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A different viewpoint from Microsoft Ignite conference 2020 (The Tour #London)

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Ingite conferece
Ingite conferece

Last week I attended #MSIgniteTheTour in London #ExcEl, it is always a great opportunity to learn and catch up with some community friends. Although a lot of sessions were techy, including some I admit that went well above my head… that is until I realised that I was in the wrong room 30 minutes later ;-).

As always the amount of partners stands and various products was overwhelming, but they must exist in the Microsoft eco-system so that they accelerate and improve the products. I was thrilled to discover the latest UX of Project on the Web thanks to a fast-paced live presentation by my ex-colleague MVP Paul Mather and enjoying watching his mastering in both the topic and the public speaking.

Yet, amongst the heavy loaded bag of knowledge and futuristic (yet nowadays) approach to tech, that I was listening to, the topics that struck a chord to me was actually the non-tech sessions, part of the #humanofIT stream. Is it because I am getting old, and the tech is interesting but I am not more interested in understanding people and myself(? open question).

I am listing below the sessions related to #HumanofIT that I went to, so that anyone in quest of how to create a more diverse and inclusive tech environment can dig up the slides and videos when they are made available (the videos next to each session are not of the session but were shown, referenced or serve as an introduction, just to make you willing to research some more! You won’t be disappointed!):

“Practising kindness in Tech” (link), by Dux Raymond Sy, explaining to the giving the science and numbers that we now have to prove the benefits of practising random acts of kindness daily.

“How Heathrow’s security officer launched 12 PowerApps” (link), with no code, with Dona Sarkar & Dux Raymond Sy, who “grilled” Samit Saini with some great questions, leaving the room inspired to go away and create a PowerApps app in minutes.

Image result for "dux raymond" From Geek to Chic: Build Your Brand & Elevate Your Career in 5 Steps

“From Geek to Chic: Build Your Brand & Elevate Your Career in 5 Steps (link)”. Where the pair share their own personal experience on what it means to them to develop a personal brand, which is very much what I always believed: “share a skill for others to use”, whatever that SuperPower is.

Image result for The Power of Onlyness book

I also learnt about the new coined term of “OnlyNess”, used by Nilofer Merchant in her book “The Power of Onlyness“, which is the thesis that ideas born of an ‘only’ can scale and make a dent in the world. The audiobook is already in my listening list.

So thanks again to Dux & Dona, both are fantastic speakers, yet with different styles, they are both authentic enough to show their vulnerability and driven by a common thirst to share their life experience to us and the world, all to make it a better place! 

Within my career which has very much been in IT since I left Uni in 97, I always had issues to feel that I belonged in a work or social group and I ended to “blend in” if not “fit in” but not always as being myself, especially when younger and fresh out of Uni. This kind of #HumanOfIT sessions was what I needed 15 years ago. I feel hopeful and trusting that the world of corporations and businesses can change for better and that we can all contribute to this change because they need us to do that.

Truthfulness, be yourself, lead with empathy, whole-heartedness, onlyness …

in 2020 I want to see more of those.

The communities I frequent like the Happy Startup School and conversABLE are all about fulfilment in business and life are leading the movement, now joined by corporations like Microsoft with this #HumanOfIT and many more are showing that we all need more humanity and what I called “H2H and not just B2B”.

In 2020 I will continue to deliver more Tech sessions as part of my current enjoyment this year as being a trainer for various organisations. I will also continue to deliver non-tech presentations to help Humans to be themselves in the workplace and beyond, just like the #IamRemarkable workshop and more workshops.