Microsoft named a Leader in 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Unified Communications as a Service
Microsoft has been recognized as a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Unified Communications as a Service—our eighth consecutive year with this recognition. We’re also excited to share that we are again positioned highest on the evaluation's Ability to Execute axis and furthest on the Completeness of Vision axis. Microsoft Teams is the AI-powered platform for work, and we’re grateful to the hundreds of millions of people who turn to it every month to get their work done. We’re also thankful for our global community of partners, whose expertise and dedication carry that impact even further into every industry and region we serve. It’s the trust our customers and partners place in us that makes a recognition like this possible. We believe this recognition reflects the past year of innovation we’ve delivered to make Teams simpler, smarter, more secure, and where humans and agents collaborate to get work done. Here’s a look at some of the key releases along that journey. Getting more from Copilot in Teams Copilot is AI built for work. This year we invested in innovations across the entire Teams experience so that Copilot feels like one connected assistant everywhere people work. Unified Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat experience: We unified the Copilot Chat experience in Teams across chats, channels, meetings, and calls, aligning it with the experience across other Microsoft apps. That gives people one consistent, familiar way to chat with Copilot, along with a single shared history of their conversation insights accessible within Teams or other Copilot Chat surfaces. Work IQ + Teams: AI is only as good as its context. Without it, even the best AI can give generic answers instead of ones grounded in how a person actually works. This year we rolled out Microsoft Work IQ, the intelligence layer that helps Copilot understand how work gets done across an organization by drawing on Microsoft 365 data, organizational context, and the tools people use every day. Teams is a crucial part of Work IQ, since the information exchanged through meetings, calls, and chat make up some of the richest signals of collaborative work in motion. Engage customers with AI-powered communication Much of the important communication in an organization happens beyond its own walls—with the customers it serves as well as external partners and vendors. Teams Phone brings more intelligence and simplicity to those conversations. These capabilities can help reduce missed connections and support faster issue resolution. Teams Phone Agent: During customer call surges, many businesses can’t answer every call right away, which can result in frustrating hold times for customers. Teams Phone Agent, now available in Frontier public preview, quickly greets callers and can resolve many requests on its own, such as answering common questions, scheduling appointments, and routing calls with full conversational context to the right human or department when assistance is needed. Teams Phone Agent also integrates with custom voice agents that organizations build in Microsoft Copilot Studio for specialized workflows, like paying bills over the phone. Multi-line calling: People juggling roles or regions often needed more than one phone number, but managing them meant separate devices or accounts. Admins can now assign up to ten numbers to a single user, with each appearing as its own tab in the Calls app, for one unified calling experience. Intelligent call delegation: Incoming calls don’t wait for a break in your day. Every incoming call forces a choice between losing momentum or missing something important. Intelligent call delegation, available in Frontier public preview, answers calls on a person’s behalf, engages the caller to determine intent, filters spam, and can schedule a follow-up via Microsoft Bookings when the person is unavailable. Unified call history in the Queues app: Without a shared view of call activity, customer service teams can struggle to track who had followed up on missed calls and voicemails, which can lead to duplicated effort and dropped follow-ups. The Queues app now offers shared call history, giving teams a unified view of that activity so that everyone can see what has been handled and what still needs attention. This can reduce duplicated effort and help teams respond to customers more quickly. Smarter collaboration that scales Teams brings people together to meet and collaborate. New AI-powered experiences help move work forward during meetings, while a redesigned Events experience means you no longer need a separate platform for your biggest moments. Organizations can run everything from team meetings to large-scale broadcasts on a single platform, reducing tool sprawl and operational overhead. Facilitator agent: Keeping a meeting on track while also capturing decisions and follow-ups is hard for any one person to do alone. Facilitator builds and tracks agendas, answers questions, and tracks tasks on behalf of everyone in the meeting. This enables participants to stay focused on the conversation instead of managing the mechanics of the meeting. Audio and video meeting recaps: Intelligent recaps with AI-generated notes are a great way to catch up on a missed meeting, but sometimes you need more flexibility, like when you’re on the go during your commute and can’t sit down to read through notes. Meeting recap now offers audio recap, which turns notes into a podcast-style narrated summary for up to eight meetings. Or want a short highlight reel of the most important meeting moments? You can now watch a video recap with narrated highlight clips from the meeting recording. New Teams events experience that scales for your largest meetings: Planning and producing webinars and employee