Get ready for Microsoft Build (online) – BizApps Edition

May is approaching and do you know what that means!? Microsoft Build is around the corner! In case you have not registered yet, navigate to the event site, Microsoft Build, and get it done. It’s a hybrid event with possibilities to attend live in Seattle (to a cost) or online (free of charge). The session planner is available so you can already start browsing and planning what sessions to attend.

Attending live in Seattle gives you the chance to attend more sessions and you get all the benefits that comes with networking. Examples of interesting sessions that are tagged as “In Seattle only” and “Will not be recorded” are Maximize Power Platform and Source Control and Protect AI-driven applications with high value capabilities and tools and Unlocking efficiency: low-code app building with Dataverse and Copilot. In case you are there live, don’t miss those!

But fortunately, for all of us attending online or listening in on-demand afterwards, there are lots of interesting sessions tagged “In Seattle + Online” and “Will be recorded” 🥳 We will miss the networking part and spontaneous hallway conversations, but watching on-demand let’s you watch at a higher speed if preferable, or fast-forward.

Overall message and the Keynotes

The overall message on the event site is the question “How will AI shape your future?” Building copilots, generative AI, securing applications, cloud platform, low-code and unleashing creativity with the power of AI are mentioned. If you look at the agenda, that text looks like a good summary of the event!

As always, don’t miss the Microsoft Build opening keynote. Most likely there will be product and features related announcements and the main keynote will guide you through what’s coming and what the big investment areas are. Just as during the official events last year, Build’s vocabulary includes era of AI, revealing the key ingredient of most of the following sessions. “Learn how this era of AI will unlock new opportunities, transform how developers work and drive business productivity across industries.“

No matter if you work with low-code, pro-code or both, the other keynote is a must watch too if you ask me, Next generation AI for developers with the Microsoft Cloud.

Ranking the sessions – what not to miss!

I thought it might be fun to add some ranking. Perhaps I’ll do a new ranking after the event has taken place 😊 The two sessions I have mentioned so far are keynotes. I will not include them in my ranking of what not to miss.

As for the rest of the sessions I want to highlight, I will rank them from most interesting to less interesting. Remember, there are lots of sessions on the agenda, just being picked here means it is very much of interest of course! I have set an own headline in order to make it easier to grasp what the session is about.

Note that the sessions included here are all kind of BizApps related. Later I’ll also mention a few sessions that seams interesting and fun, which are NOT directly BizApps related.

1. Power Platform is for ALL developers

With the two legends Scott Durow and Marcel Ferreira, I can’t imagine how this could be anything but awesome. Let’s go and hear from them how pro devs can utilize Power Platform!

Using Power Platform to accelerate full-stack software development
Microsoft Power Platform is for ALL developers! Discover how Power Platform runs on Microsoft Azure and can be used with familiar development stack with such as React, C#, Open API, GitHub, Azure Synapse, and Open AI. This enables pro-developers to create modern full-stack business solutions faster, easier, and more securely. You’ll also learn how Power Platform enables multi-discipline collaboration, and examples of how it can lower maintenance and complexity of software architectures.

2. Power Apps Studio, co-authoring, “Code view” of apps

I’m assuming it will be all about the Power Apps Studio, co-authoring, and insights to the benefits of having a “code view”.

Enable every developer to collaborate with low code + pro code
Collaborate better together in Power Apps – see live changes in your app as you work in a connected and collaborative studio. Work with code directly in Power Apps – see the code view of your apps and work with other developers in an ultimate productivity mix of code and low-code.

3. Power Platform + Copilot + Copilot Studio

Sounds like we will see how to build our own copilots with Copilot Studio and also how to utilize copilot + Power Platform in different ways. Charles Lamanna is one of the speakers, meaning, this session is a must for BizApps people!

Shaping next-gen development: the future of Copilot in Power Platform
AI is transforming the way we work, and organizations need cutting-edge AI solutions to stay competitive and meet increasing demand. Copilot in Microsoft Power Platform and Microsoft Copilot Studio enable developers to build powerful and effective applications and custom copilots that improve user engagement and reduce development costs and risks. Join us to learn how these game-changing AI capabilities can help lead your organization into the future of development.

4. Dataverse, Fabric, Microsoft 365 + AI

Sounds like how we can utilize copilots and build our own to be used in our business applications.

Activate enterprise data in AI-enabled business applications
Take your business applications to the next level by unlocking the power of AI generative knowledge leveraging the data platform for the modern enterprise: Microsoft Dataverse, Microsoft Fabric, and Microsoft 365.

5. Power Automate + AI

Listening to visions is always interesting. What’s ahead? In which directions should we try to think when we design new solutions? This session is a must if you work with Power Automate.

Revolutionize the way you work with automation and AI
The combined power of automation and artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the way we work. Join us as we share our vision for the future of automation, our high-level roadmap, and how you can get value from generative AI today. See the latest tech designed to help you optimize, monitor, and rapidly create complex automations that integrate across your app ecosystem through simple conversations with Copilot in Power Automate.

6. Power Apps + Copilot

“See live”, sounds like demos. 🚀 How to use Copilot in Power Apps.

Building the apps of the future today with Power Platform and Copilot
Apps of the future are modern, collaborative, secure, and intelligent. They use generative AI to help users accomplish more with less effort, greatly improving their productivity. They are also built using collaborative and intelligent tools, so the teams building those applications can deliver value to their customer faster than ever. See live and learn how to use Copilot in Power Apps to build apps of the future, today!

7. Power Platform + Copilot + Security aspects

Governance, admin and insight possibilities related to Power Platform + AI.

