying the work of others, and creating space for people to feel they belong. Along the way, he has shown that curiosity can open doors, community can change lives, and sometimes an enduring friendship can begin with a joke about baked beans.

"When I find things that I think are awesome and amazing, I make sure the rest of the community finds out as well." - Jeremy Sinclair

Microsoft Build 2026: (left to right) Scott Hanselman (Microsoft) and Jeremy Sinclair (MVP)

From DOS to PowerToys: Curiosity Finds a Way

Jeremy’s path into technology began beside his father and a family computer. At three or four years old, he was experimenting with DOS and five-and-a-quarter-inch floppy disks, learning by watching, imitating, and trying again. When his father returned to school after a steel-mill layoff, a local program at West Virginia Northern Community College introduced Jeremy to T1 lines, the Mosaic browser, and Windows 3.1. Soon he was tinkering with JavaScript, helping resell websites at 13, and learning PHP in high school.

I can keep looking, or I’m going to pull up my own seat to that table and join them. - Jeremy Sinclair

That same impulse - to understand why something does not work and then make it work - became the thread through his career and community contributions. A Windows Phone music player started because an existing option failed while he was mowing the yard. Later, when Microsoft PowerToys did not run as he wanted on his Surface Pro X, Jeremy helped bring it to ARM64. Contributions like those helped lead from the Windows Insider MVP community to his Microsoft MVP award in Windows Development in 2022.

Jeremy recently brought that journey to the Microsoft Build stage, joining Microsoft Full-Time Employees (FTEs) Fernanda Saraiva and Betsy Weber to share how curiosity, self-directed learning, community contribution, and a willingness to step into unfamiliar problems helped him become an MVP. The conversation offers an engaging first-hand look at the experiences behind his award - and practical encouragement for anyone wondering how their own learning and community work can grow into something more. Watch Jeremy’s MVP story from Microsoft Build 2026.

Being West Virginia’s only Microsoft MVP carries both pride and responsibility. Jeremy sees abundant talent across the state and the nearby Ohio and Pennsylvania communities. Rather than treating geography as a limit, he drives to events, connects online, summarizes .NET Conf sessions for people who cannot attend, and points attention toward work he believes others should see.

I don’t want anyone to struggle. I want to help. If something helped me, I want to help everyone else. - Jeremy Sinclair

The Double-Edged Sword That Builds Bridges

Jeremy was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and describes it as a “double-edged sword.” Hyperfocus can send him deep into logs, telemetry, debugging, and disassembly until he understands what failed and why. That persistence has helped him solve problems at work, contribute to open source, and identify the right people when a fix requires broader collaboration. Learning more about ADHD has also helped him pace himself, set boundaries, and, in his words, “properly sandbox” himself.

Just as importantly, openness turned into connection. When Jeremy shared the difficulty of staring at a screen and feeling unable to begin, people in his community reached out and encouraged him to seek professional support. He now speaks candidly because someone else may recognize their own experience and feel less alone. He emphasizes that neurodivergence is a spectrum; no single accommodation or experience represents everyone.

For community leaders, his advice is practical: ask rather than assume. Invite feedback through a questionnaire or a trusted community member. Check whether an experience feels overwhelming, what makes sense, and where the balance lies. Inclusive community building is not waiting for someone to struggle publicly - it is reaching out first and making participation easier.

Someone reaching out - that’s the most important thing. - Jeremy Sinclair

Jeremy Sinclair and his baked beans t-shirt.

Pull Up a Seat - and Pass the Baked Beans

Jeremy’s story is also a reminder that community grows through delight - and that an inside joke can become a genuine connection. It began when Microsoft FTE Barry Dorrans posted a photo of baked beans on pizza on social media. Jeremy replied with one perfectly dry line: “You know you can delete this, right?” Barry realized he could get a reaction, and the joke took on a life of its own. Soon there were baked-bean birthday gifts, a bean medallion for Jeremy’s MVP Summit badge, and even a baked-bean shirt. The best part is that the joke started before Jeremy and Barry had ever met face to face. Their playful online exchange became the start of a lifelong friendship, strengthened through shared events, ongoing banter, and even a full Irish breakfast cooked by Barry - with baked beans included, of course. For Jeremy, the story captures something true about technical communities: sometimes belonging grows through code and collaboration, and sometimes it begins with a ridiculous pizza topping.

Every MVP journey starts somewhere: a spark of curiosity, a stubborn problem, or a person who reaches out. Explore Jeremy Sinclair’s MVP profile, then reflect on your own journey. What person, problem, or unexpected inside joke helped you find your community? Share your story in the comments - we would love to hear it.

Want to learn more about the MVP Program?

To find an MVP and learn more about the MVP Program visit the MVP Communities website and follow our updates on LinkedIn.

From Visibility to Impact: Building Your Personal Brand with Smart, Cost-Effective Tools

CristinaGonzalezHerrero — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 15:57:04 GMT

Beyond mastering technology, MVPs are passionate about helping others grow, supporting both technical and soft-skills development, and creating opportunities for learning and collaboration. They actively share their discoveries, experiences, and lessons learned while engaging in valuable exchanges with fellow community leaders and influencers. In this spirit of continuous learning and knowledge sharing, building a personal brand becomes a powerful way to amplify your voice, expand your reach, and increase the impact you can have on the communities you serve.

Recently, the global MVP community came together for a discussion on creating a personal brand, best practices, tips and effective tools that can be leveraged to raise your social media reach. The session titled “From Visibility to Impact: Building Your Personal Brand with Smart, Cost-Effective Tools,” featured insights from Femke Cornelissen, Microsoft 365 and Copilot MVP from the Netherlands, and Fabio Bonolo, Microsoft 365 Copilot MVP from Switzerland.

Together, they explored one of the most valuable skills for today's community leaders and technology advocates: building a personal brand that creates meaningful impact while staying authentic and accessible. Through personal experiences, practical examples, and demonstrations of cost-effective tools, they showed MVPs how visibility can become a catalyst for community growth, professional opportunities, and wider knowledge sharing.

Personal Branding Starts with Authenticity

Opening the session, Femke Cornelissen shared her personal journey to becoming an MVP and the lessons learned along the way. One of her strongest messages was clear: authenticity matters more than following a formula.

Rather than trying to replicate someone else's success, Femke encouraged attendees to identify their own passions and areas of expertise. Whether sharing insights on Microsoft technologies, community initiatives, innovation, or personal experiences, the most effective personal brands are built around genuine interests and perspectives.

She highlighted how consistent visibility on platforms such as LinkedIn can create unexpected opportunities—from speaking engagements and community leadership roles to customer conversations and valuable professional connections. Yet success does not happen overnight. Building recognition requires showing up consistently, sharing valuable insights, and developing trust over time.

LinkedIn as a Community Platform

While many professionals still view LinkedIn primarily as a digital résumé, Femke explained how the platform has evolved into a powerful space for thought leadership, networking, and community engagement.

She encouraged MVPs to think beyond job titles and focus on creating content that demonstrates their expertise and unique perspective. Personal stories, lessons learned, event experiences, and practical guidance often resonate more strongly than purely promotional content. According to Femke, people connect with people—not corporate messaging.

Several practical recommendations emerged from her presentation:

Develop a consistent presence rather than posting sporadically.
Share insights in your own voice.
Engage actively with other community members through comments and conversations.
Support and elevate the work of others.
Focus on meaningful engagement rather than follower counts.

She also emphasized the importance of balancing personal, community, and professional content to maintain authenticity while still supporting employers, projects, and initiatives that align with personal goals.

AI as a Productivity Multiplier

The session also explored how AI can help content creators work more efficiently without losing their human voice.