town halls often meant juggling separate tools for each format, with configurations that didn’t carry over from planning to delivery. The new Teams events experience unifies these different experiences into one streamlined flow that supports the full event lifecycle, from setup and presenter prep, to live delivery and post-event follow-up. With Attendee Capacity Packs, Teams events can also support up to 100,000 concurrent attendees, which can help organizations scale communications and reduce tool sprawl. Built-in security and trust AI creates new opportunities for productivity, but it also opens up potential risks from bad actors looking to exploit it. Security remains our top priority. This year, we continued to build on this commitment through delivering new protections and controls that can help people meet, call, and collaborate more securely. Trust Indicators: As collaboration expands to external partners like customers and vendors, it can be hard to know at a glance who you’re really talking to. Trust Indicators now appear as visual badges next to external people across Teams, labeling them as external-familiar, external-unfamiliar, guest, email-verified, or unverified, so people can make informed decisions about what they share. Meeting bot detection and organizer controls: Unwanted bots slipping into a meeting can go unnoticed until after sensitive information has already been discussed. Teams can now detect bots and flag them to organizers in the lobby before anyone is admitted, with stronger controls to manage access and permissions throughout the meeting. This can help organizers limit sensitive conversations to the intended audience. Brand impersonation detection in calling: Scammers impersonating trusted brands put both employees and customers at risk. When a call shows signs of brand impersonation—someone posing as your IT helpdesk, for example—Teams can surface a warning that prompts you to verify before you act. You can also report a suspicious call directly from your call history. The AI-powered workplace This year marked a big leap forward for AI in the physical workplace. Microsoft Teams Rooms delivered new AI-powered experiences that help everyone participate more fully in hybrid meetings, while Microsoft Places continued to evolve with new capabilities for coordinating in-office work. Together, they can make time in the office easier to plan and meetings held there more inclusive for everyone joining, whether in the room or remote. Hybrid meetings where everyone is seen and heard: Remote attendees often squint at a wide room shot, unsure who is speaking. Cloud IntelliFrame now spans Windows and certified Android devices, giving remote participants individual gallery tiles that follow the conversation, and multi-camera switching brings the same clarity to larger spaces where a single camera can’t frame everyone naturally, to provide more meeting context for all. Speaker recognition, easier to roll out: AI-generated meeting notes from a room are only as useful as their attribution. Without knowing who said what, discussion summaries and action items can be hard to understand and act on. Speaker recognition now identifies individuals by name in live transcription on both Windows and Android, so Copilot, intelligent recap, and Facilitator can credit in-room contributions to the right people. Express enrollment makes setting up a voice and face profile fast and simple for users. And a new enrollment dashboard shows admins who is enrolled and where the gaps remain, so they can drive adoption across the organization. Microsoft Places, enhancing workplace experiences: Coordinating in-office days used to be guesswork. People can now book desks from an interactive map, see where colleagues plan to sit, or just plug into a desk’s peripherals to reserve it automatically. Copilot AI room booking turns finding the right space into a conversation and rebooks when plans change, while a new management portal and full Microsoft Graph API support for buildings, floors, rooms, and desks let IT manage the workplace at greater scale and connect with integration partners. User momentum This recognition rests on the trust of a growing community of customers. More than 320 million people rely on Teams each month as their AI-powered platform for work. That momentum extends into our advanced calling and meeting room capabilities as well. Over the past year, Teams Phone surpassed 26 million PSTN-enabled users. These are customers who have a Teams Phone license and an active phone number assigned. Microsoft Teams Rooms licenses now exceed 1.5 million, reflecting continued demand for modern, connected meeting spaces. Looking ahead We are grateful for this current recognition, and even more energized by what comes next. We remain committed to making Teams ever simpler, smarter, and more secure. As AI becomes a natural part of every workflow, Teams will continue to serve as the surface where people and agents collaborate together to communicate and move work forward. Thank you to the customers and partners who shape that direction with us. We’re just getting started. Start using Microsoft 365 Copilot today. Visit https://www.microsoft365.com/copilot or download the Microsoft 365 Copilot app for your desktop or mobile device. Enroll your organization in the Frontier program for early access to AI features. Upgrade to Teams Premium for more protected, engaging, and personalized meetings and calls. Read the full 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) report. ---------------------------------------------------------- Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service, Worldwide, Pankil Sheth, Megan Fernandez, Rafael Benitez, Nitin Narang, 28 July 2026. Gartner and Magic Quadrant are trademarks of Gartner, Inc., and/or its affiliates. *This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request here.
