Microsoft Inspire is Microsoft’s largest partner event of the year where partners, customers, Microsoft experts, and industry leaders from around the world get together for two days to learn, connect, and celebrate. This year’s event is scheduled for July 14-15, 2021, and is still digital, but that allows a wide global audience to attend.
Attending Inspire is an amazing opportunity for you and your team to learn from other partners, create new relationships, catch up with your current business partners, and gain insights from Microsoft team members.
Since there are more than 400 speakers and sessions to explore, we compiled two lists to make sure you don’t miss any networking and learning opportunities. The first list is Top 60 People to Learn from at Microsoft Inspire, where we share key people to connect and follow from across Microsoft’s entire ecosystem. Our second list is this blog, this list compiles sessions you should not miss at Microsoft Inspire. These include sessions related to teams, collaborating with partners, women in tech, and other sessions we found to be interesting.
Attending somebody’s session can be a great conversation starter! You can build a schedule that’s unique to you and your interest within your MyInspire portal.
If you find people you would like to connect with within these sessions, you can build their contact record straight from the Microsoft Inspire Portal by using our browser extension, Nimble Prospector. Simply open up the Nimble browser extension then hover over or highlight a person’s name. Nimble will automatically start creating a record for that person, enriching it with personal and social media information to save you time on research and data entry. To learn more about how to be Nimble at Microsoft Inspire, read our latest blog.
Once you are ready to schedule your meeting, make sure that you’ve installed the Nimble add-in for Microsoft Teams! The add-in allows you to access contacts, add meeting notes to Nimble, and send follow-ups after meetings.
Now that we briefly talked about how to use Nimble within Microsoft Inspire, let’s start diving into the sessions!
Sessions Not to Miss at #MSInspire
Inspire Opening
Wednesday, July 14 | 8:30 AM – 9:11 AM PDT
As we’ve seen over the past year, digital adoption curves are accelerating across every industry and business function. In this context, Satya will talk about what differentiates the Microsoft Cloud and the investments and innovation we are making across every layer to unlock new opportunities for partners to help our mutual customers transform in this new era.
Purpose Minded Leadership Principles for Diving Inclusive Workforce
Wednesday, July 14 | 11:30 AM – 12:00 PM PDT
New research shows that today, more than ever, employees want to contribute to something greater than themselves. Discuss the innovative strategies Microsoft pioneered that created a virtuous cycle of giving and volunteerism that has benefited the company and fulfilled its employees while making the world a better place. This session will discuss leadership skills around purpose, passion, and impact.
Viva and employee experience, our new customer is HR, how to approach?
Wednesday, July 14 | 1:15 PM – 1:45 PM PDT
Share learnings from various partner conversations on bringing Viva to market. The buying journey of the HR leadership is different than other key organizational stakeholders, but there are key learnings from partners on how to gain attention and traction with HR, a new buyer for many.
How to get more women into management?
Wednesday, July 14 | 11:30 AM – 12:00 PM PDT
News reports show more women are needed on boards and in the C-suite. However, there are not enough women entering into management to create a pipeline of great talent for management. Join the WIT Network for a discussion about the skilling and development of diverse candidates for frontline management and how to help women overcome the confidence barriers to even apply for such roles. It is only through intention that we can ensure diverse managers and leaders for our future.
The Microsoft Partner Community Ecosystem
Wednesday, July 14 | 1:15 PM – 1:45 PM PDT
The partner ecosystem has many communities designed to accelerate partner growth, drive inclusion in the ecosystem, and help partners understand how to be successful in the Microsoft Partner Network. This session will help identify what communities exist and how each helps a partner along their journey.
Microsoft Cloud for ISVs – unlock your opportunity
Thursday, July 14 | 10:30 AM – 11:00 AM PDT
Microsoft has the most diverse enterprise cloud solutions to help you build software for connected customer experiences. Across the Microsoft Cloud, ISVs can unlock innovation and accelerate time to customer value. Learn why Microsoft is the best cloud vendor to build with and sell with.
Microsoft Teams, Grow your Business with the Hybrid workplace
Thursday, July 14 | 11:30 AM – 12:00 PM PDT
Last year was the year of remote work for so many people. This next year, and years to come will be defined by enabling Hybrid work. In this session, we will discuss the industry trends that shape our FY22 business priorities along with new product innovations designed for hybrid work, as well as the investments and programs that will support you, our partners.
The Cloud Built for a New World of Work
Thursday, July 14 | 2:30 AM – 3:00 AM PDT
The Microsoft Cloud is the only cloud built for the new world of work. And with 145 million daily active users, Teams has become the new front end. In this session, we’ll share how every partner can seize this opportunity to build and deploy a new class of collaborative apps—right in the flow of work—and create even richer experiences with the integration of Dynamics 365 and Teams. Join Modern Work CVP Jared Spataro and Business Applications CVP Alysa Taylor to learn more.
The Importance of Inclusive Leadership in the Microsoft channel
Thursday, July 14 | 2:30 AM – 3:00 AM PDT
Microsoft has taken a front role in leading global change in workplace opportunities. From supplier diversity requirements to internal DEI commitments, Microsoft has demonstrated the value and expectation of each Microsoft partner to create global change in inclusion and equity. Join fellow Microsoft partners and IAMCP members and learn how you can maximize the impact of your actions by being a company that leads by example.
How to accelerate business in the Post-Covid era with P2P
Thursday, July 14 | 3:30 AM – 4:00 AM PDT
Come share best practices on how partnering with others helps accelerate business for partners.
Make the Most of #MSInspire with Nimble
If you want to maximize your #MSInspire experience and you aren’t a Nimble user yet, please enjoy 14 days of Nimble for free! Automatically create enriched contact records for anyone you’d like to connect with from Microsoft Inspire, or anywhere else on the web.
We hope you enjoy these sessions at Microsoft Inspire!
