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Hi all! Today you will meet someone who traveled from Sweden to Seattle to experience Microsoft Ignite 2022 in-person. What were the highlights? How was it compared to previous years? You could meet community friends, people from Microsoft and who else? What is a must see in Seattle? Find out the answers in this post and of course you will get to know our guest. I had a chat with the M365 Apps & Services MVP Amanda Sterner!
About Amanda
Before we get to the Ignite experience part, let’s get to know Amanda a bit!
Who are you, what’s your passion at and off work?
I’m Amanda Sterner, an M365 Apps & Services MVP who loves Microsoft Teams and how it can make my daily work life easier. My passion is to get Microsoft Teams to work for you and not the other way around. The best features will always be quiet hours and no push notifications after working hours.
When I don’t hang out with my family (husband and a 1,5-year-old son), blog or speak at conferences, I enjoy eating good food and listening to music. Anything synth, for instance Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode.
Amanda's Ignite history
I have had chats with Amanda about Microsoft events in the past since we both like to keep up with what’s new. I knew she had attended some official Microsoft events in-person but what about Microsoft Ignite?
You traveled to Seattle for Ignite this year, was it your first time attending Ignite in-person?
It was the third time! My first Ignite experience was in Orlando 2017. I was not active in the community and did not know many people. It was like a whole new world to me, big and awesome, very American, and I got to see a lot of great sessions. I attended 100 % sessions.
The second Ignite I attended was 2019, also in Orlando. By then I had started to get involved in community. I did not see as much sessions as the first time, I would say about 60 %, instead I met with and talked to a lot of people.
The Ignite 2022 experience
This year Ignite was has held as a hybrid event, with the choices to either attend digitally, in-person in Seattle or at one of the Regional Spotlights (China, France, Germany, Japan, Latin America or the UK). Now we know that Amanda has experienced Ignite in-person in the past, now we are a bit curious about how it was to attend in-person at a hybrid Ignite event.
How was the 2022 Ignite experience different from the earlier years?
Some parts of the event reminded me of my earlier Ignite experiences and at the same time a lot was different. First of all, earlier years Ignite has spanned over 5 days this year you could attended 2 days in-person. There were less live sessions to attend and less people from Microsoft in general attending in-person. It would have been great to see even more Product Managers attending. I got to meet some Microsoft employees which I am happy about though and Ignite met my expectations when it comes to meeting people from the community.
How was the venue?
The event was held at the Seattle Convention Center and our hotel was located only 5 minutes' walk away. In the middle there was what they called “The Hub”, where live sessions were held on a stage. The Hub was surrounded by four different area, which all together matched the Microsoft logo – Red, Green, Yellow and Blue. Each color area had open spaces and sofas where expert sessions were held. You could also find snacks at the event, e.g. beef jerky. It is not my favorite snacks but my colleagues enjoyed it!
While attending Microsoft Ignite 2022 in-person in Seattle you could meet with community friends, representatives from Microsoft and you could also have some unexpected encounters.
What were the highlights of Ignite 2022 from your perspective?
On one hand I would have wished to see even more people there, especially from Microsoft, on the other hand, the very best part of attending Ignite in-person in Seattle was meeting people, some I got to meet in-person for the very first time. I got the chance to talk to a few people with whom I had only been in contact through Twitter.
For instance, I have done a virtual session with Vlad Catrinescu, MVP from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, but never met him in person before. Another person I enjoyed meeting was MVP João Ferreira from Portugal. Of course it was also cool to meet with the Microsoft superstars Jeff Teper and Karuana Gatimu.
Did you enjoy the sessions?
I would not have mind more live sessions on stage. Most of what happened was not “here I am, showing you all the new features”, except for one of the sessions which stood out.
Most of my colleagues who went to Seattle for Ignite with me works with infrastructure and they wanted to listen to Chief Product Officer Panos Panay. One of my colleagues even got Panos’s autograph on his computer 
At Panos’s session news were shown live to the audience. He demoed a new built-in noise-reducing feature. All the attendees cheered loudly and stamped their feet. Panos recorded it and then played it to the audience. Tada, all the noise was gone.
It was also fun listening to Jeff and Karuana talking about next-gen modern work.
What were the highlights among the announcements within your area of expertise?