Extreamly frustrated that I cannot get help for a serious problem
What the devil do I have to do to get help with a serious problem with the cloud for our non-profit business account for our small charity. I have 'lost' sight of a large number of documents from the cloud since we had to start paying for our subscription. After many chats with ai and emails and the problem being escalated I have now been told to go back to where I started at Non-profit support and put a support ticket in. Doesnt matter what machine I use, what browser I use, what network I use, I cannot get past the submit form page and keep getting an error message - this has been going on for weeks now. Ive tried ringing and the call keeps dropping while on hold - no one, no-one will call me about the problem and no one seems interested in dealing with the problem and its not just affecting me on our system either. Please will someone tell me how to get to a human for support without using an AI help system,Join Us Live: Understanding Copilot Cowork and Managing Copilot Credits
The way we work with AI is evolving rapidly, and so is the way organizations manage and scale those experiences. If you're exploring Copilot Cowork, navigating Copilot Credits, or looking for guidance on consumption-based AI experiences, you won't want to miss our upcoming live event. 🎙️ Live AMA: Understanding Copilot Cowork and Managing Copilot Credits Tuesday, July 21, 2026 9:00–10:00 AM Pacific Time Join us for a live webinar and Ask Microsoft Anything (AMA) featuring experts from the Microsoft 365 Copilot team as they dive into the latest capabilities of Copilot Cowork and share practical guidance for managing Copilot Credits across your organization. During this session, we'll explore: Who should be using Copilot Cowork How to allocate and manage Copilot Credits effectively Best practices for adoption and governance Strategies for scaling Copilot Cowork while maintaining visibility and control over costs This is your opportunity to hear directly from the experts, learn from real-world scenarios, and get answers to your most pressing questions. Whether you're an IT administrator, adoption lead, business decision-maker, or Microsoft 365 enthusiast, you'll leave with actionable insights to help your organization maximize the value of AI-powered collaboration. Bring Your Questions The session will include a live Q&A where attendees can submit questions and receive answers directly from Microsoft subject matter experts. The team is specifically focused on helping customers better understand Copilot Cowork, credit management, and the evolving landscape of AI consumption and governance. 👉 Register and join the conversation: aka.ms/CopilotCoworkAMA We look forward to seeing you on July 21!
Introducing new security and compliance add-ons for Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Small and medium businesses (SMBs) are under pressure like never before. Cyber threats are evolving rapidly, and regulatory requirements are becoming increasingly complex. Microsoft 365 Business Premium is our productivity and security solution designed for SMBs (1–300 users). It includes Office apps, Teams, advanced security such as Microsoft Defender for Business, and device management — all in one cost-effective package. Today, we’re taking that a step further. We’re excited to announce three new Microsoft 365 Business Premium add-ons designed to supercharge security and compliance. Tailored for medium-sized organizations, these add-ons bring enterprise-grade security, compliance, and identity protection to the Business Premium experience without the enterprise price tag. Microsoft Defender Suite for Business Premium: $10/user/month Cyberattacks are becoming more complex. Attackers are getting smarter. Microsoft Defender Suite provides end-to-end security to safeguard your businesses from identity attacks, device threats, email phishing, and risky cloud apps. It enables SMBs to reduce risks, respond faster, and maintain a strong security posture without adding complexity. It includes: Protect your business from identity threats: Microsoft Entra ID P2 offers advanced security and governance features including Microsoft Entra ID Protection and Microsoft Entra ID Governance. Microsoft Entra ID protection offers risk-based conditional access that helps block identity attacks in real time using behavioral analytics and signals from both user risk and sign-in risk. It also enables SMBs to detect, investigate, and remediate potential identity-based risks using sophisticated machine learning and anomaly detection capabilities. With detailed reports and alerts, your business is notified of suspicious user activities and sign-in attempts, including scenarios like a password-spray where attackers try to gain unauthorized access to company employee accounts by trying a small number of commonly used passwords across many different accounts. ID Governance capabilities are also included to help automate workflows and processes that give users access to resources. For example, IT admins historically manage the onboarding process manually and generate repetitive user access requests for Managers to review which is time consuming and inefficient. With ID Governance capabilities, pre-configured workflows facilitate the automation of employee onboarding, user