Femke demonstrated how she uses AI-powered workflows to monitor industry trends, draft content ideas, analyse performance per post, and manage large volumes of community interactions. Rather than replacing authentic communication, she views AI as a tool that enables her to spend more time building relationships and less time managing repetitive tasks.

One particularly important takeaway was her approach to maintaining authenticity. While AI helps create first drafts and analyse data, final content should always reflect an individual's own perspective, experiences, and tone of voice. Community members follow people for their unique insights, not automatically generated content.

Designing a Recognisable Personal Brand

Building on Femke's focus on authenticity, Fabio Bonolo explored the visual and strategic side of personal branding.

His presentation introduced a structured framework built around four key pillars: Identity, Content, Reach and Consistency.

Fabio explained how visual identity contributes to recognition and memorability. Colours, logos, typography, imagery, and design choices all communicate aspects of a person's personality and expertise. By maintaining consistent visual elements across websites, presentations, blogs, videos, and social media channels, community leaders can create a stronger and more recognisable presence.

He demonstrated how even simple visual standards can make content instantly recognisable while reinforcing credibility and professionalism.

Powerful Tools Without Enterprise Budgets

One of the most popular parts of the session was Fabio's walkthrough of affordable tools that MVPs can use to professionalise their online presence.

Among the tools showcased were MojoMox for logo creation, colour palettes, and brand design systems, PowerPoint as a surprisingly powerful design tool for creating thumbnails, graphics, and consistent visual assets, AuthoredUp for enhancing LinkedIn content creation and analytics, Wix for website management, blogging, and email marketing, Clipchamp for video creation and editing as well as Riverside and StreamYard for podcasting, live streaming, and content recording.

A recurring theme throughout Fabio's presentation was that impactful personal branding does not require expensive software or large marketing budgets. By combining a clear strategy with carefully selected tools, MVPs can create professional-quality content for a relatively small investment.

Community Remains the Force Multiplier

Despite the extensive discussion about tools, automation, AI, and branding strategies, both presenters arrived at the same conclusion: community is the most important element.

Femke described personal branding, AI, and community as three interconnected forces that create impact when combined effectively. Visibility alone is not the goal; meaningful relationships, knowledge sharing, and helping others succeed are what ultimately build a lasting reputation.

Fabio reinforced this message by encouraging attendees to stay true to their identity, create content that delivers value, and remain consistent across the channels where they engage their audiences.

Key Takeaways for MVPs

The session concluded with several practical lessons for anyone looking to expand their impact:

Be authentic and share your unique perspective.
Focus on helping others rather than chasing metrics.
Develop a consistent personal brand across your channels.
Use AI to enhance productivity, not replace authenticity.
Invest in relationships and community engagement.
Start with simple, affordable tools and scale over time.
Stay consistent, visibility is built through sustained effort.

As the MVP community continues to grow and evolve, sessions like this demonstrate that the most powerful brands are not built through marketing alone—they are built through expertise, generosity, authenticity, and community.

Thank you to Femke Cornelissen and Fabio Bonolo for sharing their experiences and practical guidance, and to all MVPs who participated in the discussion and contributed their own insights throughout the session.

Want to Learn More About the MVP Program? 

To find an MVP and learn more about the MVP Program visit the MVP Communities website and follow our updates on LinkedIn or #mvpbuzz. 

Join us for a future live session through the Microsoft Reactor where we walk through what the MVP program is about, what we look for, and how nominations work. These sessions are designed to help you connect the dots between the work you’re already doing and the impact the MVP Program recognizes - with time for questions, examples, and real conversations. 

The Linebreakers: Where MVPs, Music, and Community Take the Stage

BetsyWeber — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:36:54 GMT

When Code Meets the Chorus

At the intersection of technology, creativity, and community, The Linebreakers have found a stage all their own. The global group of technologists and musicians creates parody-style, programming-themed performances inspired by familiar songs, celebrating developer culture with humor, musicianship, and heart. Since 2016, they have entertained conference audiences and meetups around the world, from Kyiv to Kansas City, from Sydney to Siberia. What began as a few reworked lyrics has grown into a joyful reminder that community is built not only through code and collaboration, but also through shared laughter.

MVP Dylan Beattie takes the stage with The Linebreakers

From Frameworks to Front Row Singalongs

The Linebreakers started with a simple question that could only come from developer culture: are there enough JavaScript frameworks to rewrite the Billy Joel song “We Didn’t Start the Fire?” For Microsoft MVP Dylan Beattie, the answer became “We’re Going to Build a Framework,” the first spark in what would become a globe-spanning musical side project. Dylan had played guitar as a teenager, became a developer, and never quite stopped changing song lyrics to make friends laugh. Conferences gave him the perfect audience: people who understood both the music and the technical absurdity.

“There was an opportunity here to do a performance that wouldn’t work anywhere else.” - MVP Dylan Beattie

As the act grew, so did the community around it. Fellow technologists joined in organically, often after seeing a show and asking, “Can I be in your band?” The result is a flexible, international lineup that can adapt to whoever is available for a given event. Dylan described today’s core group as spanning the UK, Belgium, Oslo, and Kansas City, with additional “stunt guitarists” and collaborators joining along the way.

MVP Heather Downing performing with The Linebreakers

For Microsoft MVP Heather Downing, joining The Linebreakers meant stepping into a performance that was both technically sharp and delightfully ridiculous. Her first song with the band was the parody “Fight the Feature Creep,” a programming-themed take inspired by Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep,” centered on fighting feature creep in software projects. The audience response was immediate: phones came out, people sang along, and the room embraced the silliness.

“When you are learning so much at an event, sometimes it’s nice to not have to think about anything and just relax and do something kind of silly.” – MVP Heather Downing

The band’s catalog now ranges from JavaScript jokes to APIs, agile estimation, cloud migration, user stories, AI, and the everyday tensions between sales teams, engineers, product owners, and developers trying to ship good software. Their own description says it best: parody-style tech performances inspired by classic tunes, with lyrics lovingly reworked to fit as many programming, technology, and web jokes as possible into a four-minute pop-song format.

Part of what makes The Linebreakers special is how intentionally rooted the performances are in the conference experience. Dylan remembered seeing event parties where a live band played familiar covers, but the music could have happened anywhere. The Linebreakers offered something different: a show that only made sense in a room full of people who had wrestled with frameworks, APIs, product requirements, deployment pipelines, and conference Wi-Fi.

That sense of shared context has carried the band across events including Copenhagen Developers Festival, NDC, BuildStuff, DevSum, GOTO, YOW!, and more. Sometimes the lineup is a full stage of collaborators; other times it is a lean trio or even a hybrid performance stitched together across time zones. Dylan recalled two shows where he could not travel because of COVID, so the rest of the band put his private YouTube stream on a big screen and played along live while he performed from home. At the end, he signed off from an audience-filled room he could not see, then went back to everyday life - an appropriately surreal tech-community moment.

“There’s never really been a plan. It’s: we want to have fun.” - MVP Dylan Beattie

Heather described the band as fun and silly, but also full of people who are genuinely talented musicians. The challenge is not just getting the joke right; it is showing up ready to perform, often with very little in-person rehearsal. Because members live in different parts of the world, they usually practice individually and then pull the pieces together when they finally meet. That means listening closely, staying in sync with backing tracks, solving venue sound problems, and trusting one another on stage.

Some of the best moments happen because the group is willing to experiment. Heather shared one favorite BuildStuff story: the band noticed that NDC had a theme song and wondered whether BuildStuff needed one too. Between soundcheck and showtime, Dylan found musical inspiration, reshaped the idea into “Build Stuff,” the group rehearsed it outside, and they performed it that same night. The song stuck, eventually becoming part of the event’s own recap culture.

