Introducing the Viva Engage Track at the 2026 Microsoft 365 Conference
Internal communications has never been more complex — or more essential. Whether you’re trying to cut through the noise, connect leaders with employees, or bring clarity to AI-driven change, the role of the modern communicator is evolving fast. At this year’s M365 Community Conference, we’re excited to bring you the Viva Engage Track — a focused learning path designed to help communicators, HR leaders, IT partners, and community champions build connected, informed, and high‑performing workplaces. You’ll get access to Microsoft’s own communications experts, Viva Engage product leaders, and practitioners who run global‑scale comms — all ready to share the patterns, storylines, frameworks, and real‑world playbooks that drive impact. You’ll learn how to inform, inspire, and activate employees in ways that actually work at scale. The sessions are stacked with can’t‑miss moments Across three days, this track walks you through the full modern comms lifecycle — strategy, storytelling, measurement, deployment, AI readiness, and community activation. Whether you’re focused on executive comms, knowledge sharing, community management, or engagement strategy, this is built for you. Today’s communicators are expected to: Navigate more channels than ever Reduce noise while increasing clarity Build trust in an era shaped by AI Move leaders closer to employees Create belonging in hybrid, dispersed organizations Support rapid change and transformation Here’s a closer look at what you’ll learn in the Viva Engage & Communications track: Modern Communications & Strategy How Microsoft Manages Global Employee and Executive Communications Learn from John Cirone, Sr. Director of Communications, how Microsoft orchestrates communications for 200,000+ employees, drives leadership connection, and uses Engage, SharePoint, and Copilot to scale impact. Breaking Through in a World of Information Overload and AI Amy Morris, Director of Communications, will help you reimagine channels and delivery across Engage and SharePoint to reach the right people at the right time—without adding noise. Use data, insights, and employee listening to build your comms strategy How do you measure and define success, and leverage signals from employee engagement and listening to drive business transformation and performance? Join Microsoft communications and product leaders for a practical look at how to build an effective listening system with tools including Engage, Insights, Glint and Pulse. Learn how to empower leaders and change agents with a comprehensive, 360-degree view of employee sentiment. And explore how insights can inform strategies and tactics to achieve your business objectives. Events, Communities & Knowledge Sharing Company-Wide Events—Scaling Innovation with Engage Learn how organizations run high-impact town halls, all-hands, and campaigns using Events, Q&A, Storyline, and Copilot. Product Group experts Dan Holme and Tricia Lybrook will give you the end-to-end experience for creating events your employees will remember! AI-Powered Collaboration: Unlocking Your Employee Knowledge Base See how Engage, Copilot, and intelligent agents help surface expertise and solve problems faster, while keeping people in the loop. See demos and learn directly from product group leaders Allison Michels and Ramya Rajasekhar about making this reality in your own organizations. Governance, Deployment & AI Transformation From Governance to Growth: A Practical Playbook for Viva Engage Deployment Turn governance, readiness, and compliance into a launchpad for adoption and engagement. Hear directly from the Product Group Leaders, Venkat Ayyadevara and Spencer Perry. Community in the Age of AI - Humans at the center of Copilot Adoption Elevate your communications and campaigns through the power of community and peer-to-peer lead learning. Communicators can lead the AI transformation at your company. Learn how AI-powered agents support community managers, but humans drive rituals, events, and engagement. Hear product experts Allison Michels and Sarah Lundy as they take you behind the scenes and showcase some Microsoft employee favorites, like the Copilot Adoption Community, campaigns, Camp Copilot and more. The Communicator’s Guide to Viva Engage Learn how to maintain relevance and authenticity in the age of AI through personalization, targeting, and sequencing that respects how people work. Learn from Product Group expert Sarah Lundy, drawing on her experience at Microsoft Digital Comms, and Product Manager Najla Dadmand as they show how technology and communications can work together. Spotlight Session: Engage Everywhere - The Viva Engage Roadmap One of the most anticipated sessions of the entire track, Engage Everywhere: Communities, Events & Storylines in Teams (Roadmap), offers a first look at what’s coming next. Hear directly from our Product Leadership Team, Jason Mayans, VP of Product, Steve Nguyen, Customer Experience, and Murali Sitaram, CVP Viva Engage. You’ll explore: The deeper native integration of Viva Engage inside Microsoft Teams -making communities, events, campaigns, and storylines feel seamless across devices and workstyles. AI-enhanced capabilities that connect employees to knowledge, leaders, and each other more intuitively and efficiently. New ways organizations can unify communications and engagement across Teams, Engage, Email, and SharePoint. What’s next for Events, Storyline, and Communities as Microsoft continues to converge engagement experiences in one place. This session is designed to help you visualize the future employee communications and engagement ecosystem—and understand how to build toward it today. Key Takeaways: Whether you’re modernizing communications, rolling out Copilot, building communities, or shaping culture, you’ll walk away with: Practical templates, patterns, and playbooks Insights from Microsoft’s own communications experts Guidance for integrating AI responsibly and effectively Clear steps to elevate engagement across your organization The Viva Engage Track brings together the people driving community and connection every day, inside Microsoft and across customers to explore what’s working, what’s changing, and what’s possible. If you want to build stronger community, elevate employee connection, or shape the future of workplace storytelling, this track belongs on your agenda. Join us!
