Office Hours Follow-up: What does your event team look like?
We just wrapped up a MGCI Training and Office Hours session talking about this very topic. (Link to recording will be added when it's ready) How does your team break down roles and responsibilities for your event planning? Tell us in the comments!Join us at Microsoft 365 Copilot Discovery event in Huntsville, AL! - UPDATED LOCATION AND DATES!
The Microsoft 365 Copilot Discovery event in Huntsville, AL features hands-on demos, expert sessions, and real-world use cases showcasing AI-driven productivity, Microsoft Copilot capabilities, and modern workplace innovation. The event takes place on May 19th 2026 in Huntsville, AL.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.
combine multiple text into single line of text
Hi is there a way to combine all the cells into a single cell (of text) ignoring the duplicates/repeat values. i know concatenate but that function becomes very lengthy as ill have to define every cell into the function individually. is there any other function where i simply select the entire data (like an array) and it can do the required.
Getting started in Excel Labs Custom Modules (missing "publish" step)
First-time poster — please be gentle! Context Excel for Mac I have a large library of LAMBDA formulas and wanted to manage them using Excel Labs In particular, I wanted to organise formulas into custom Modules Issue How to actually activate functions defined in custom Modules in Excel Labs I recently discovered Excel Labs and was very excited to use it to manage and structure a large library of LAMBDA formulas. My goal was straightforward: create custom Modules to organise formulas by purpose, and then use those formulas in the workbook. However, it took several hours of experimentation and debugging — even to get a trivial example like: ABC() = 12 to work when defined in a custom Module. The missing piece (which Copilot, Google searches, and the README all missed) is this: Functions defined in custom Excel Labs Modules are inert until the module is imported into the special Workbook module. Until that import step occurs, functions in custom Modules: do not appear in Excel Labs → Names do not appear in Formulas → Name Manager are not callable from the grid According to Copilot this behaviour is not currently documented, and the UI strongly suggests that custom Modules are “active” by default — which they are not. Working workflow (for others who hit the same issue) This is the workflow that finally made things work for me (possibly sub‑optimal, but reliable): Create and maintain functions in custom modules (e.g. Transformations) Explicitly import the required functions into the Workbook module, e.g.: TransformAtoB = Transformations.TransformAtoB Workbook module now publishes to: Excel Labs → Names Formulas → Name Manager This makes conceptual sense — maintain a large structured library of formulas (or import libraries from GitHub), only activate the formulas required by a particular workbook. But without documentation, it’s very easy to assume custom Modules are active by default. Why I’m posting this When I finally asked Copilot “Why didn’t you say this up front?”, the answer was essentially: This publish step is not documented in the README or the UI, and users are easily led to assume Modules are active by default. So I’m posting here to save others from repeating the same debugging journey. Documentation request It would help enormously if the documentation (README / FAQ) stated explicitly that: Custom Modules are source-only Importing into the Workbook module is the publish step Only the Workbook module is wired to Name Manager and the Excel grid Even a short note would remove a major stumbling block for new users. I’m not a GitHub user, otherwise I would also raise this there — if someone from the community is able to mirror this feedback on GitHub, that would be much appreciated.Explore curated Microsoft Partner Digital Skilling Journeys
Partners like you understand that skilling isn't optional—it's foundational for success in an AI-first market. Keeping up with evolving technologies and capabilities will better position you with the skills needed to succeed in an ever-changing market. Explore Microsoft Partner Digital Skilling Journeys (PDJs), curated presales, sales, and tech skilling experiences designed to enhance your knowledge aligned with partner strategic wins. First-time users may need to register—use your work email credentials to sign up. Curated journeys include: Microsoft Security Copilot Drive Business Transformation with Microsoft Copilot 365 Innovate with Azure AI Platform Drive Windows in the Cloud with Windows 365 Cloud Endpoints Modern Security Operations Data Security for AI Migrate to Azure Drive Business Collaboration and Teamwork with Microsoft Teams Accelerate Data Analytics Journey with Microsoft Fabric Cloud Security These journeys are tailored to your interests, needs, and role within your organization. Select the link relevant to the journey you're interested in, register today on the Skilling Hub using your organizational login, answer a few questions, and you'll receive tech and sales-ready skilling experiences customized to your interests and goals. Register nowSecure AI Workloads in Azure: Join Our Next Azure Decoded Session on April 8th
AI introduces new risks—like prompt injection, data leakage, and model misuse—which means security teams need visibility and guardrails that extend beyond traditional cloud controls. In our next Azure Decoded session, we’ll focus on securing AI workloads in Azure with Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Register now for the Azure Decoded session on April 8th at 12 PM PST. Bringing AI security architecture to life with Azure Decoded In the Lockdown AI workloads with Microsoft Defender for Cloud session, we move from concepts to implementation and show how these protections appear in the platform. We’ll walk through where Microsoft Defender for Cloud fits into an end-to-end AI security strategy—and how discovery, posture management, and runtime protection work together to secure AI workloads built on Azure. You’ll also see how to connect the dots across the workflow—so signals from AI resources, identity, and data controls roll up into actionable recommendations and alerts. Enable and scope the AI workloads protections in Defender for Cloud Use the Data & AI security dashboard to understand coverage and priority risks Review posture findings (CSPM) and translate them into remediation steps Investigate runtime detections (CWP) and see how they map into Microsoft Defender XDR Our goal isn’t theory for theory’s sake. It’s to help you see how AI security