“That’s the level of talent that we have in this group.” - MVP Heather Downing

More Than a Punchline: Craft, Community, and Code

Behind the jokes is a serious commitment to craft. Dylan summed up the band’s creative standard with a motto that feels just as relevant to software as it does to parody: comedy never justifies mediocrity. If people are laughing, he said, they should be laughing at the intended jokes - not because the music, production, or performance falls short. That mindset has pushed The Linebreakers to build lyric videos, produce backing tracks, learn new media tools, and bring a true audio-visual show to developer audiences.

“Comedy never justifies mediocrity.” - MVP Dylan Beattie

The work has also fed back into their professional lives. Dylan shared how making videos for The Linebreakers helped him build media production skills that now strengthen his workshops, training videos, and conference presentations. Heather emphasized another kind of impact: the shared humanity of tech. Whether the song is about JavaScript weirdness, bad APIs, reply guys, feature creep, or vibe coding, audiences around the world recognize the situations because they have lived them.

“It really is a celebration of the ridiculousness and the humanity behind all of what tech is.” - MVP Heather Downing

That connection can be surprisingly practical, too. Dylan said “You Give REST a Bad Name ,” a parody of Bon Jovi’s classic “You Give Love a Bad Name,” catalogs common API design mistakes in a way that is both entertaining and memorable. The song has been shared by developers with suppliers and teams as a lighthearted way to encourage better API design. Humor, in that case, became a door-opener for better technical conversations.

The song selection process is its own mix of art, timing, and technical instinct. Some ideas begin with a great tune or familiar musical structure the band wants to channel. Others begin with a technology frustration that begs to become a chorus. Dylan described “The Final Shutdown,” inspired by the emotional moment of decommissioning a server after years of care, patching, and maintenance. Another song, “Playing the Planning Poker,” came from watching an audience light up to a high-energy party song and realizing it could become a playful take on agile estimation and Scrum ceremonies.

Other ideas take longer. Dylan said “Key for the WiFi,” inspired by a well-known late-90s rock track, lived on the back burner for years before it was ready. The creative work can be instant or slow, but the full production takes effort: lyrics, arrangements, recorded parts, backing tracks, and videos. For The Linebreakers, the joke may start the song, but polish is what turns it into a performance.

“The idea is worth one, the lyrics are worth 10, the music is worth 100, and the video is worth 1000.” - MVP Dylan Beattie

The Linebreakers on stage: (left to right) Hannes Lowette (MVP), Dylan Beattie (MVP) and Eli Holderness (community member)

Encore: Keep the Community Singing

The Linebreakers remind us that technical community is bigger than sessions, demos, and code samples. It is also hallway laughter, shared references, unexpected collaborations, and the courage to bring a different part of yourself to the stage. Their performances work because they are made by people who love both technology and music deeply enough to poke fun at each with care. Whether you are an MVP, developer, IT pro, community organizer, or technology enthusiast, their story is an invitation to celebrate the creative side of our industry - and maybe to laugh together at how wonderfully strange this work can be.

Interested in learning more about The Linebreakers? Watch their videos, meet the band, and discover how this global group of technologists turns developer life into music, laughter, and community. And if you hear a familiar classic at karaoke and accidentally sing The Linebreakers version instead, Heather might consider that part of the mission accomplished.

Want to learn more about the MVP Program?

To find an MVP and learn more about the MVP Program visit the MVP Communities website and follow our updates on LinkedIn.

Tenerife Summer Sessions 2026: Connecting Communities Across Continents

CristinaGonzalezHerrero — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 20:43:34 GMT

Every year, community-led initiatives demonstrate the extraordinary impact that happens when technology enthusiasts come together to share knowledge beyond borders. Located in Spain’s Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa, Tenerife provides a fitting namesake for an event that bridges communities across Europe, Latin America, and beyond. Tenerife Summer Sessions 2026 has once again proven that geography is no barrier to collaboration, bringing together technical experts, Microsoft MVPs, community leaders, and technology professionals from across Europe and Latin America in one of the most ambitious virtual community events of the year.

What started as a community-driven initiative has evolved into a powerful meeting point where diverse perspectives, experiences, and technical expertise converge. Through a fully online format, Tenerife Summer Sessions creates opportunities for professionals from different countries, cultures, and Microsoft technology communities to learn from one another, exchange ideas, and build relationships that continue long after the event concludes.

A Global Community Gathering

The 2026 event brought together an impressive lineup of contributors, featuring 122 technical sessions, 141 speakers, more than 50 Microsoft MVPs, and Microsoft Regional Director David Rodríguez. The event welcomed speakers and attendees from multiple countries, reinforcing its position as a truly international community experience. The event was organized by MVPs Jorge Fernández and David Lorenzo together with the leaders of the participating communities some of them like MVPs David Oliva and Sergio Hernández as well as the data expert Miguel Egea that co-presented the Keynote.

With sessions delivered in both Spanish and English, Tenerife Summer Sessions provided an accessible platform for diverse audiences, helping connect communities that might not otherwise have the opportunity to interact regularly. This multilingual approach enabled knowledge sharing across regions while fostering new relationships between community leaders, user groups, MVPs, and technical professionals throughout Europe and Latin America.

Bringing Communities Together Through Technology

One of the most remarkable aspects of Tenerife Summer Sessions is its ability to unite people around a shared passion for technology, regardless of their location or area of expertise. The event counted with speakers joining from India, Canada as well as Latin american and European countries.

Across the event, participants explored topics including artificial intelligence, Microsoft Fabric, Azure, Power Platform, Microsoft Copilot, developer technologies, data platforms, security, accessibility, and modern cloud architectures. While the technical content was diverse, the common thread throughout every session was community—experts sharing their knowledge openly to help others learn, grow, and innovate.

More importantly, the event highlighted the strength of Microsoft's technical communities on both sides of the Atlantic and at this edition, for the first time, incorporating a full track of content in English language adding participants from distant community leaders from countries like India or Pakistan. MVPs, community organizers, user group leaders, authors, trainers, consultants, architects, and developers contributed their experience and perspectives, creating a rich learning environment that reflected the diversity and collaboration that have long defined the Microsoft ecosystem.

Amplifying the Reach of Community Knowledge

Because Tenerife Summer Sessions is fully recorded, its impact extends far beyond the live event. All sessions are made available free of charge through YouTube , ensuring that professionals around the world can continue learning from the content long after the conference has finished.

This commitment to accessibility reflects one of the core values of the Microsoft community: knowledge grows when it is shared. By making every session available on demand, the organizers are helping reach audiences across different time zones, countries, and professional backgrounds, further strengthening the connections between communities throughout Europe and Latin America.

Powered by Community Collaboration

Large-scale events like Tenerife Summer Sessions are only possible because of the dedication of volunteers, organizers, speakers, and community advocates who contribute their time and expertise.

The organizers also acknowledged the contribution of Bruno Capuano , a Microsoft Cloud Advocate who supported the creation and publication of the event website, helping provide a central hub for attendees and content.

The success of Tenerife Summer Sessions 2026 demonstrates the unique power of community-led initiatives to connect people, share expertise, and inspire innovation across continents. It serves as a reminder that while technology evolves rapidly, the collaborative spirit that drives the Microsoft community remains one of its greatest strengths.

As communities across Europe and Latin America continue to grow and collaborate, events like Tenerife Summer Sessions play an essential role in creating opportunities for people to learn from one another, discover new technologies, and build lasting professional relationships. The Microsoft MVP Program thrives on exactly these kinds of connections—where knowledge, passion, and community come together to create impact that extends far beyond a single event.

