Off to Amsterdam for the European SharePoint Conference 2023

ESPC 2023 Starts Today

Monday sees the opening of the European SharePoint Conference or rather the European SharePoint, Office 365, and Azure conference (ESPC 2023). All-day tutorials take place on Monday and the event kicks into the usual conference format of keynotes and breakout sessions on Tuesday. Everything takes place at the RAI center in Amsterdam. I like ESPC because its schedule includes a high percentage of sessions given by independent experts alongside those delivered by representatives of Microsoft’s marketing muscle, all scripted to the last sentence.

Following the lead set by last week’s Ignite 2023 conference, there’s no doubt that Microsoft will make Copilot center stage. We’ll hear about the wonders of digital assistants and what generative AI can do when linked to Microsoft 365 and the Microsoft Graph, all delivered with lashings of hyperbole and copious portions of breathless elation.

I see that there’s also a lot of Teams and Viva content but there’s a conspicuous lack of sessions covering Entra ID and Exchange Online, both of which are fundamental to the success of any Microsoft 365 deployment. Given Microsoft’s focus on using conditional access policies to enforce multi-factor authentication and other controls, the session covering this topic should be well worthwhile.

I guess even the ESPC content team is attracted by the shiny new stuff to the detriment of the really important underpinnings that everything is built upon. Then again, if potential speakers don’t propose sessions, they can’t be chosen.

Making Generative AI Work for Microsoft 365

I’ll be throwing my hat into the ring by talking about Making generative AI work for Microsoft 365 at 16:45 on Tuesday (session T48). I’ve given this session a couple of times before, notably at The Experts Conference (TEC) in Atlanta and learn a lot each time I talk about this topic, largely through the questions asked by audience members or contributions from people who’ve been exposed to Copilot for Microsoft 365.

Given that Microsoft currently requires Copilot for Microsoft 365 deployments to purchase a minimum of 300 licenses, I can’t run Copilot for Microsoft 365 in my own tenant. So far, I’ve been limited to the experience gained from other tenants that ran Copilot in the limited preview. That’s a pity because you obviously can learn a lot more when poking around behind the scenes to discover stuff that’s not documented (or not well documented). Nevertheless, I’ve picked up a lot about how Microsoft 365 Copilot works outside the carefully curated environment of a Microsoft demo, and that’s what I want to discuss during the session. I can only promise that the talk will be hype-free, grounded in reality, and focused on practicality. I’ll try not to swear too much.

I’ve written about topics like how Microsoft uses Copilot to force customers to upgrade, the real costs of deploying Copilot for Microsoft 365, the joys of deciding who within an organization should get Copilot licenses, and the lessons that we can learn from Bing Chat Enterprise (now renamed as just Copilot). Hopefully, I present a hardnosed practical view of the value Copilot for Microsoft 365 can deliver and the work organizations need to do to extract that value.

Meeting People at ESPC 2023

But good conferences are not all about sessions. What I like about ESPC is the ability to catch up with many interesting people from across the Microsoft 365 technical community, including some of the author team for the Office 365 for IT Pros eBook. I look forward to bumping into people like Ståle Hansen, Andy Malone, and Aleksandar Nikolic, and I might even be nice to Microsoft’s Fabian Williams when we chat about some of the inconsistencies afflicting the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK.

I’m sure that Paul Robichaux and his KeepIt colleagues will have some interesting views to share about the recent announcement that Microsoft 365 Backup is heading for public preview next month. ISVS can choose to adopt Microsoft’s APIs and keep all data within Microsoft datacenters or use their own technology to move data to external repositories. There are many interesting points to discuss around that choice.

I also look forward to catching up with Szymon Szczesniak and the rest of the CodeTwo Software team. CodeTwo sponsor the Office 365 for IT Pros eBook and make sure that we can deliver the book at a reasonable cost. Szymon and I will have a public discussion about anything to do with Microsoft 365 at the CodeTwo booth in the exhibition hall after I get through with my session on Tuesday evening. Come along and join the conversation!

Fun and Games at ESPC 2023

Apart from the formal sessions, exhibition hall, and meet-ups, a lot of valuable discussion will take place at ESPC 2023 after hours events (official and unofficial). I shall remember to stay well away from the CloudWay contingent after what they did to my liver at ESPC last year. Seriously, a good conference has a good mixture, and the ESPC organizers do an excellent job of making sure that everyone has a good time. I’m looking forward to the event, even if the PowerPoint template for the event features a rather creepy picture of Jeff Teper. Keep an eye out and see if you agree.