The 2021 Microsoft Business Applications Summit (MBAS) starts next week on Tuesday May 4th.[1] This year MBAS is a free online event, so if you’re not already registered please register right now – this blog post can wait.
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Ok, now that you’re registered, let me tell you why I’m so excited about MBAS this year. The main reason for my excitement is these featured sessions:
Power BI (Peek into the future Part 1): Vision & Roadmap
Power BI (Peek into the future Part 2): Analytics for everyone
The first two “peek into the future” sessions are all about the Power BI roadmap – how Power BI has grown, and how it will continue to grow in the months ahead.
The final “announcement” session… we’re not talking about yet. The session page says “We have a new feature launching that we can’t wait to tell you about” but we are going to have to wait until we get approval to publicly discuss this important new capability. I shouldn’t say any more, but this feels like A Big Deal
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The next reason I’m so excited is because of the 12 or so “Real-world stories with Power BI” sessions you’ll find in the full Power BI session list. These sessions are led by my amazing teammate Lauren, who is working with Power BI customer organizations around the world to help showcase their successes, and the awesome work their teams have done using Power BI, Azure, and Microsoft 365.
Even though the “big news from Microsoft” sessions get most of the excitement at Microsoft conferences, these “what real customers are doing in the real world” sessions are the hidden gems of MBAS.
These sessions are an amazing opportunity to look behind the scenes of other organizations to see how they’re solving problems – what tools they use, how they use them, how they structure their teams, how they scope and deliver and evolve their solutions. This type of “strategic story” can be incredibly valuable for decision makers, architects, and other senior technical stakeholders, and represent the type of insights that are often difficult to obtain unless you have personal connections with peers inside those other organizations.
No matter what excites you the most, please register for MBAS today, and please spread the word!
[1] Please pause for a moment to appreciate the effort I’ve taken to keep this post free of Star Wars references. You’re welcome.