Community Musings and Predictions for Microsoft 365

We are at the end of a tumultuous year (thanks to COVID-19) that also included massive growth of the Microsoft 365 platform, with amazing Daily Active User (DAU) and Monthly Active User (MAU) stats for Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, and the rest of the Microsoft 365 platform. Product team innovation is happening at a rapid pace, with news and announcements weekly — and an exciting roadmap ahead of us for 2021.

As we do at the end of each year (we’re closing out our 9th year of these #CollabTalk tweetjams), members of the community (and the public!) will gather to share their takeaways from the year behind us, as well as make some predictions for the year ahead. It is always an illuminating activity, tapping into the collective experiences of our panelists to highlight the impacts of 2020 — while also providing some great insights (and educated guesses) about where Microsoft 365 may be going in the near future.

For the next #CollabTalk TweetJam on Wednesday, December 30th at 9am Pacific / 12pm Eastern we will gather as a community to discuss “End-of-Year Predictions for Microsoft 365.”  Anyone can participate in this community discussion as we share feedback, ideas, insights, and impacts relating to Microsoft 365 in 2020, and where we think the platform will (or should) go in 2021.

You can join the community discussion using Twitter and the #CollabTalk hashtag or your favorite Twitter platform. You do not need to be an “expert” to participate in the online conversation, and can ask questions, comment on the questions posed, or just “lurk” in the background. These online discussions are open to anyone — you do not have to be on the panel to participate.

This month’s tweetjam is being sponsored by tyGraph and AvePoint. Thanks for your support!

If you have never participated in one of these tweetjams, it’s pretty simple: anyone can jump in and share their thoughts, or just lurk in the wings and absorb the wisdom of the crowd. Either way, it’ll be a TON of content to consume in a single hour. You can follow the live session using the Twitter UI of your choice (Twitter.com, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, whatever). How it works is that I’ll post a series of questions every few minutes, and people will respond to Q1, Q2, Q3 and so forth with A1, A2, A3, always including the #CollabTalk hashtag with their answers. Feel free to reply as often (or as little) as you’d like, ask your own follow up questions, share relevant links, re-tweet others, and engage with the audience.

The questions we will discuss during the session include:

1. In your opinion, what was the biggest news for Microsoft 365 this year?
2. Has your outlook on Microsoft technology changed this past year? Why / why not?
3. Has the continued growth of Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and the Power Platform altered how you / your customers think about collaboration?
4. With everything that has happened due to COVID-19 and the evolution of Microsoft 365, what has been the impact to your local user group and community?
5. What 3 features (available now, or publicly announced) are having/will have the biggest impact in 2021?
6. What are your predictions for Microsoft 365 and related technologies in 2021 and beyond?
7. If you could give one piece of advice to Microsoft leadership and/or product teams re: Microsoft 365, what would it be?

As always, there will be side-questions, side-conversations, and wise-cracking throughout. This is open to the public, so please join in the discussion! The dialog is always thought-provoking and fun.

Participating on this panel (so far):