Building an Agentic, AI-Powered Helpdesk with Agents Framework, Azure, and Microsoft 365
The article describes how to build an agentic, AI-powered helpdesk using Azure, Microsoft 365, and the Microsoft Agent Framework. The goal is to automate ticket handling, enrich requests with AI, and integrate seamlessly with M365 tools like Teams, Planner, and Power Automate.Securing Productivity with Microsoft 365 Copilot
Join the Greek MVP Community hosting Joanna Vathis for an insightful live session about Copilot in M365, Data Protection, Privacy, and Responsible AI Agenda What is Microsoft 365 Copilot? Data Protection Architecture Privacy & Compliance Commitments Responsible AI Practices Security Features & Risk Mitigation Deployment Best Practices Q&A Join for free !
Managing Multi-Tenant Azure/365: Workarounds for Cross-Tenant Limitations in Purview and Fabric
I am working in a Microsoft Azure/365 multi-tenant setting due to some constraints. I am using Purview (Tenant1) and Fabric (Tenant2), M365 in (Tenant 2). I'm facing issues with various solutions due to cross tenant limitation for eg: Data Quality Connection, Metadata ingestion, lineage, etc. To overcome this I am exploring various workarounds. Key Question: 1. Are there proven workarounds or solutions to manage data estate in this scenario? (Can't merge /migrate tenants)
Licensing question: Exchange Server SE for CSP M365 E3/E5 customers without Extended Use Rights
Does anyone have any information on licensing the new Exchange Server SE for customers who have M365/O365 E3/E5 purchased via CSP but do not have Extended Use Rights (i.e., no EA/EAS -> no on-prem Office server licenses included)? Specifically: Is it enough to license Exchange Server SE per node only, or Do customers also need to purchase Exchange Server CALs per user (even if they already have M365 E3/E5)? I’ve spoken with multiple licensing distributors and a Microsoft partner contact, but I still haven’t been able to get a definitive answer. According to a comment from Jeremy Carlson and Microsoft’s licensing documentation, certain licenses appear to include "CAL-equivalency rights". Can anyone here confirm whether these CAL-equivalency rights cover access to Exchange Server SE in the CSP E3/E5 (no Extended Use Rights) scenario? licensing reference: https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/terms/product/CALandMLEquivalencyLicenses/MCA#clause-2165-h3-1
Teams Meeting Intelligent Recap/AI Notes feature license requirement
Hello Experts, We've read that from this article: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/intelligent-recap-calls-meetings The intelligent recap/AI notes for meetings license requirement is Teams Premium "or" M365 Copilot license. However, when we test this for a couple of test users that only has Copilot license(paid) but without Teams Premium. The AI Notes in Teams Meetings Recap is locked. See sample screenshot. We confirmed that the AI Notes is unlocked once you have Teams Premium license but this seems like a bug or maybe an error from the official article. Can someone from the engineering team confirm this? Your help is highly appreciated.