Want to Learn More About the MVP Program?

To find an MVP and learn more about the MVP Program visit the MVP Communities website and follow our updates on LinkedIn or #mvpbuzz.

The User Groups That Keep Australia & New Zealand Learning

SoyoungLee — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 15:09:13 GMT

MVPs across Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) gathered together to celebrate MVP Connection party during AI Tour Sydney

How MVPs across Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) sustain connection, learning, and local community impact all year — through User Groups, informal networks, and continuous contribution — with Microsoft AI Tour Sydney as a recent snapshot.

 The most important thing Microsoft MVPs do in Australia and New Zealand doesn't happen on a stage. It happens in the weeks and months between the big events — in local User Groups, meetups, group chats, and first-time talks. Across ANZ, MVPs show up as User Group leaders, speakers, mentors, and trusted local voices who keep a community learning long after any single event ends.

Global events come and go. What lasts is the community they leave behind — and in ANZ, MVPs are the ones who build and sustain it, all year round.

The Heart of It All: ANZ User Groups

If there's one place the ANZ community's momentum lives, it's the User Groups. They're where a developer asks a first question, attends a first meetup, and eventually gives a first talk. And they're only a click away, thanks to a community-built resource that keeps them all in one place.

“The best community experiences don't end when the event ends — they continue through local user groups, meetups, and ongoing connections.” — Loryan

That's the whole idea behind Loryan Strant's community-maintained ANZ User Group directory — aka.ms/anzusergroups — a single, up-to-date listing of Microsoft-related User Groups across Australia and New Zealand. It's fast, local, useful, and built by someone who knows the community firsthand. Community members have used it to find and join a local group on the spot, turning a moment of inspiration into ongoing participation.

MVPs, All Year Round

MVPs in AI Tour Sydney helping audiences to be connected

Behind many thriving User Groups is an MVP — often several — doing the unglamorous, essential work: organizing venues, lining up speakers, mentoring newcomers, and keeping the calendar full. It's the same pattern the MVP Program recognizes worldwide: MVPs create content, speak at conferences, share product feedback, mentor others, contribute to open source, and support communities in countless ways.

“Technology is important, but community is what helps people keep learning.” — Kirsty and Leon

ANZ leaders like Kirsty McGrath and Leon Tribe embody that — creating approachable spaces for technical discussion, peer networking, and mentorship not just at events, but as a habit.

“The value of MVPs is bringing real-world experience and independent

perspectives to technical conversations.” — Luke and Priyanka

MVPs including Luke Murray and Priyanka Shah bring field lessons and community-driven best practices to every conversation, bridging product capability and practical implementation. And Loryan Strant keeps the connective tissue — the directory — current, so the whole ecosystem stays discoverable.

Sustained community also runs on lightweight, always-on channels. The APAC online community led by Luke Murray — 129 members and counting — helps MVPs share local speaking slots and stay connected in real time. These informal networks look casual, but they close real engagement gaps fast — often faster than formal systems can.

A Snapshot: AI Tour Sydney

You could see all of this in action at Microsoft AI Tour Sydney, held in April — a free, one-day, in-person dive into Microsoft Cloud and AI. Local MVPs — including Kirsty McGrath, Leon Tribe, Loryan Strant, Greg Nash, Priyanka Shah, Daniel Brown, Bronwen Zande, Sam Alavi, Arafat Tehsin, Akanksha Malik and many other MVPs— powered Community Spaces, Connection Hubs, and workshop proctoring, and ran lightning talks and 1:1 sessions on Copilot Studio, Microsoft Fabric, and Azure AI.

But the most telling moment was a simple question from attendees: “How can we keep learning after today?” The answer wasn't another event — it was the User Group directory, and people joining local groups on the spot. The one-day event mattered most for what it pointed people toward: the ongoing community waiting on the other side.

Your Move, Build the Community That Lasts

The ANZ story is proof that the real work — and the real reward — is in the ongoing community, not the one-day high. If you're an MVP, or want to be more active as one, here's where the lasting impact is made:

List your User Group in the directory at aka.ms/anzusergroups so people can find and join you year-round.

Run or attend a local meetup. Consistency — not any single event — is what builds belonging.

Mentor a newcomer and help someone give their first talk. Today's first-timer is tomorrow's User Group leader.

Volunteer at the next local User Group event — then connect with other passionate community members and User Group leaders.

If you're looking for a local User Group, hoping to keep learning after an event, or wanting to connect with technical leaders in your region, start with the MVPs around you. They're the bridge between inspiration and action — and in ANZ, that bridge runs all year. Come help build it.

ANZ MVPs who love to help communities to grow together.

Want to Learn More About the MVP Program? 

To find an MVP and learn more about the MVP Program visit the MVP Communities website and follow our updates on LinkedIn or #mvpbuzz. Join us for a future live session through the Microsoft Reactor where we walk through what the MVP Program is about, what we look for, and how nominations work. These sessions are designed to help you connect the dots between the work you’re already doing and the impact the MVP Program recognizes — with time for questions, examples, and real conversations. 

Resources

Microsoft MVP Program  ·  Find your local MVPs, and around MVP Program

ANZ User Group Directory by Loryan Strant (aka.ms/anzusergroups) Find and list Microsoft Tech User Groups in Australia and New Zealand.

https://aitour.microsoft.com/ Stay Turned for your city’s Microsoft AI Tour

CollabDays: Where Community, Learning, and Collaboration Come Together

alicepiras — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 10:14:15 GMT

CollabDays is a global network of independent, non-profit, community-led events focused on Microsoft technologies. While attendees gather to learn about Microsoft products and platforms, each event is independently organized by local volunteers rather than Microsoft. These events create opportunities for people to discover new ideas, connect with experts and peers, and learn from real-world experiences in a welcoming environment. Bringing together technology professionals, community leaders, students, speakers, and enthusiasts, CollabDays lives by a simple motto: "By the community, for the community." That spirit makes CollabDays more than a conference series: it is a global movement built around shared learning, collaboration, and local connection.

For the Microsoft MVP Program, events like CollabDays showcase community impact in action. MVPs contribute beyond product expertise: they mentor others, share real-world experience, lead technical sessions, organize local events, and create inclusive spaces where communities thrive.

A Community Tradition Across the World

CollabDays has grown into an international community tradition, with events focused on Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Power Platform, AI, Azure, security, development, and modern workplace technologies. Its continued growth is driven by local organizers who invest their time and energy to create meaningful learning experiences for their peers. As technology evolves, so do the conversations at CollabDays. Today’s sessions reflect the topics shaping technical communities, from AI and Copilot to governance, cybersecurity, business applications, and application development, while preserving the collaborative, community-first atmosphere that defines the event series.

Connecting with the community at CollabDays Hamburg 2026

Experiencing CollabDays Hamburg 2026

A few weeks ago, I experienced CollabDays Hamburg 2026 in person. Held in Hamburg, Germany, the event brought together speakers and attendees from across Europe for a full day of technical learning, practical exchange, and community connection. The agenda reflected today’s technical communities, with sessions on Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Power Platform, AI, Copilot, governance, security, and development. Attendees could choose from technical deep dives, practical workshops, and real-world case studies tailored to different interests and experience levels. One of the things that stood out most was the diversity of the community. I met experienced Microsoft MVPs, first-time speakers, students, community organizers, consultants, developers, and technology enthusiasts, all connected by a shared goal: to learn and help others succeed. The energy throughout the event was incredible.

Hallway conversations continued long after sessions ended, new connections were formed over coffee breaks and during the beautiful outdoor barbecue at the end of the event, and speakers remained approachable and eager to answer questions. These interactions are often just as valuable as the sessions themselves, and they highlight why community events remain such an important part of professional growth.