Secure and govern Copilot within enterprise-grade low code solutions
Power Platform provides the quickest and easiest way to leverage the power of Generative AI and Copilot to unlock business potential. The security of data and assets is a top priority, while admin visibility and insights are crucial in assessing impact. Join this session to learn how to ensure that your business applications and data remain protected while scaling your AI solutions using Power Platform.

8. Microsoft Copilot Studio vs. Azure AI Studio

Comparison of building a copilot with low-code or in Azure AI Studio. It’s
Daniel Laskewitz who is one of the presenters. Can’t miss that one.

Building a copilot: Azure AI Studio or Copilot Studio
Are you interested in creating a copilot for your business or a client and need some guidance on how to begin and which studio to select? Daniel and Henk will show you how to use both studios to make a copilot, compare the features and designs of both products, and discuss their pros and cons. By the end of the session, you will have a good knowledge of both studios and how to apply them.

9. Microsoft Copilot Studio – what’s new?

As always, what’s new and what’s ahead, that’s always good to know.

What’s new with Microsoft Copilot Studio
Discover the latest advancements in Copilot Studio, enabling you to customize Microsoft Copilot or create your own copilot experiences. See the latest updates come to life as to how Copilot Studio is enriching its knowledge, and broadening its generative AI and development capabilities. Don’t miss this opportunity to see Copilot Studio in action and explore its potential for your organization.

10. Power Pages, low-code and pro code

Even if you are not working with Power Pages on a day-to-day basis, it is always good to have an understanding of all the parts of the Power Platform, to know what’s possible to use and not in different situations.

Reimagine Enterprise Website building with Low Code using Power Pages
Power Pages enables everyone from a low code maker to a pro developer to build websites for their business data. In this session, learn the latest and greatest enhancements of Power Pages and how customers are embracing it for their enterprise websites.

Other interesting (BizApps related) sessions

Here follows a list of other interesting sessions. Perhaps you are interested in Power Pages, or in Microsoft Fabric? Or how the extensibility of copilot, low-code to pro code, is used.

Dev tools to extend Power Pages websites
Get hands on with Power Pages development using tools like VSCode, both online & locally. Use Power Pages Copilot for accelerating Pages specific code. Understand how to work source code for your Power Pages website with tools like Power Platform CLI. Walkway with tooling and processes from inner dev loop to ALM CI/CD.

Microsoft Fabric: What’s new and what’s next
The analytics landscape for data focused application developers is changing fast. With AI, Real-time analytics, data sources growing exponentially and new tools available daily. In Microsoft Fabric, data, AI, BI and application development professionals have an integrated platform enabling data source unification, simplified yet feature rich user experience as well as security and governance built in. Join us to learn and see the latest announcements for Build and what the future holds.

Ingest, analyze and act in real time with Microsoft Fabric
Revolutionize your business with real-time insights: Introducing Project Barak, the key to unlocking the full potential of your high volume streaming and event data. With Project Barak, both everyday business users and pro developers can easily access and analyze time-sensitive and highly granular data, making faster and more informed business decisions.

Transforming the most valuable industry workflows with Copilot
Join us to hear how the most valuable industry scenarios in retail, manufacturing, healthcare and financial services are being transformed, using extensibility for Microsoft Copilot. Hear about the industry problems that can be solved using the broad array of options for platform extensibility, from low-code to pro-code.

Build Microsoft Copilot extensions with Copilot Studio
Join us for an in-depth exploration of how to customize Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 and other copilot experiences using Copilot Studio plugins and Copilot GPTs. In this session, you will learn about the options for extensibility within Copilot Studio to achieve meet your unique needs including a showcase of the latest announcements.

Other interesting sessions

Here follows a few selected sessions, which should be seen just because those sounds either very interesting or simply just like a lot of fun!

Scott and Mark learn to Copilot
Join Scott Hanselman and Mark Russinovich as they use and build AI tools and Copilot plugins for troubleshooting on Windows. You will learn how to build Copilot plugins, use of LLM in plugin and RAG with AI Search.

“Highly Technical Talk” with Hanselman and Toub
Join Scott Hanselman and partner software engineer Stephen Toub for a talk is that 100% LIVE demo. Zero slides, just code. In this “highly technical talk” on the internals of. NET, they’ll look for performance issues and fix them live on stage. In this talk you’ll learn debugging, performance, and optimization skills. You’ll see how engineers at Microsoft use their own tools to find issues and fix them. If you are super advanced, level up, and let’s see how deep you can go!

Data Security Considerations for AI Adoption
One of the top security concerns for organizations when adopting AI solutions is data security. In this session, our experts will walk you through the best data security practices for securing the data that your AI solution is using – from it Azure Open AI, Copilot Studio to Microsoft Copilot.

Inside Microsoft AI innovation with Mark Russinovich
Join Mark Russinovich, Azure CTO and Technical Fellow, for an in-depth exploration of Microsoft’s AI architecture. Discover the technology behind our sustainable datacenter design, massive supercomputers used for foundational model training, efficient infrastructure for serving models, workload management and optimizations, AI safety, and advancements in confidential computing to safeguard data during processing.

Running .NET on the NES
Yes, as in the NES, the Nintendo Entertainment system! Jonathan will walk through a “hobby project” of making C# programs run on a 1985 game console with a 6502 microprocessor. This talk will be fun and lots to learn about: reverse engineering, opcodes, MSIL, binary formats, and much much more!

Microsft Build Unplugged & digital swag

Keep an eye on the Microsoft Build Unplugged which will level up the excitement prior to the event day.

Also have a look at the digital swag: https://build.microsoft.com/en-US/social-swag. Is it just me who thinks of toasted bread looking at the picture I added in the beginning of this post? I want a copilot key on my (Swedish) keyboard!

What sessions have I missed highlighting?! Please let me know in a comment to this post. 🙂

All pictures in this post are from the official Microsoft Build event site.