access, and lifecycle management throughout their employment, streamlining the process and reducing onboarding time. Microsoft Defender for Identity includes dedicated sensors and connectors for common identity elements that offer visibility into your unique identity landscape and provide detailed posture recommendations, robust detections and response actions. These powerful detections are then automatically enriched and correlated with data from other domains across Defender XDR for true incident-level visibility. Keep your devices safe: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 offers industry-leading antimalware, cyberattack surface reduction, device-based conditional access, comprehensive endpoint detection and response (EDR), advanced hunting with support for custom detections, and attack surface reduction capabilities powered by Secure Score. Secure email and collaboration: With Microsoft Defender for Office 365 P2, you gain access to cyber-attack simulation training, which provides SMBs with a safe and controlled environment to simulate real-world cyber-attacks, helping to train employees in recognizing phishing attempts. Additionally automated response capabilities and post-breach investigations help reduce the time and resources required to identify and remediate potential security breaches. Detailed reports are also available that capture information on employees’ URL clicks, internal and external email distribution, and more. Protect your cloud apps: Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is a comprehensive, AI-powered software-as-a-service (SaaS) security solution that enables IT teams to identify and manage shadow IT and ensure that only approved applications are used. It protects against sophisticated SaaS-based attacks, OAuth attacks, and risky interactions with generative AI apps by combining SaaS app discovery, security posture management, app-to-app protection, and integrated threat protection. IT teams can gain full visibility into their SaaS app landscape, understand the risks and set up controls to manage the apps. SaaS security posture management quickly identifies app misconfigurations and provides remediation actions to reduce the attack surface. Microsoft Purview Suite for Business Premium: $10/user/month Protect against insider threats Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management uses behavioral analytics to detect risky activities, like an employee downloading large volumes of files before leaving the company. Privacy is built in, so you can act early without breaking employee trust. Protect sensitive data wherever it goes Microsoft Purview Information Protection classifies and labels sensitive data, so the right protections follow the data wherever it goes. Think of it as a ‘security tag’ that stays attached to a document whether it’s stored in OneDrive, shared in Teams, or emailed outside the company. Policies can be set based on the ‘tag’ to prevent data oversharing, ensuring sensitive files are only accessible to the right people. Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) works in the background to stop sensitive information, like credit card numbers or health data, from being accidentally shared with unauthorized people Microsoft Purview Message Encryption adds another layer by making sure email content stays private, even when sent outside the organization. Microsoft Purview Customer Key gives organizations control of their own encryption keys, helping meet strict regulatory requirements. Ensure data privacy and compliant communications Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance monitors and flags inappropriate or risky communications to protect against policy and compliance violations. Protect AI interactions Microsoft Purview Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) for AI provides visibility into how AI interacts with sensitive data, helping detect oversharing, risky prompts, and unethical behavior. Monitors Copilot and third-party AI usage with real-time alerts, policy enforcement, and risk scoring. Manage information through its lifecycle Microsoft Purview Records and Data Lifecycle Management helps businesses meet compliance obligations by applying policies that enable automatic retention or deletion of data. Stay investigation-ready Microsoft Purview eDiscovery (Premium) makes it easier to respond to internal investigations, legal holds, or compliance reviews. Instead of juggling multiple systems, you can search, place holds, and export information in one place — ensuring legal and compliance teams work efficiently. Microsoft Purview Audit (Premium) provides deeper audit logs and analytics to trace activity like file access, email reads, or user actions. This level of detail is critical for incident response and forensic investigations, helping SMBs maintain regulatory readiness and customer trust. Simplify Compliance Management Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager helps track regulatory requirements, assess risk, and manage improvement actions, all in one dashboard tailored for SMBs. Together, these capabilities help SMBs operate with the same level of compliance and data protection as large enterprises but simplified for smaller teams and tighter budgets. Microsoft Defender and Purview Suites for Business Premium: $15/user/month