MVPs at the Heart of the Community

Barbecue, Greek salad, and great memories to celebrate the end of CollabDays Hamburg 2026

As I walked through the event, I was reminded again how much of the community ecosystem is powered by MVPs and other passionate volunteers. Many of the speakers, organizers, and mentors dedicate significant personal time to sharing knowledge and helping others develop new skills. This is one of the reasons the Microsoft MVP Program values community events so highly. They create opportunities for knowledge sharing at scale while maintaining the personal connections that make technical communities special. Whether someone is delivering a session on AI, helping a newcomer troubleshoot an issue, or volunteering as part of the organizing team, these contributions have a lasting impact.

CollabDays Hamburg showcased exactly this type of MVP impact: practical expertise shared openly, genuine curiosity about emerging technologies, and a commitment to helping others learn.

“CollabDays Hamburg 2026 once again demonstrated what makes our community so special: people sharing their knowledge, learning from one another, and shaping the future of collaboration together. What makes me especially proud is the openness and inspiration that characterized every interaction between attendees, speakers, sponsors, and volunteers. That spirit of connection, learning, and mutual support is exactly why we create this event” MVP Martin Rövekamp.

Sharing knowledge, learning from each other. CollabDays Hamburg 2026

Why Community Matters

In a world where technology changes rapidly, community gives people something documentation alone cannot: direct access to shared experience, practical advice, and encouragement from others facing similar challenges. Events like CollabDays demonstrate that valuable learning often happens through exchange: a hallway conversation after a session, a practical example from someone solving the same challenge, or a lesson learned from a real-world project. Communities also create pathways for future leaders. Today's attendees often become tomorrow's speakers, organizers, mentors, and MVPs. By creating welcoming and inclusive environments, events like CollabDays help grow and diversify the broader technology ecosystem.

Join the Conversation

Whether you're a long-time community contributor or just beginning your journey, I encourage you to explore local community events near you. You might discover a new technology, meet a future collaborator, find a mentor, or feel inspired to share your expertise with others.

Want to Learn More About the MVP Program?

To find an MVP and learn more about the MVP Program visit the MVP Communities website and follow our updates on LinkedIn or #mvpbuzz. Join us for a future live session through the Microsoft Reactor where we walk through what the MVP Program is about, what we look for, and how nominations work. These sessions are designed to help you connect the dots between the work you’re already doing and the impact the MVP Program recognizes — with time for questions, examples, and real conversations.

The Event Ended. The Community Didn't.

SoyoungLee — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 16:14:46 GMT

GitHub Copilot Dev Day in Doublin and Norway

In 2026, GitHub Copilot Dev Days set out to help developers build with AI. It did that — and then it did something bigger. It reminded a global

community that the fastest way to grow isn't a download link or a documentation page. It's the people around you who are building the future alongside you. Across 58 countries, 294 community-led events brought 22,042 developers together face-to-face — not just to learn a tool, but to experience turning their own ideas into working software with AI. And behind it, in large part, were Microsoft MVPs who carried that experience straight to the places where developers live, learn, and build.

The People at the Center of It All

Trace the success of Dev Days back to its source and you don't find a content package — you find people. Organizers pointed again and again to one advantage above all: partnership with Microsoft MVPs and GitHub Stars, who were already embedded in their local ecosystems and knew how to bring developers together around something new.

GitHub Copilot Dev Days in Toronto office

MVPs organized 104 of the 301 events worldwide — more than a third of the entire global series.

But they did far more than host. They recruited attendees, localized the message, mentored newcomers, and kept the conversation alive long after the last session. That's the one thing a centralized program can't manufacture: trust. When developers show up to create alongside someone they already know from their local user group, they don't just attend — they build.

One Global Template, Hundreds of Local Stories

A developer in Seoul had a different night than one in Kampala, Mumbai, Lagos, or Lima — yet every event stood on the same foundation. Dev Days gave organizers a repeatable “event-in-a-box” so they could stop building slides from scratch and start building community. Many remixed the content into something entirely their own. The result was a campaign that scaled globally while still feeling unmistakably local — communities from South Korea to Pakistan, Norway to the Philippines, each bringing their own character to the same goal: helping developers turn imagination into reality with AI.

Voices From the Community

The real proof is in the words of the people who showed up to build — from Dublin to Seoul. MVP names link to their Microsoft MVP profiles.

Dublin, Ireland: Over 40 developers packed the room to explore Copilot's agentic capabilities — and the energy stole the night.

“The energy in the room was unreal — great people, great conversations.” — Hugo Barona, MVP, Dublin

Norway: A community-run Dev Day at Enora drew a full house, co-hosted by MVP Johan Ludvig Brattås and fellow MVPs. The loudest message wasn't about any single tool.

“I intentionally didn't mention a single AI tool by name.” — Maxim Salnikov, speaker, Norway

GitHub Copilot Dev Days in Chennai, Bengaluru, India

Chennai, India: 100+ developers, packed sessions, and unstoppable energy — with a hands-on build of a Social Bingo game in Agent Mode.

“We're not just hosting events — we're building a movement around AI-first development.” — Saravanan Ganesan, MVP, Chennai

Nairobi, Kenya: In Nairobi, developers didn't just learn — they walked out with a fully offline, on-device AI health assistant running on their own machines.

“Prompt engineering is the infrastructure.” — Edgar McOchieng, MVP, Nairobi

Toronto, Canada: A full house of 250+ packed Microsoft's Toronto HQ for sessions on agentic workflows and CI/CD that thinks.

“AI tools are evolving quickly, but the real advantage comes from communities that experiment, share lessons learned, and help each other deepen their expertise in building AI-powered solutions through local events such as GitHub Copilot Dev Days and practical hands-on labs..” — Jack Lee, MVP, Toronto

Sahiwal, Pakistan: Dev Days didn't only land in the biggest hubs. In Sahiwal, students left thinking less about tools and more about how to lead them.

“We have to be the driver — not let AI drive.” — Eman Tahir, attendee, Sahiwal

Manila, Philippines: Hosted by DEVCON Philippines, Manila's developers saw hands-free, agent-powered development live — led by MVP Ziggy Zulueta.

“Hands-free development isn't about replacing developers — it's about amplifying them.” — Ziggy Zulueta, MVP, Manila

Seoul, South Korea

Two tracks and four sessions showed how one Copilot subscription follows you across every editor — co-led by MVPs Kim Jinseok and Bora Lee, with Microsoft's Justin Yoo.

“The only instruction I needed was: ‘upgrade it.’” — Kim Jinseok, MVP, Seoul

Why This Matters More in the Age of AI

Here's the lesson under all the numbers. AI is changing how we build faster than anyone can keep up with alone. The developers who thrive won't be the ones reading every release note in isolation — they'll be the ones plugged into a community that learns and builds out loud, together.

That's what Dev Days revealed. The technology opened the door; the community — the MVP who answered “wait, how did you do that?”, the peer whose idea sparked yours — is what turned a one-time demo into the confidence to build something real.

In the AI era, community isn't a nice-to-have on top of learning. It is the learning.

The Event Is Over. Your Creating Isn't.

GitHub Copilot Dev Days in Seoul, Manila and Nairobi

The best community events don't end — they start something. Dev Days as a live series has wrapped, but every workshop, lab, and resource is still live, still free, and still waiting for you. You don't need an event on the calendar to keep building. You need an hour, your favorite IDE, and the same content thousands of developers just used to bring their own ideas to life.