shows up in real architecture and real workflows—so you can apply it confidently in your own environment. Who is this session for? We built this session for practitioners who are actively working with AI in Azure, including: Developers building AI applications and agents Security engineers responsible for protecting AI workloads Cloud architects designing enterprise‑ready AI solutions If you’re balancing innovation with security and governance, this session is designed to help you translate AI security concepts into concrete steps in Azure. Before you join: Familiarity with core Azure concepts (subscriptions, resource groups, identity, networking) is helpful. You don’t need to be a machine learning expert—the focus is on securing the cloud resources and workflows that power AI solutions. From AI security concepts to platform protections If you’d like to get the most out of the session, start with the Microsoft Learn module Protect AI workloads with Microsoft Defender for Cloud. It introduces the building blocks of AI workloads in Azure and the security considerations that come with them. In the module, you’ll learn how to: Identify the layers that make up AI workloads in Azure Understand AI-specific risks, including prompt injection, data leakage, and model misuse Use Microsoft Foundry guardrails and observability to monitor and constrain model behavior See how Defender for Cloud, Microsoft Purview, and Microsoft Entra ID work together for defense in depth and governance Think of this as your foundation: it connects AI workload architecture to the controls you’ll configure in Azure, so you can protect inputs and outputs, maintain visibility, and apply governance without slowing delivery. Catch up on the previous Azure Decoded session If you missed the previous Azure Decoded session—or want a refresher—you can watch it on demand on YouTube: ▶️ Watch the previous Azure Decoded session on YouTube It’s a helpful refresher and sets the stage for the April 8 discussion. Turn learning into hands-on skills If you want to move the show, you can do this in your environment. The Microsoft Applied Skills credential, Secure AI Solutions in the Cloud, is a great next step after the Azure Decoded session. You will: Scope and enable protections for AI-related resources and workloads in Azure Validate coverage and prioritize risks using the Data & AI security dashboard Find and remediate posture gaps (CSPM) that increase exposure for AI workloads Investigate runtime detections (CWP) and understand what they mean in the context of AI workload behavior Triage AI-related alerts and incidents in Microsoft Defender XDR and decide on next steps Get started 1️⃣ Register for Azure Decoded: Lock Down AI Workloads with Microsoft Defender for Cloud 2️⃣ Watch the previous Azure Decoded session before April 8th (optional refresher) 3️⃣ Earn the Microsoft Applied Skills: Secure AI Solutions in the Cloud credential to showcase skills. The goal is to leave with something reusable: a practical sequence you can apply to new projects to confirm coverage, reduce posture gaps, and respond quickly when Defender signals suspicious activity tied to AI workloads.
Microsoft Partners: Accelerate Your AI Journey at AgentCon 2026 (Free Community Event)
Recently, a customer asked me a question many Microsoft partners are hearing right now: “We have Copilot — how do we actually use AI to change the way we work?” That question captures where we are in the AI journey today. Organizations have moved past curiosity. Now they’re looking for trusted partners who can turn AI into real business outcomes. That’s why events like AgentCon 2026 matter. A free, community-led event built by practicioners AgentCon is not a traditional conference. It’s a free, community-driven global event organized by the Global AI Community together with Microsoft partners and ecosystem leaders. Simply put: it’s for the community, by the community. Across cities worldwide, developers, consultants, architects, and Microsoft partners come together to share practical experiences building with AI agents, Copilot, and the Microsoft platform. The focus isn’t theory — it’s implementation: What worked What didn’t What partners can apply immediately with customers This peer learning model reflects how many of us actually grow in the Microsoft ecosystem: by learning from other partners solving real problems. Why this matters for Microsoft partners The opportunity for partners is evolving quickly. Customers aren’t just asking about AI tools — they’re asking how to redesign processes, automate work, and unlock productivity using AI-powered solutions. The Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program emphasizes partner skilling and helping customers realize value from AI investments. Community events like AgentCon accelerate that learning by bringing partners together to exchange proven approaches and practical insights. When partners upskill faster, customers succeed faster. Why attend AgentCon is designed to help partners move from AI awareness to AI delivery. As an attendee, you can expect: Practical sessions and demos from practitioners Real-world AI and agent scenarios Direct conversations with builders and peers New collaboration and co-sell opportunities You’ll leave with ideas and approaches you can bring directly into customer engagements. Why speak AgentCon thrives because partners share openly with one another. If you’ve implemented Copilot, explored AI agents, or learned lessons from customer deployments, your experience can help others accelerate their journey. Speaking at AgentCon allows you to: Share your expertise with the global partner community Build credibility within the Microsoft ecosystem Create new partnerships and opportunities Contribute to collective partner success You don’t need a perfect story — just an honest one others can learn from. Join the global AgentCon community AgentCon 2026 events takes place around the world including these upcoming events: March 9 - New York: https://aka.ms/AgentconNYC2026 April 11 - Hong Kong: https://aka.ms/AgentconHongKong2026 April 16 - Seoul: https://aka.ms/agentconLondon2026 April 22 - London: https://aka.ms/agentconSeoul2026 Each event is locally organized, community-led, and free to attend. Help shape the next phase of AI adoption AI transformation is happening now — and Microsoft partners play a critical role in guiding customers forward. AgentCon is an opportunity to learn together, share experiences, and strengthen the partner ecosystem driving AI innovation. 👉 Register or apply to speak: https://aka.ms/agentcon2026 We hope you’ll join us — and be part of the community helping customers turn AI potential into real impact.