The new Microsoft Defender and Purview Suites unite the full capabilities of Microsoft Defender and Purview into a single, cost-effective package. This all-in-one solution delivers comprehensive security, compliance, and data protection, while helping SMB customers unlock up to 68% savings compared to buying the products separately, making it easier than ever to safeguard your organization without compromising on features or budget. FAQ Q: When will these new add-ons be available for purchase? A: They will be available for purchase as add-ons to Business Premium in September 2025. Q: How can I purchase? A: You can purchase these as add-ons to your Business Premium subscription through Microsoft Security for SMBs website or through your Partner. Q: Are there any seat limits for the add-on offers? A: Yes. Customers can purchase a mix of add-on offers, but the total number of seats across all add-ons is limited to 300 per customer. Q: Does Microsoft 365 Business Premium plus Microsoft Defender Suite allow mixed licensing for endpoint security solutions? A: Microsoft Defender for Business does not support mixed licensing so a tenant with Defender for Business (included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium) along with Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 (included in Microsoft 365 Security) will default to Defender for Business. For example, if you have 80 users licensed for Microsoft 365 Business Premium and you’ve added Microsoft Defender Suite for 30 of those users, the experience for all users will default to Defender for Business. If you would like to change that to the Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 experience, you should license all users for Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 (either through standalone or Microsoft Defender Suite) and then contact Microsoft Support to request the switch for your tenant. You can learn more here. Q: Can customers who purchased the E5 Security Suite as an add-on to Microsoft 365 Business Premium transition to the new Defender Suite starting from the October billing cycle? A: Yes. Customers currently using the Microsoft 365 E5 Security add-on with Microsoft 365 Business Premium are eligible to transition to the new Defender Suite beginning with the October billing cycle. For detailed guidance, please refer to the guidelines here. Q: As a Partner, how do I build Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services with MDB? A: For partners or customers looking to build their own security operations center (SOC) with MDR, Defender for Business supports the streaming of device events (device file, registry, network, logon events and more) to Azure Event Hub, Azure Storage, and Microsoft Sentinel to support advanced hunting and attack detection. If you are using the streaming API for the first time, you can find step-by-step instructions in the Microsoft 365 Streaming API Guide on configuring the Microsoft 365 Streaming API to stream events to your Azure Event Hubs or to your Azure Storage Account. To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions for SMBs you can visit our website.Announcing the 2026 Microsoft 365 Community Conference Keynotes
The Microsoft 365 Community Conference returns to Orlando this April, bringing together thousands of builders, innovators, creators, communicators, admins, architects, MVPs, and product makers for three unforgettable days of learning and community. This year’s theme, “A Beacon for Builders, Innovators & Icons of Intelligent Work,” celebrates the people shaping the AI‑powered future — and the keynote lineup reflects exactly that. These leaders will set the tone for our biggest, boldest M365 Community Conference. Below is your first look at the official 2026 keynote order and what to expect from each session. Opening Keynote Jeff Teper — President, Microsoft 365 Collaborative Apps & Platforms Building for the future: Microsoft 365, Agents and AI, what's new and what's next Join Jeff Teper, to discover how AI-powered innovation across Copilot, Teams, and SharePoint is reshaping how people communicate, create, and work together. This session highlights what’s new, what’s fundamentally different, and why thoughtful design continues to matter. See the latest advances in AI and agents, gain insight into where collaboration is headed, and learn why Microsoft is the company to continue to bet on when it comes to building what’s next. Expect: New breakthroughs in collaboration powered by AI and agents Fresh innovations across Teams, Copilot, and SharePoint Practical guidance on how design continues to shape effective teamwork Real world demos that show how AI is transforming communication and content Insight into what is new, what is changing, and what is coming next Business Apps & Agents Keynote Ryan Cunningham — Corporate Vice President, Power Platform In this keynote, Ryan Cunningham will share how Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, Power Apps, and Agent 365 come together to help makers build powerful agents and help IT teams deploy and govern them at scale. We’ll share how organizations can design, extend, and govern a new model for the intelligent workplace – connecting data, workflows, and systems into intelligent agents that move work forward. Copilot, apps, and agents: the next platform