Next week I’ll be participating in Microsoft Ignite as part of a group moderating two Table Talks.
How to Prepare Yourself for a Future of Learning
Working from Home: How Are People Doing It?
Microsoft Ignite is one of the largest technology conferences in the world and last year I had the opportunity to be a global community reporter at the event in Orlando, Florida. It will continue to remain one of my most unforgettable experiences despite having severe jet lag and coming down sick as a dog by the end of it. If I didn’t get so sick, I would have enjoyed the experience a lot more. However, while there, I did capture a lot of video which I shared on my YouTube channel and which I share some of the links below.
This year however, due to the Corona virus, we can’t travel anywhere. It’s a pity because I prefer the real live events than online conferences any day. However, I still wanted to get involved again in some small way so I submitted an application to be a moderator for table talks.
What Are Table Talks?
Table Talks simulate the same type of chats that we have at tables at live conferences. They are there to have a chat with people about various themes of the topic but not presented to. The table talks are moderated by a panel of 5 participants who come from all over the world and in different jobs to each other. They are also run three times – each with another group to suit the timezones. The table talks will not be recorded and it would be an opportunity for people to meet others at their “online table”. They will be run in Microsoft Teams Meetings and have the opportunity for members to unmute themselves and talk!
Here’s some more about Table Talks.
Before, during and after the table talk we will also be contributing in online discussions through the Microsoft Tech Community
How to Prepare Yourself for a Future of Learning
Working from Home: How are People Doing It?
What Will We Cover?
Well, remember, we won’t be “presenting” or “delivering” content per se. If anything because we only have 30 minutes, it will be enough to set some expectations around the topic and jump in with some high level questions that we can start conversing about. The value of these talks will be how you would get something out of it by sharing your own experiences, tips and stories – and hopefully some fun and laughter as well. After all, these will not be like the other sessions at Ignite. These are informal, conversational and really an opportunity to meet others at “your table”.
Here’s some questions we may start with for the Working from Home session:
- What have you learned about yourself and your team while working from home under COVID19 conditions?
- Talk about how you’re managing your workload, your tasks, your daily schedule.
- Share the creative activities your team and organisation engage in to keep connected and take a break from the isolation or meeting-madness.
- Tell us how you really feel about working from home.
Here’s some questions we may start with for the How to Prepare for a Future of Learning session:
- What do you foresee the challenges will be in ensuring continuous learning for the employees?
- What will be the skills that will be in demand in next 5 to 10 years?
- A formal academic degree or New Collar workforce with self learned skills and experience, which would be your preference of learning path in the future?
- What is your perception on the use of Microsoft Learn and Role Based Certification from Microsoft ? Does it meet your requirement?
- Do you foresee, drastic changes in how learning is to take place, with the improvement of computing technology (Quantum Computing) and communication (5G) and such in the learning environment ?
- In terms of apps or infrastructure, what roadblock(s) to learning could probably needs to be addressed in the first place?
- What would be the impact on the people or organisations that do not embrace newer tools and techniques of learning?
- What would be the impact on the teachers and trainers of today that do not embrace newer tools and techniques of teaching?
- How can we make best out of the relevant content that are publicly available in the internet to support people and organisations in the community?
Learning Is Participation & Contribution
By now, you all know that I’ve been writing a lot about professional and personal learning development for many years on this blog and across multiple channels. One of the best ways to learn and broaden your own perspective is participating and contributing in conferences like this. Next year, if you would like to do this, consider getting involved on a voluntary capacity to help out in the Microsoft community. This way, you’ll be able to build new skills for yourself, meet others in the process and then hopefully, apply this learning to your work. We also need lots of different and diverse voices.
Consider this for Microsoft Ignite 2021 and maybe you could be running future table talks or being future global community reporters too. You owe it to yourself to look for opportunities and throw your hat in the ring to get involved. Why not? What have you got to lose? Absolutely nothing – except okay, you may need to do a bit of work but you’ll get tons of fun, learning and networking experience from it.
So if you’d like to know more about Microsoft Ignite, why not register (it’s free)
See you there (well, online!)