This year I got to attend the Microsoft MVP Summit for the first time in person, and it was everything I hoped for and more. While waiting for my flight back home, still full of energy from the summit, I wanted to write about my experience.
What is the MVP Summit?
For those who are not familiar with it, the MVP summit is an annual, invite-only event that Microsoft organizes for its Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs). It takes place on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington, and gives MVPs direct access to the product teams behind the tools we use every day. The days are packed with sessions about what they are working on and they give us a look at what is coming in the (near) future. I’m super excited about what’s coming, but because all sessions are under NDA I can’t tell anything about it (yet).
The trip to Seattle
Since both my husband and I are MVPs, we decided to add a few vacation days to the trip. We left for New York on Wednesday. It had been more than 10 years since we visited New York, so we wanted to make the most of it: walking through Manhattan (a lot), grabbing good matcha, and just soaking it all in. It was physically exhausting, but it was a good way to recharge our batteries before the event started.
The flight from New York to Seattle on Sunday is one I won’t easily forget. The TSA lines at the airport were absolutely brutal. We knew the lines were very long at some airports because of the government shutdown, but we checked the wait times online. We arrived at the airport four hours before the flight, checked in our luggage, and got in line. You couldn’t really tell whether the line was moving; people were everywhere. They told us the waiting time would be one hour max. So, plenty of time… not.
After more than three hours, we were still in line. Everyone was missing their flight. Once we realized it was impossible to catch our flight, we started chatting with the airline while still in line to see what we could do. Luckily, they were able to move us to the next flight leaving two to three hours later. We still made it to Seattle that same day, just after midnight.
After a short Uber drive to our hotel in Redmond, right next to the Microsoft campus, we immediately bumped into Hannes Lowette, a fellow Belgian MVP. And that was just the beginning of the trip: everywhere we went, we bumped into fellow MVPs. There were hugs everywhere. It really felt like a family reunion. You see familiar faces that you only occasionally meet, or have only met online.
The MVP2MVP day
On Monday, there was an MVP pre-day. These sessions are mostly organized by award category, and the content is delivered by fellow MVPs. Early that morning, we woke up and after a quick breakfast (I was just as excited as a little child who wants to see Christmas gifts), we walked to the campus. We got our badge and MVP certificate, and went to the sessions. As I walked around and met other MVPs, I still couldn’t believe I was part of this amazing group of people. I learned a lot from many of these people at the beginning of my career, and I still do now.
After a few sessions, we decided to walk around and explore the campus, since it is my first time there and I was still a bit tired from the travel day.
The actual MVP summit days
On Tuesday, the real event started with a great keynote that gave us an overview of what is coming across different domains.
After the keynote, the next three days were packed with great sessions. At almost every time slot, it was hard to choose which one to follow. I’m really excited about what is coming in the next few months. It is an exciting time to be in tech right now, especially with how fast AI is evolving.
It was not only the content that made these days worthwhile. The people made just as much of a difference. Being around such a group of like-minded people was amazing. And being able to meet and talk to the people at Microsoft who build the tools you work with every day is something I never imagined I would get to do.
What I’m taking home
Beyond the technical insights I can’t share publicly, the Summit gave me a renewed sense of energy. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day, but spending a few days surrounded by people who care deeply about their craft is a powerful reset. I’m going home with new ideas, a longer reading list, and an even longer list of things I want to try out. Can someone please add more hours to the day?
I’m really grateful that I can afford to attend the summit, and to Talent-IT for supporting me in my journey. Also, thank you to Microsoft for organizing this. I’m already looking forward to next year (if I’m renewed, of course).