shift for Microsoft 365 Microsoft 365 Copilot has changed how we interact with software. Now AI agents are changing how work gets done – moving from responding to prompts to taking action, across the tools and data your organization already relies on. Expect: A clear explanation of how to leverage and build with Copilot and agents How agents access data, use tools, and complete multi-step work A deeper look at the latest capabilities across Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, and Power Apps End-to-end demos of agents in action Security, Trust & Responsible AI Keynote Vasu Jakkal — Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Security & Rohan Kumar — Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Security, Purview & Trust In our third keynote, Vasu Jakkal and Rohan Kumar join forces to address one of the most urgent topics of the AI era: trust and security at scale. As organizations accelerate into AI‑powered work, safeguarding identities, data, compliance, and governance is mission‑critical. Securing AI: Building Trust in the Era of AI Join Vasu Jakkal and Rohan Kumar as they unveil Microsoft’s vision for securing the new frontier of AI—showing how frontier firms are protecting their data, identities, and models amid rapid AI adoption. This session highlights how Microsoft is embedding security and governance into every layer of our AI platforms and unifying Purview, Defender, Entra, and Security Copilot to defend against threats like prompt injection, model tampering, and shadow AI. You’ll see how built-in protections across Microsoft 365 enable responsible, compliant AI innovation, and gain practical guidance to strengthen your own security posture as AI transforms the way everyone works. Expect: Microsoft's unified approach to secure AI transformation Forward‑looking insights across Security, Purview & Trust Guidance for building safe, responsible AI environments How to protect innovation without slowing momentum Future of Work Fireside Keynote Dr. Jaime Teevan — Chief Scientist & Technical Fellow, Microsoft Dr. Jaime Teevan, one of the foremost thought leaders on AI, productivity, and how work is evolving. In this intimate fireside‑style session, she’ll share research, real‑world insights, and Microsoft’s learnings from being both the maker and the first customer of the AI‑powered workplace. Expect: Insights from decades of workplace research The human side of AI transformation Practical guidance for leaders, creators, and practitioners Why collaboration is essential to unlock the true potential of AI. Community Closer Keynote Karuana Gatimu - Director, Microsoft Customer Advocacy Group & Heather Cook - Principal PM, MIcrosoft Customer Advocacy Group From Momentum to Movement: Where Community Goes Next As the final moments of Microsoft 365 Community Conference come to a close, Heather Cook and Karuana Gatimu invite the community to pause, reflect, and look forward together. This Community Closer keynote connects the breakthroughs, conversations, and shared experiences of the week into a bigger story—one about people, purpose, and progress. Together, they’ll explore how community transforms technology into impact, how advocates and builders shape what’s next across Microsoft 365, and why this moment matters more than ever. More than a recap, this session is a call to action—challenging attendees to take the energy of the conference back to their teams, regions, and communities, and turn inspiration into sustained momentum. You’ll leave not just with ideas, but with clarity, confidence, and a renewed sense of belonging—because community doesn’t end when the conference does. It’s where the real work begins. More Than Keynotes: Why You’ll Want to Be in Orlando The M365 Community Conference brings together: 200+ sessions and breakouts 21 hands‑on workshops 200+ Microsoft engineers and product leaders onsite The Microsoft Innovation Hub Ask the Experts, Meet & Greets, and Community Studio Women in Tech & Allies Luncheon SharePoint’s 25th Anniversary Celebration And an epic attendee party at Universal’s Islands of Adventure Whether you create, deploy, secure, govern, design, or lead with Microsoft 365 — this is your community, and this is your moment. Join Us for the Microsoft 365 Community Conference April 21–23, 2026 Loews Sapphire Falls & Loews Royal Pacific 👉 Register now: https://aka.ms/M365Con26 Use the SAVE150 code for $150USD off current pricing Come be part of the global community building the future of intelligent work.Help Shape the Future of Microsoft 365: Join Research Sessions at Microsoft 365 Community Conference
