Two weeks ago (April 4th – 8th), I was privileged enough to participate for the second time in the Microsoft 365 Conference in Las Vegas. This happened just four months after my first one in December 2021. The event is super well organized thanks to an incredibly accommodating team that works year-round to ensure everything is a success!

I wanted to write this post with my take on the different events I participated, but instead of focusing on them, I would also like to say if you haven’t participated in a conference lately (or ever) you just owe it to yourself. Employers everywhere who may read this, you also owe your team members to allow them to participate and reap the incredible benefits an event like this can offer.

First off, let me briefly talk about the events and learning opportunities provided. Starting with the main keynote, led by Jeff Teper (or Papa SharePoint himself as I like to call him) along with a string of top-notch professionals from all Microsoft Teams, the entire event was information & inspiration overload. A new batch of workshops focused on Microsoft Viva were offered this year, as well as a number of lectures focused on the upcoming Microsoft Loop. The usual suspects, such as SharePoint, Teams, Power Platform, were also present and even at the slowest moments of the week there were always interesting and fresh events that would keep you going.

But THEN, the days would end and the reason why I really went back to this conference would be upon me: MAKING PERSONAL CONNECTIONS. Be it at a happy hour, dinner with a group of complete strangers, hanging out at the MGM Grand casino, or at one of the many post-conference events. There would always be someone willing to chat and exchange experiences with you. Most certainly every single one of them is now a new LinkedIn connection and someone I know I can contact in the future to continue the conversation and continuously improve myself.

After 2+ years of being quarantined, the M365 community is well and strong. Every single person I met, no matter how advanced in their careers, provided me a source of inspiration I do not remember having in a long time. Q&A panels with Microsoft peeps have also helped further develop my medium- and long-term career plans. I will always be thankful for those moments of inspiration and the incredible insights they provided me.

As I said in the beginning, this was my second conference in just 4 months, and I could not be happier that I came back. Sitting behind a computer at an online class was always my go-to method for acquiring new knowledge but after these two conferences I know what I will be doing next, which is the Microsoft Power Platform Conference in the fall. Anyone coming with me?