My take from Microsoft Ignite The Tour JHB 2020

Remembering good times ✨

It's the event I have been waiting for since November 2019 and I can tell you, I was not disappointed.

Firstly I thank the Lord, I am so grateful unto my Heavenly Father for allowing me this opportunity to be part of this journey. 🙏

Secondly I would like to thank everyone involved in making this event possible, the sponsors, the planners, the technicians, the hosts, the caterers, the presenters, the cleaners, absolutely everyone.

The amount of effort and hard work that goes into events like these are many times not appreciated the way they should be. So here's a BIG shout out to every individual involved in getting this show on the road.

Myself and Lou van der Bijl (@SynStalker) started on the right foot with a traditional #SwagExchange2020 / #SwagSwop2020. Lou also did the yearly milkshake run again this year, thank you!

It was exciting to see friends, colleagues and even meet some of the people I have been following on Twitter. The whole place was filled with individuals who are willing to teach, willing to learn, willing to listen and just share their stories.

Well that's enough of me reminiscing "the feels" of the event, let's get to the reason you actually opened this link for...

Key points from Microsoft Ignite the Tour 💬

The points below will list a combination of tips I received while networking with the awesome community members and some key things that I have learned during the sessions I attended.

Tips from the community (#HumansofIT):

1. Melissa Sassi (@mentorafrika) shared her story on how she changed her career path. Her story reminded me again that it's OK not to know things and the only way to overcome is to speak up. Don't be worried about looking dumb in front of your peers, ask if you don't know and you'll be surprised to find out how many others didn't know either.

2. Nicolas Blank (@nicolasblank), Tracy v/d Schyff (@tracyvds), Rory Preddy (@rorypreddy), Dona Sarkar (@donasarkar) & many more, are all instrumental in me writing this blog. Just before the conference I watched a video called The Uptake with Anna Chu (@_achu & @TheUptakePod) where she hosted Nicolas and Tracy, and it was truly inspirational. The most important lesson learnt from all of them is that you need to be yourself, your voice matters in the community. You need to be your own inspiration. It's all about doing what you are passionate about and being part of a community where you can share this. Like Dona always says - "Just do the thing!".

3. Lebogang Madise (@LeboMadise) gave me a great tip as well, it may be obvious to some, but I needed to hear this. Pick a path, she said, and focus on that. In this day and age where everything is changing so rapidly, I felt I needed to tap into everything. I appreciated this advice from Lebo as I was trying to look at too many things at once and it becomes overwhelming at times.

I met many more inspirational individuals at the conference and if I have to talk about the community, I would honestly talk the whole day. So, on to the next section...

Some things that I have learned at #MSIgniteTheTour :

1. POWA10 - Enabling everyone to digitize apps and processes with Power Apps and the Power Platform by David Brown.

• Two keywords stood out for me during this talk, DAX and CDM.

What is DAX?

"Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) is a formula expression language used in Analysis Services, Power BI Desktop, and Power Pivot in Excel".

So I understand it like this: By knowing DAX, it will be easier for you to create and customize Power Apps, when using calculated formulas.

What is CDM?

The Common Data Model comprises a standardized metadata system and data schemas that help applications and services inter-operate and help you get more value from your data.

I am still learning about this, when I understand it well enough to explain this in my own words, I will write about it in another blog post.

2. UNC10040 - Creating interactive documentation experiences with Try.NET and After the Conference by Gomolemo Mohapi and Johan Olivier.

• Gomo introduced us to Try.NET

  A simple tool that allows users to create interactive documentation and provide online learning experiences without the need to download any additional tools. You create the content in the browser and it even provides intellisense. I can't wait to play around with this tool and write more interactive blog posts. 😎

• Johan gave us great tips on what to do before, during and after a conference, I will mention a few of them below:

Before

Rest well and eat a healthy meal, identify your expectations and set clear goals.

During

Be disciplined, tap into Twitter, take photos and make notes

After

Develop awareness, take action, summarize and sort your notes, communicate and commit

There's so much more that I learned, but before anyone screams...

I will close with this:

Stay motivated!
Be yourself and
Join a community 🙋 near you!

I am planning to blog a whole lot more and share my learning journey with everyone.

Thank you for reading my first blog post!

Until next time…