One of the best ways to get value from the Microsoft 365 Community Conference isn’t just attending sessions, it’s helping shape what gets built next. The Research sessions at Microsoft 365 Community Conference give attendees a rare, behind-the-scenes chance to collaborate directly with the Microsoft teams designing the products millions of people use every day. These sessions are designed for customers, practitioners, and IT professionals who want their real-world experiences to influence what’s coming next across Microsoft 365. What to Expect These aren’t traditional lectures or breakouts. Research sessions are small-group, interactive conversations designed to bring your voice into the product design process. In a typical session, you can expect: Spending dedicated time with Microsoft researchers (and sometimes partner team members) Discuss scenarios drawn from real customer workflows Review early ideas or prototypes and share what would (or wouldn’t) work in your environment Offer candid feedback to help prioritize and refine future experiences Topics That Matter to You The Research sessions focus on some of the most widely used and fast-evolving Microsoft 365 experiences, including: SharePoint OneDrive Microsoft Teams Microsoft Planner Microsoft Lists Viva Engage Whether you’re managing these tools at scale, supporting adoption, or building solutions on top of them, your perspective helps teams understand what’s working today and what needs to change next. How to Participate Research sessions are invite-only to keep the groups small and ensure everyone has time to contribute. Here’s how it works: Registered conference attendees will receive an email invitation to sign up for Research sessions. The invitation includes short descriptions of each session and a brief signup form so you can indicate which topics you’re interested in. Participants are required to complete a consent form and a non-disclosure agreement. Participation in Research sessions is optional. Completing the survey does not affect your ability to attend the conference if you choose not to participate. Spots are filled first-come, first-served, so early registration is encouraged. Be Part of What’s Next The Microsoft 365 Community Conference is all about learning, connection, and community—and the Research sessions take that mission one step further. This is your opportunity to go beyond listening and actively contribute to the evolution of Microsoft 365. If you’ve ever wanted to influence the tools you rely on every day, the Research sessions are one of the most meaningful ways to do it. Keep an eye out for the invitation, choose a session that matches your interests, and bring your real-world experience to the table. -- Attendees of the research sessions must be registered attendees of the Microsoft 365 Community Conference.The Microsoft 365 Community Conference Experience Starts with Community
At the Microsoft 365 Community Conference, the learning does not stop when a session ends. Some of the most meaningful moments happen between the keynotes, in shared conversations, hands on exploration, and spontaneous connection with others who are solving similar challenges. This year in Orlando, we are creating more opportunities for the Microsoft 365 community to come together through interactive activations, informal meetups, creative experiences, and live product engagement inside the Microsoft Innovation Hub within the Expo Hall. Here is a look at what you can expect throughout the week. Women in Tech and Allies Lunch Discussion Grab your lunch and network with peers, discuss progress, and focus on how we can continue to make the Microsoft ecosystem the best in the world for supporting women. All individuals are welcome regardless of gender for an open and compassionate conversation on allyship and inclusiveness. The discussion will be hosted by Heather Cook, Principal Customer Experience PM and distinguished panelists including: Vasu Jakkal, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Security Business Jaime Teevan, Chief Scientist & Technical Fellow Lan Ye, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Teams Sumi Singh, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Teams Karuana Gatimu, Director, Customer Advocacy - AI & Collaboration, Microsoft Kate Faaland, Program Manager of Data and AI, AvePoint Celebrity meet-n-greet Stop by the Microsoft Community News Desk on Tuesday from 2pm to 4pm right outside of the Expo Hall, for a special photo meet and greet with guest speakers and former WNBA athletes Chasity Melvin and Kia Vaughn. Snap a photo with these legendary pros at our on-site photobooth and celebrate the spirit of teamwork and leadership they bring to conversations on collaboration and the future of AI at this year’s Microsoft 365 Community Conference. More Than Code: SharePoint Movie Premiere Tuesday, April 21, 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM Be among the first to watch More Than Code, a documentary styled short film honoring the global community behind SharePoint’s 25 year journey. Featuring voices from MVPs, customers, and Microsoft leaders, this film explores how connection, creativity, and collaboration helped turn a product into a movement that powers teamwork and knowledge sharing around the world today. SharePoint 25th Birthday Celebration Panel Tuesday, April 21, 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM Join longtime community leaders and Microsoft experts as we celebrate 25 years of SharePoint. From early on premises deployments to today’s AI powered experiences, this special birthday panel reflects on the moments, milestones, and people who helped shape SharePoint into the platform it is today, and what comes next. Stick around after the discussion for birthday cake and photo moments with fellow community members. Microsoft 365 Champions Community Meetup + Session Join Karuana Gatimu for a Microsoft 365 Champions Community Meetup, where you can connect with peers and learn more about growing your AI and Microsoft skills while engaging