It was a hybrid event, and when it comes to announcements and new features within my area of expertise, it was also a focus on the hybrid workplace. Among the news we have Microsoft Places. They played a commercial where someone came to the office, and it was all empty. When I go to the office, I go there to see people. If I don’t see people, I might as well work from home. With Microsoft Places one can find out where your colleagues are working. Book rooms and desks and managers can collect data which helps them plan for capacity, how are the trends at the office, what are the busy days etc.
Microsoft Designer seams really cool, I want to use that! I am not sure if it will support the hybrid collaboration though. ;)
Hybrid is the future, and you can tell Microsoft is putting a lot of effort in placing the right collaboration tools in the hands of the users and making it happen.
Attending as an expert
Amanda did not only go to Seattle as an Ignite attendee. She went there also as an expert, i.e. she held an expert session.
You participated as an expert, tell us about it…
When I had made plans to travel to Seattle, I contacted Laurie Pottmeyer, just to see if she would be there too. Then Laurie asked me if I wanted to help out, which I of course said yes to.
Ask me about Microsoft Teams was my session and it was 90 minutes. It was me and my community friend Ulrika Hedlund who did it together.
I’m a quite orderly person. I was there well in advanced and I could choose between standing next to a bar counter or sitting in sofas. I chose sofas, simply because it felt more relaxed than standing next to a bar counter.
We had a whiteboard and people could come and ask us about Microsoft Teams. For 90 minutes we stood there in a big circle discussing Teams related topics. Some of the discussions which came up were about shared channels and another example was how to work with company-wide push notifications for emergency occasions. We discussed different topics, and it was just a super nice atmosphere. So nice to just get to talk to people.
I made the right decision choosing the sofas. Later I had a chat with another expert who had chosen the bar counter and did not find it as inviting for great discussions as the sofas were.
The opportunity to attend as an expert included an MVP and RD after Ignite party, where we ate snacks and played table tennis. It was a great opportunity to meet with other experts in a relaxing format. Such circumstances really create great possibilities for having spontaneous conversations.
Ignite in the future
If you are a person who pay attention to details, then you might have noticed a Save the Date November 15-16 2023 in one of the pictures in this post. That is the date for Microsoft Ignite 2023. Time will tell if the in-person attending audience will get more live sessions and if there will be more people from Microsoft representing the different product groups. Now let’s see if Amanda has some tips for future attendees.
Any tips for attendees in the future?
One thing that crossed my mind was that as nice as it is to travel together with a lot of people that you already know, there is also a downside to that. It makes mingling and meeting new people a bit harder. If you are there in a smaller group or by your own, you tend to talk to and connect with more people which you have not talked to before.
My advice is not to be afraid going to a conference all by yourself. That goes for conferences in general, held by Microsoft or the community. You will most likely find that these events are full of friendly and helpful people who have been waiting for meeting and connecting with others, sharing and exchanging knowledge and experiences.
You can't go to Seattle without...
What is it that you simply cannot miss if it is your first time (as an adult) in Seattle? Let's see that Amanda has to say about that!
Anything else you would like to tell us about your Seattle and Ignite experience?
You can’t go to Seattle without visiting the Microsoft Redmond campus! I’ve been to Seattle as a kid, but it was cool to travel there for Ignite and at the same time be able to visit the campus.
I reached out to Stephen Rose and asked him if he wanted to show us the campus, fortunately he said yes! It is really big and what impressed me the most was that you can find whatever you need right there. The focus is that you should never have to leave your job. There were banks, mobile network operators, different areas where you could play football, cricket and basketball. At the campus you could also find a very large, awesome store. I bought a t-shirt! 
Note! The kind and helpful Stephen Rose is shown on the main picture of this post.
Summary
Something that Amanda keeps bringing up is how nice it was meeting with people. The event could be improved in the future with more live sessions on-site and more possibilities to meet with product groups and Microsoft employees. Amanda of course mentioned the technology and new features announced. She talked about how features she has been waiting for will be here soon. She is full of anticipation, eagerly waiting for the Microsoft Teams related news and what the future with these new features will bring.
If you would summarize Microsoft Ignite October 2022 with (almost) three words what would those be?
Hybrid, People, “Eagerly waiting”
You can read more about Amanda’s Seattle and Ignite experience on her blog, mainly focusing on the announcements and new features within her area of expertise. Thank you Amanda for taking the time to speak to me about your Ignite experience!