Start (or continue) at the central hub

copilot-dev-days.github.io

Everything is here: 12 hands-on workshops across 6 languages and 6 IDEs. Pick your stack and build something real:

- New to Copilot? Start free and self-paced with the GitHub Learn Labs at learn.github.com/skills.
- Go deeper: the Agent Labs (Python, TypeScript, Java, .NET) and Copilot CLI workshops take you from first prompt to real workflows.
- Your IDE, your way: dedicated labs for Visual Studio 2026, JetBrains / IntelliJ, and Xcode.

Keep the resources close

- Content Kit & organizer repo: github.com/github/GitHub-Copilot-Dev-Days
- Copilot Docs: docs.github.com/en/copilot

The real secret — keep creating with your local community

Self-paced content teaches you the what. Your local MVPs and User Groups teach you the how, the why, and the shortcuts nobody wrote down.

- Find your local User Group on the Microsoft Tech Community User Groups directory and show up to the next meetup.
- Follow the MVPs who hosted Dev Days in your region — they're still posting, teaching, and building.

The workshops are the map. Your community is the guide.

Thank You, MVP Community

Every city was a different story — a local organizer who spent their evenings on logistics, a speaker who volunteered a Saturday, a community leader who helped someone build their very first thing with AI. From Nairobi to Toronto, from Dublin to Seoul, from Chennai to Manila, MVPs showed the world what community-led creativity can do.

Dev Days may have started as a global initiative, but its success was built one local community at a time — and that success belongs to the MVPs who made it happen.

The events are over. The community is just getting started. Come build with us.

Start a workshop today · Find your local User Group · Follow your local MVPs

MVPs Bring Community, Courage, and Code to the First NDC Toronto

BetsyWeber — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 17:25:28 GMT

Where Community Took the Stage

At the first NDC Toronto, Microsoft MVPs traveled from across North America and across the Atlantic to help shape a new chapter for the NDC community. They brought technical depth, personal stories, and community energy to a new stage, connecting with developers they had only met online and sharing ideas that reached beyond demos and frameworks into the human side of technology.

“Being part of the first NDC Toronto felt like helping bring that spirit back to North America while also watching it find its own character.” -

MVP Michelle Frost

Mads Torgersen (Microsoft) speaking at NDC Toronto about Union types in C#

Why These MVPs Made the Journey

NDC events have long been known for warm speaker experiences, curious audiences, and a wide range of technical content. At the first NDC Toronto, that spirit showed up through talks on .NET, web development, architecture, AI, accessibility, ethics, and the stories behind the people building technology.

For MVP David Whitney, speaking at NDC Toronto meant stepping into a new city, a newly reimagined event, and a fresh audience. He described NDC conferences as “some of the warmest, best organized and fun events in the industry,” and said they give him room to share “weird, creative, cultural things” that celebrate programmers finding themselves in their work.

“As an MVP, speaking at events like NDC helps me connect with my peers, and share ideas that probably wouldn’t get a stage elsewhere.” -

MVP David Whitney

MVP Dylan Beattie has spoken at NDC events around the world, including London, Oslo, Porto, Sydney, and Minnesota. For him, Toronto was special because it brought “the NDC roadshow to a new country” and created space for the kind of in-person connection that makes community events so meaningful. Based in London, Dylan shared that Europe is right on his doorstep, so it can be easy to forget how significant a long-haul trip can be for North American developers attending European conferences. NDC Toronto gave him the chance to reverse that journey, meet people he had only known online, and show up for the community on their side of the Atlantic.

“It was great to meet people I’d only ever spoken to online; I’m based in London, so Europe’s right on my doorstep and I forget that for a lot of folks in North America, making the trip across the Atlantic is a big deal, so it’s great to get the chance to go visit them for a change.” -

MVP Dylan Beattie

MVP Richard Campbell saw Toronto as a natural home for a new NDC event, with its downtown location, restaurants, hotels, transit, and energized local developer community. His session on the history of .NET connected longtime developers with newer generations, tracing how the platform evolved from a Windows-focused enterprise tool into a cross-platform, open-source toolset for the cloud. Reflecting on that arc, Richard said that “talking about .NET’s past made me even more excited about its future,” because it showed the team’s ability to keep evolving .NET for what comes next.

For MVP Michelle Frost, NDC Toronto was also deeply personal. In her talk on ableism in AI, she spoke publicly on stage about having epilepsy for the first time, showing how technical conferences can create space for expertise, vulnerability, accessibility, and inclusion to share the same stage.

“The program was deeply technical, but still made room for creativity, live music, humor, and the parts of our work that are harder to reduce to a demo or framework.” - MVP Michelle Frost

MVPs meeting up at NDC Toronto. (left to right) Michelle Frost (MVP), Richard Campbell (MVP), David Whitney (MVP), Dylan Beattie (MVP)

What They Carried Home

The first NDC Toronto highlighted how community events help MVPs do what they do best: share knowledge, start conversations, and create connections. Richard Campbell described the value of speaking to a “huge diversity of developers using different languages and tools,” adding that a polyglot conference creates a “polyglot of opinions.” Those different viewpoints are part of what makes technical communities stronger.

“Every time I speak at NDC, I leave with a tonne of enthusiasm for our industry.” -

MVP Richard Campbell

The event also marked a new chapter for MVP Barry Stahl, who had been named a Microsoft MVP just four days before speaking at NDC Toronto. He shared that the recognition changed how he experienced the conference, helping him feel less like someone trying to absorb every detail and more like someone who belonged in the room.

“It let me stop acting like an information vacuum and start acting like someone who actually belongs in the room.” -

MVP Barry Stahl

That sense of belonging matters. Whether MVPs traveled from London, Kansas City, Arizona, Vancouver, Sweden, or other parts of the world, their presence helped establish NDC Toronto as a place for learning, inclusion, and community leadership.

MVPs & friends taking a selfie together. (Clockwise) Michelle Frost (MVP), Jimmy Bogard (MVP), Chris Ayers (Microsoft), Dylan Beattie (MVP), Kevlin Henney (community member)

Want to learn more about the MVP Program?

To find an MVP and learn more about the MVP Program visit the MVP Communities website and follow our updates on LinkedIn.

Join us for a future live session through the Microsoft Reactor where we walk through what the MVP program is about, what we look for, and how nominations work. These sessions are designed to help you connect the dots between the work you’re already doing and the impact the MVP Program recognizes — with time for questions, examples, and real conversations. NDC Toronto

AgentCon Around the World: How MVPs Are Supporting AI Agents Learning Globally

alicepiras — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 11:54:57 GMT

AgentCon, an initiative of the Global AI Community, is a free, community-driven world tour focused on AI agents. The Global AI Community is a worldwide network of local communities, community leaders, and AI enthusiasts who come together to share knowledge, organize events, and make artificial intelligence more accessible to everyone. Through practical sessions, demos, and conversations, AgentCon brings developers, engineers, researchers, and practitioners together to explore AI agents in an approachable and hands-on way.

Across 65 events worldwide, AgentCon has already brought together more than 12,000 attendees. From a 450-person gathering at the Computer History Museum, to ringing the Nasdaq opening bell in Times Square, to large-scale events in Berlin, Singapore, and beyond, AgentCon shows how communities, partners, start-ups, and technology leaders are coming together to make AI agents tangible through learning, demos, and real-world exploration.

What makes this global effort especially impactful is how each local community shapes the experience for its own audience, reflecting local needs while contributing to a shared worldwide learning journey. The series also reflects collaboration across the broader technology ecosystem, bringing together communities, partners, start-ups, and technology leaders around a shared interest in AI agents.

Across these events, MVPs play a key role in connecting the global AgentCon initiative with local communities. They bring technical depth, field experience, and community leadership to sessions that help attendees move from curiosity to practical understanding.

