Microsoft Ignite is almost here, and this year I will be doing quite a bit more than just attending!

From November 17–20, Microsoft Ignite 2026 takes over San Francisco’s Moscone Center. Microsoft product teams, partners, customers, MVPs and the wider community come together around what comes next. Microsoft describes Ignite as a place to explore the ideas, technology and people shaping the frontier, and that combination is exactly what I am looking forward to.

Btw: you can enjoy many of Microsoft Ignite sessions free from home – register to online attendance. But when you are in-person there, you have also option to see sessions that are not broadcasted or happen in small groups.

For me, the Microsoft Ignite 2026 themes are pretty clear:

Copilot. Agents. Business context and processes. Governance. AI economics (FinOps). Foundry. Community.

I will be giving one Lightning Talk and facilitating three Table Talk conversations, but I also expect to spend a lot of time in The Hub, talking with Microsoft Product Groups, fellow MVPs, customers, partners and, of course, other attendees.

If you see me around, come and say hello. I should be fairly easy to recognize.

Just look for the signature hat. 🤠

My sessions at a glance

Day	Time (PT)	Session	Where
Tue, Nov 17	4:10–4:55 PM	TT1797: Turn Microsoft Ignite Insights into Real-World Impact	Esplanade Ballroom, Table 15
Wed, Nov 18	9:00–9:15 AM	LTG1432: Starting a Local AI Community	The Hub, Lightning Talk 1
Wed, Nov 18	2:25–3:10 PM	TT1814: Agent Governance: Who Owns What?	Esplanade Ballroom, Table 7
Thu, Nov 19	2:25–3:10 PM	TT1823: From RAG to Context: What Changes for Agents?	Esplanade Ballroom, Table 13

The Lightning Talk is in Moscone South, in The Hub. The Table Talks are on the Upper Mezzanine of Moscone South, in the Esplanade Ballroom.

Where to find me at Microsoft Ignite

Tuesday: Turn Microsoft Ignite Insights into Real-World Impact

TT1797 | Table Talk Tuesday, November 17 | 4:10 PM–4:55 PM PT Moscone South | Upper Mezzanine, Esplanade Ballroom, Table 15

Ignite gives us a lot to process. Announcements, demos, conversations, new technologies, perhaps new names for technologies ( of course!), and probably a few surprises along the way.

But attending Ignite isn’t really the goal. What you do with what you learn is where the value begins.

In this Table Talk, we’ll discuss practical ways to capture those insights, decide what actually matters, and turn them into action. That could mean:

• bringing insights back to your organization
• enabling colleagues
• creating presentations, writing blogs or recording videos
• engaging your local community
• or simply changing the way you approach an AI transformation initiative

I’ll be joining Justin Garrett from Microsoft, Benjamin Niaulin from ShareGate and others for this conversation.

👉 Turn Microsoft Ignite Insights into Real-World Impact – TT1797

Wednesday: Starting a Local AI Community

LTG1432 | Lightning Talk Wednesday, November 18 | 9:00 AM–9:15 AM PT Moscone South | The Hub, Lightning Talk 1

This one is especially close to my heart.

Communities don’t necessarily begin with a grand strategy. Sometimes they begin with curiosity, a few people who want to learn together, and someone asking: why don’t we just get together and talk about this?

In this 15-minute Lightning Talk, I’ll share my experiences building a local AI community around agents. That means choosing topics, getting the first people through the door, attracting people who haven’t attended community events before, and, importantly, giving them a reason to come back.

There may be coffee involved. Curiosity definitely is.

👉 Starting a Local AI Community – LTG1432

Wednesday: Agent Governance: Who Owns What?

TT1814 | Table Talk Wednesday, November 18 | 2:25 PM–3:10 PM PT Moscone South | Upper Mezzanine, Esplanade Ballroom, Table 7

As organizations move from experimenting with agents toward actually putting them to work, one deceptively simple question becomes increasingly important:

Who owns what?

Who owns an agent? Who approves it? What belongs to IT, security or the platform team? What belongs to the business? How do we think about risk tiers, approval gates and operating models without creating so much governance that nobody can get anything done?

I’ll be facilitating this discussion together with Hanna Kim from Microsoft.

I suspect we won’t solve agent governance for the entire world in 45 minutes.

But we can certainly ask some better questions.

👉 Table Talks: Agent Governance: Who Owns What? – TT1814

Thursday: From RAG to Context: What Changes for Agents?

TT1823 | Table Talk Thursday, November 19 | 2:25 PM–3:10 PM PT Moscone South | Upper Mezzanine, Esplanade Ballroom, Table 13

This might become a particularly interesting conversation after we have heard the announcements at Ignite.

For the past couple of years, RAG has been one of those terms that appears in almost every conversation about enterprise AI. But we are moving toward richer and more shared context layers for agents.

What does that change?

We’ll discuss the shift from application-specific RAG toward shared context, and what that means for developers, architects and business leaders building grounded agents. That includes the emerging roles of Foundry IQ and Microsoft IQ.

I’m facilitating this Table Talk solo, which means I am especially counting on the people around the table to challenge assumptions and bring their own experiences.

👉 Table Talks: From RAG to Context: What Changes for Agents? – TT1823

But Ignite isn’t only about my sessions

Some of the conversations I’m most looking forward to aren’t on my speaker schedule at all.

I’ll be spending plenty of time around The Hub. I’ll be catching up with Microsoft Product Groups and other MVPs, meeting people I’ve previously only known through Teams, LinkedIn or community events, and talking with attendees about what they’re seeing and learning.

Microsoft’s own Ignite description emphasizes not only technical learning but also connecting directly with Microsoft experts, customers and partners. That part of an event like Ignite has always been incredibly valuable to me.

With everything happening around Copilot, agents, Foundry, business context and processes, agent governance and the economics of AI (yes, FinOps is becoming part of the AI conversation!), I suspect we’ll have plenty to talk about.

So please don’t think you need to attend one of my sessions to come and have a conversation.

Find me at Ignite. Let’s talk.

Copilot, agents, business context, governance, AI economics, Foundry, community…

or whatever Ignite has just surprised us with. 😉

And once again: look for the hat. 🤠

Thank you, Fellowmind

Finally, a big thank you to Fellowmind for making it possible for me to participate in Microsoft Ignite!

Being there isn’t just about attending sessions. It’s an opportunity to learn directly from Microsoft and the community, exchange ideas, challenge our thinking, and bring those insights back into the work we do with organizations navigating AI transformation.

That’s exactly the kind of connection between people, technology and real business outcomes that matters to me.

I’ll see you in San Francisco!

Vesa “Vesku” Nopanen Principal AI Advisor | Copilot, Agents & AI Transformation Fellowmind