with the product team. Then, attend the separate Champions Program session on Tuesday, April 21 from 1:45 PM to 2:30 PM to learn how to build, nurture, and measure the success of your internal Champions program to drive Copilot and broader technology adoption. Microsoft Global Community Initiative (MGCI) The Microsoft Global Community Initiative (MGCI) will be onsite all week connecting organizers, speakers, board members, and regional leaders from across our global tech communities. Meet up with Heather Cook, Principal Customer Experience PM, MGCI Board Members, and Regional Leaders on Tuesday at 4:15 PM to connect with the people powering Microsoft’s grassroots ecosystem, join the MGCI Roundtable on Wednesday at 1:30 PM to discover how MGCI and CommunityDays.org are transforming grassroots tech engagement. And don’t miss the MGCI Lightning Talk on the power of community and how local engagement can create global impact. Stop by the Microsoft Innovation Hub to learn more about how MGCI supports community‑driven learning around the world. MVP Presence at #M365Con26 Microsoft MVPs will be onsite all week bringing community insight directly into the Microsoft Innovation Hub inside the Expo Hall. Join us on Tuesday, April 21 at 5:00 PM for a special MVP Photo Opportunity with an executive sponsor in the Innovation Hub (Microsoft Booth). We will also be hosting an MVP Meetup during the event with more details to come. Stop by the booth or connect with Bryan Wofford to collect exclusive MVP swag available only onsite. Reservable Podcast Room Microsoft FTEs, MVPs, and community leaders can reserve time in the on-site Podcast Room at Microsoft 365 Community Conference to record interviews, podcast episodes, or social content. The space will be equipped with branded backdrops along with professional video and audio equipment to support high quality content creation. Complete the reservation form to request a time slot. Calendar invites will be sent once confirmed. Questions can be directed to Jonathan Jones. Community News Desk + Interviews: Stop by the Community News Desk to catch live conversations from across the ecosystem and explore opportunities for 1:1 executive and customer interviews taking place throughout the week inside the Microsoft Innovation Hub. Community Meetups and Product Roundtables Community meetups are informal, connection first gatherings where attendees can meet others who share a role, interest, or identity. These sessions are designed to bring people together in a relaxed environment to build relationships and exchange ideas. Product roundtables offer a more focused space for discussion. In these small group conversations, attendees can share real world use cases, common pain points, and direct feedback with Microsoft teams and peers. Please use this signup sheet to reserve a social meetup with your community. Lightning Talks in the Microsoft Innovation Hub Lightning Talks are quick, TED talk style sessions designed to deliver real world learnings fast. Stop by the Microsoft Innovation Hub within the Expo Hall for rapid insights from community experts and Microsoft teams, along with a few surprises throughout the week. Explore the Microsoft Surface Device Bar Visit the Microsoft Device Bar for an interactive, hands on experience with the latest Copilot+ PCs and Surface for Business devices. You can engage with real world demos, explore Windows 11 and Copilot capabilities, and connect with Microsoft experts for live demonstrations, Q&A, and practical guidance across modern work scenarios and enterprise security needs. Attendees who visit the Device Bar will also have the opportunity to enter a daily drawing to win a Surface Pro for Business by following Microsoft Surface on LinkedIn and sharing a photo from the event. Build Your Own Mini LEGO Figurine After exploring a demo scenario, stop by for a quick creative break and build a mini LEGO figurine. It is a fun, hands-on moment that adds some play and personality to your conference experience and gives you something to take home with you. Guided Demo Stations The Microsoft Innovation Hub will feature multiple demo stations offering guided, live walkthroughs led by experts who can answer questions in real time. Each station is designed for scenario based conversations and hands on exploration, giving you the chance to see how Microsoft 365 solutions come to life across different roles, industries, and business needs. Stay loose with facilitated posture improvement and seated stretching Tuesday, April 21, 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM Recharge during the conference with a low impact seated session designed to relieve muscle tension and reduce screen fatigue. Join us in the Microsoft Innovation Hub to learn simple posture checks, guided eye exercises, and gentle mobility movements that can help improve comfort and restore energy during long workdays. Join Us in Orlando! Whether you are attending your first Microsoft 365 Community Conference or returning to reconnect with peers and colleagues, these community experiences are designed to help you build relationships, learn from others, and get more out of your time onsite. We look forward to seeing you in the Microsoft Innovation Hub within the Expo Hall. Register now to be part of the Microsoft 365 Community Conference experience.