AgentCon Istanbul

Making AI Agents Practical and Approachable

AI agents are no longer just a future concept. They are already reshaping how developers, architects, and organizations design, automate, and build solutions. AgentCon gives attendees a practical way to understand this shift by exploring what AI agents are, where they can be applied, and how to start building with them responsibly and effectively:

Making advanced concepts approachable through live demos and hands‑on labs

Connecting theory with real‑world use cases, from productivity to automation

Creating safe, inclusive spaces for learning, asking questions, and experimenting.

Sharing ideas, food, and community vibes at AgentCon Casablanca

Voices from the Community

"AgentCon in Cologne made it a very important day for our local community. We hosted the event at BarmeniaGothaer, one of Germany’s largest insurance companies actively creating and using AI agents. This allowed the community to learn directly from real‑world scenarios and practitioners.” MVP and RD Raphael Köllner

“AgentCon Chennai was special because it gave our local community a chance to explore AI agents together in a very hands‑on way. What excited me most was seeing students,

professionals, and researchers all learning side by side, and the energy in the room was incredible. My biggest takeaway was how quickly people realized that agentic systems are not just theory—they’re tools we can start building with today.” MVP Saravanan Ganesan

“The best thing about exploring AI agents together is the interest and the ‘wow’ feeling of the audience when AI agents demos were presented by different speakers in different contexts.” MVP Hassan Fadili

How MVPs Help Bring AgentCon to Life

MVPs are helping bring AgentCon to life by contributing their expertise, community leadership, and practical experience across events around the world:

Technical leadership: MVPs share concrete implementations, best practices, and lessons learned from working with AI agents and related technologies.

Knowledge sharing: Sessions often combine code walkthroughs, architecture discussions, and live Q&A, encouraging curiosity and dialogue.
Community building: Many events are organized in collaboration with user groups, meetups, and local tech communities, extending reach beyond the MVP Program itself.

Thank You to the MVPs Who Made It Happen

AgentCon also highlights the passion, generosity, and leadership of the MVP community. To every MVP who has organized, spoken at, supported, or contributed to an AgentCon event: thank you for investing your time, expertise, and energy to help others learn! Your contributions are helping communities around the world explore AI agents with confidence and curiosity.

Join the Conversation

Did you attend or organize an AgentCon event?

What did you learn about AI agents?

What inspired you most from your local community?

Share your experience in the comments, or tell us your MVP story. If you’re passionate about technology, community, and knowledge sharing, this might be your moment to take the next step: Nominate or become a Microsoft MVP

Want to Learn More About the MVP Program?

To find an MVP and learn more about the MVP Program visit the MVP Communities website and follow our updates on LinkedIn or #mvpbuzz.

Join us for a future live session through the Microsoft Reactor where we walk through what the MVP Program is about, what we look for, and how nominations work. These sessions are designed to help you connect the dots between the work you’re already doing and the impact the MVP Program recognizes — with time for questions, examples, and real conversations.

Modern Endpoint Management Summit 2026: A Global Celebration of the MVP Community

CristinaGonzalezHerrero — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 15:43:44 GMT

A Truly Global and Community-Driven Event

The Modern Endpoint Management Summit 2026 brought together one of the most engaged and technically advanced communities in the Microsoft ecosystem for three days of deep learning, collaboration, and innovation.

Hosted this year at the iconic Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie in Paris, the event marked a new milestone in both scale and impact—reinforcing its position as a premier global gathering for endpoint management professionals.

The 2026 edition welcomed over 650 participants from 40 countries, creating a vibrant and diverse environment for knowledge sharing and networking. Over three full days, attendees could choose from more than 100 sessions delivered by over 60 expert speakers.

The organizing team included Microsoft MVPs Angel Garcia, Mattias Melkersen, Nicklas Ahlberg, Florian Salzmann, Joost Gelijsteen, and Peter Klapwijk, who paid close attention to every detail to ensure attendees felt welcome and could enjoy the conference from start to finish.

What makes this event particularly special for the MVP Program is that most speakers were Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals, representing key technical areas including Microsoft Intune, Security, and Microsoft 365. Their contributions showcased not only deep product expertise but also the strong culture of community leadership and peer-to-peer knowledge sharing that defines the MVP Program.

Strong Microsoft Engagement

Microsoft’s presence at the Summit was equally remarkable. More than 20 Microsoft speakers and engineers participated in the event, with many traveling from Redmond alongside teams from across EMEA and France.

Throughout the three days, the Microsoft booth was consistently one of the most visited areas of the Summit. Staffed by a global mix of corporate teams, the booth became a hub for discussions, product feedback, and real-time collaboration between engineers and the community. In addition, several daily focus groups were conducted with customers and community members, providing valuable insights directly to the Intune product teams.

This level of engagement highlights the importance of events like this in strengthening the feedback loop between Microsoft and its communities.

Memorable Keynotes and Thought Leadership

One of the standout moments of the Summit was a truly memorable keynote by Jeffrey Snover, creator of PowerShell and former Microsoft Technical Fellow. His session left a strong impression on attendees and was widely regarded as one of the most impactful highlights of the event.

The momentum continued with another powerful keynote delivered by Sangee Visweswaran and Lior Bela from Microsoft, offering strategic perspectives and insights into the future of endpoint management and the broader Microsoft ecosystem.

Together, these sessions provided both inspiration and direction, complementing the highly technical content delivered throughout the conference.

Exceptional Quality and Community Impact

Despite the scale of the event, the overall quality of sessions remained exceptionally high. Attendee feedback reflects this clearly, with an average session rating of 4.7 out of 5—a remarkable achievement given the volume and diversity of content offered.

This level of satisfaction is a testament to the dedication of the speakers, organizers, and the broader community, and it reinforces the value of MVP-led events in delivering high-impact technical learning experiences.

Looking Ahead to 2027

Another highlight of this year’s Summit was the move to a new venue. The Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, one of Paris’s most iconic conference centers, provided an outstanding setting that elevated the overall attendee experience. The success of the venue has already been confirmed, with plans to return in 2027.

Following the success of this year’s edition, preparations are already underway for the next Summit, which will take place from April 14 to April 16, 2027.

Want to Learn More About the MVP Program?

To find an MVP and learn more about the MVP Program visit the MVP Communities website and follow our updates on LinkedIn or #mvpbuzz.

MVPs show up for M365 Community Conference

BetsyWeber — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 19:53:21 GMT

Microsoft 365 Community Conference 2026 brought together technologists, community leaders, builders, admins, architects, and product teams for three days of learning and connection in Orlando, Florida. Across the event, Microsoft MVPs helped make the experience practical, welcoming, and community-powered. They led sessions, answered questions, supported demos, sparked hallway conversations, and created moments of belonging that extended well beyond the agenda. For anyone curious about becoming an MVP, the conference offered a clear reminder: community impact often starts by showing up, sharing generously, and helping others grow.

“Seeing so many fellow MVPs… sharing knowledge, leading sessions, answering questions, recording podcasts, building connections, and making the whole event better was something else.” - MVP Diego Domingos da Silva

AMA about the Microsoft MVP Program breakfast at the M365 Community Conference. (left to right) Betsy Weber (Microsoft),Diego Domingos da Silva (MVP), Norm Young (MVP),Rachel Sullivan(MVP)

MVPs at the Center of the Community

At the conference, MVP participation was visible everywhere - from keynote moments and technical sessions to meetups, podcasts, booth conversations, and peer support. More than 60 MVPs participated as speakers, representing communities from the US, Canada, Italy, the UK, Germany, Austria, Norway, Portugal, Denmark, Belgium, and Finland. MVPs also delivered all 14 pre-conference workshops and led more than 65 sessions across the week, bringing trusted, real-world expertise to topics including Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft Graph, governance, compliance, accessibility, Microsoft Power Platform, Microsoft Dataverse, neurodiversity, and women in tech.

That practical depth came through especially in the pre-conference workshops. MVP Galen Keene approached his hands-on Copilot workshop with a high bar: attendees invested a full day, and he wanted them to leave with far more than a slide deck. His workshop focused on the real-world work of preparing an enterprise for Copilot, including secure-by-default deployment, gotchas, hard-won lessons, and practical assets attendees could use immediately when they returned to the office. For Galen, the most rewarding part was that the workshop became less of a presentation and more of a conversation, shaped by real environments, real challenges, and a shared commitment to helping each other do the work well.

“I wanted attendees to leave my workshop feeling like they invested a day and walked away with a month’s worth of value.” - MVP Galen Keene

Some moments showed the unique bridge MVPs create between Microsoft and the broader technical community. MVPs Susan Hanley and Laura Rogers joined Microsoft President of Collaborative Apps and Platforms, Jeff Teper, on stage, helping connect product vision with practitioner perspective. For Susan, the conversation was a meaningful reminder of how deeply her career has been tied to SharePoint and how long she has been part of the SharePoint community, even before becoming an MVP. It also reinforced the role MVPs play in representing community experience, sharing product feedback, and helping others get more from the technologies they use every day.

“SharePoint wouldn’t be SharePoint without the community – not just MVPs, but all of us who use the product, share what we learn, and tell Microsoft what works and what doesn’t!” - MVP Susan Hanley

SharePint Mixer at the M365 Community Conference. (Left to right) Jonathan Weaver (MVP), Bryan Wofford (Microsoft), Charles Lakes II (MVP), Rachel Sullivan (MVP)

MVP Charles Lakes II brought that same spirit to his Dataverse session, using the stage to demystify low-code and help attendees see what was possible. His message was clear: Dataverse is not something to fear, but a tool that can help people reimagine existing solutions and build with more confidence. For Charles, speaking as an MVP was also an opportunity to inspire future MVPs by sharing the lessons he had learned from the community that helped him grow early in his career. He knew the session had landed when he could see attendees connecting the dots, and when follow-up conversations turned into ideas for rebuilding solutions with Dataverse.

“Dataverse isn’t scary, it’s here to help.” - MVP Charles Lakes II

When Community Is Worth the Journey

That commitment to community also showed up in the distance MVPs traveled to be there. MVP Toni Pohl traveled from Austria to Orlando, roughly 5,400 miles one way, to deliver a workshop and connect with the Microsoft 365 community in person. For Toni, the value of the conference came from its unique mix of learning, inspiration, and genuine human connection. The travel felt worth it because the event created space to meet the community face-to-face, exchange experiences, and turn shared ideas into practical knowledge. MVP and RD Ståle Hansen brought that same global commitment, traveling thousands of miles from Norway to speak at the conference and share practical field experience on Copilot adoption. For Ståle, part of what makes Microsoft 365 Community Conference meaningful is the strong Microsoft product group presence, paired with the opportunity for community experts to bring real-world adoption lessons to the stage.

“Being together with this community in person reminded me that we move faster when we learn together.” - MVP Toni Pohl

MVP Eric Marsi brought a different kind of community experience with him - literally - driving his podcast studio more than 2,200 miles roundtrip from Ohio to Orlando. For Eric, the goal was to add something attendees might not typically see at a large conference and to create a space where speakers and community members could be themselves, focus on their message, and not worry about the technology.

“What I like about the M365 Conference is the strong Microsoft product group presence to discuss the latest new, and it is an honor to be invited to share my own practical experiences from the field on Copilot adoption as a speaker.” - MVP and RD Ståle Hansen

There were also deeply human moments. Heather Cook partnered with MVP Diego Domingos da Silva on a new LGBTQ+ meetup, helping create space for identity-based connection, inclusion, and belonging alongside technical learning. For Diego, speaking at community events is also about making the experience more welcoming and less intimidating for others, especially for people who are still finding their place in the community. As MVP and RD Sharon Weaver reflected from the front row of the keynote, the experience felt both personal and communal: “Grateful for the journey. Grateful for the people. Grateful and excited for what’s ahead.”

MVP Eric Marsi's Podcast Studio (photo by MVP Mark Kashman)

How MVP Voices Shape the Community

MVPs helped define the tone of Microsoft 365 Community Conference by turning announcements and product strategy into practical, scenario-based guidance attendees could take back to their organizations. Their impact was not limited to formal sessions. They were active in the hallway track, at the Microsoft booth, in meetups, at meals, and in follow-up conversations where attendees could ask candid questions and get grounded advice from people using Microsoft technologies every day. Galen's workshop showed how MVP-led learning can go beyond theory by giving attendees hands-on guidance, practical tools, and space to work through real enterprise challenges together. Charles described the value of MVP-led sessions as helping the community better grasp practical applications, not just theory, especially when speakers share real-world experiences and lessons learned. MVP Heather Severino echoed that point, noting that when MVPs share real-world experience on stage, they help the community build practical skills on emerging Microsoft technologies and understand what is new, changing, and worth adopting. As Copilot continues to evolve quickly, she emphasized, MVPs play a vital role in helping the community apply adoption best practices with ease. Eric's podcast room extended that impact by helping people with smaller individual reach tap into the broader Microsoft Community audience, while giving speakers a simple way to create live, authentic content that showed what the community can do together.

“I wanted speakers and community members to have a place where they could be themselves, not worry about the technology, and show what they were truly capable of.” - MVP Eric Marsi

Their presence also made the event more approachable for people exploring the MVP path. Through AMA-style conversations about the MVP Program, community storytelling, and informal mentoring, attendees could see that MVP recognition is not about having all the answers. It is about sharing knowledge, creating inclusive spaces, supporting peers, and contributing consistently in ways that help others succeed. Toni's journey from Austria underscored how far MVPs are willing to go to learn together, exchange practical knowledge, and strengthen the global Microsoft 365 community. Susan described the relationship between Microsoft and the community as one built on listening, mutual respect, and shared outcomes, noting that MVPs help shape the products Microsoft creates while also helping the community get the most out of those products. Diego's reflections reinforced that same responsibility: MVPs do more than teach features or explain platform decisions. They share real lessons, hard-earned advice, and practical encouragement that helps others feel less alone in the work. When MVPs show up at events like this, they do more than fill sessions - they create momentum, deepen relationships, and help Microsoft feel more connected to the communities it serves.

Celebrating 25 Years of SharePoint panel discussion (left to right): Heather Cook (Microsoft), Adam Harmetz (Microsoft), Laura Rogers (MVP), Jeff Teper (Microsoft), Susan Hanley (MVP), Karuana Gatimu (Microsoft)

Ready to Take the Next Step?

If you are a developer, engineer, IT pro, community organizer, or technologist wondering whether the Microsoft MVP path might be for you, let this be encouragement to keep showing up. Share what you know. Ask questions. Welcome someone new. Lead a session, write a post, mentor a peer, or help make a technical space more inclusive. Community grows through everyday contributions, and those contributions make a difference. Learn more about the next Microsoft 365 Community Conference 2027 in Las Vegas and consider how you might help your own community learn, connect, and grow.

Want to learn more about the MVP Program?

To find an MVP and learn more about the MVP Program visit the MVP Communities website and follow our updates on LinkedIn.

Join us for a future live session through the Microsoft Reactor, where we walk through what the MVP Program is about, what we look for, and how nominations work. These sessions are designed to help you connect the dots between the work you are already doing and the impact the MVP Program recognizes - with time for questions, examples, and real conversations.