• Scott Bekker (@scottbekker), editor at Redmond Channel Partner magazine and http://RCPmag.com 
• John Peltonen (@johnpeltonen), founding partner at 3Sharp
• Heather Severino (@HeatherSeverino), Office Apps & Services MVP, MCT Regional Lead, MOS Master, MCP, MT and owner at TeachUTech
• John Peluso (@johnconnected), Microsoft Regional Director, and chief product officer at AvePoint
• Robert Toro (@SharePointToro), SharePoint practice director at Slalom
• Jon Levesque (@JonJLevesque), sr. platform evangelist on the Power Automate team at Microsoft
• Luise Freese (@LuiseFreese), Office Apps & Services MVP, member of the PnP team, Microsoft 365 consultant, Sketchnote Artist and Blogger
• Alex Terentiev (@alexaterentiev), Office Development MVP, member of the PnP team, solution architect and developer for SharePointalist
• Sascha Fredrich (@saschaF80), IT consultant of Microsoft solutions at bei Bechtle AG
• Jay Leask (@jayleask), principal solution engineer for AvePoint Public Sector
• Sue Hanley (@susanhanley), SharePoint MVP, portal, KM, and SharePoint consultant
• Martina Grom (@magrom), co-founder of atwork.at, Office 365 MVP and Microsoft Regional Director
• Maarten Eekels (@maarteneekels), Microsoft Regional Director, SharePoint MVP and cto for Portiva
• Jackie Baillie (@jacbaillie), managing director at the M365 Collaboration Conference
• John White (@diverdown1964), dual SharePoint and Data Platform MVP, cto at UnlimitedViz and tyGraph
• Sharon Weaver (@sharoneweaver), Microsoft Regional Director, consultant, trainer and ceo of Smarter Consulting
• Ragnar Heil (@ragnarh), Office Servers & Services MVP and Microsoft alliance manager EMEA for Metalogix
• Fabian Williams (@fabianwilliams), senior program manager on the Microsoft Graph Team at Microsoft
• Michal Sobotkiewicz (@michalsobot), founder and ceo of ObjectConnect and KanBo
• Treb Gatte (@marqueeinsights), Business Solutions MVP, international speaker/man of mystery at Marquee Insights
• Nicki Borell (@NickiBorell), Microsoft MVP & RD, evangelist & consultant for SharePoint, Office 365 and Azure
• Ben Stegink (@benstegink), SharePoint, Office 365 and Azure consultant, owner of Intelligink, LLC
• Nicole Enders (@nicolenders), Office Apps & Services MVP, team lead of cloud workplace solutions at Conet Solutions GmbH
• Eric Overfield (@ericoverfield), Microsoft Regional Director, SharePoint MVP, and founder of PixelMill
• Sean McDonough (@spmcdonough), SharePoint MVP and chief technology officer at BitStream Foundry LLC
• Ed Senez (@edsenez), president at UnlimitedViz and TyGraph
• Anj D. Cerbolles (@anjCerbolles), #HumansOfIT advocate, application analyst
• Eric Riz (@rizinsights), SharePoint MVP and ceo of Empty Cubicle
• David Patrick (@DavidEPatrick),  Office Servers & Services MVP, user group organizer, subject matter expert with DSA, Inc.
• Kevin McDonnell (@kevmcdonk), senior technical architect at Ballard Chalmers
• Adnan Amin (@adnan_amin), Office Apps & Services MVP, #SharePoint architect and technology evangelist
• Toni Pohl (@atwork), founder & cto of atwork, cloud consultant, Microsoft MVP
• Paul Swider (@pswider), cto at RealActivity, and enterprise SharePoint strategist
• Mark Jones (@markqjones), founder of Collaboris, Collab365.community, and the GlobalCon events
• Mike Nelson (@mikenelsonIO), Cloud and Datacenter Management MVP and solution architect at Pure Storage
• Noah Sparks (@noahsparks), community igniter and strategy manager
• Harry Belsford (@harrybrelsford), ceo of SMB Nation
• Theresa (Eller) Lubelski (@SharePointMadam), SharePoint consultant at Constellation Solutions
• Adam Levithan (@collabadam), Office 365 MVP and principal product manager at Withum
• Bruno Capuano (@elbruno), dual AI and Windows Development MVP, and regional innovation lead for Avanade Canada
• Antonio Maio (@antoniomaio2), SharePoint MVP, enterprise architect and director at Protiviti
• Nick Brattoli (@Byrdttoli), Microsoft MVP, founder and lead consultant at Byrdttoli Enterprise Consulting
• Jared Shockley (@jshoq), senior systems engineer at Microsoft
• Vlad Catrinescu (@vladcatrinescu),SharePoint and Office 365 MVP, speaker, and author
• Kurt Kragh Sørensen (@KurtKragh),  intranet consultant and owner of IntraTeam.com
• Tiffany Wallace (@tiffanyWI), vp of business development at New Horizons Computer Learning Centers / 5Point Enterprises
• David Leveille (@crushnetworks), president of Crush Networks, Inc.
• Eli Robillard (@erobillard), SharePoint MVP, musician, fly-fisher, collaboration technology guy
• Haaron Gonzalez (@helpdsp), Office Development MVP and modern work consultant
• Stacy Deere-Strole (@sldeere), SharePoint MVP and owner of Focal Point Solutions
• Erica Toelle (@EricaToelle), Office Apps & Services MVP, Microsoft compliance sme at Blueprint Technologies
• Kanwal Khipple (@kkhipple), Office Apps & Services MVP and founder of 2toLead
• Hal Hostetler (@TVWizard), Microsoft MVP and senior field engineer and social media coordinator for Roland, Schorr & Tower
• Sarah Haase (@sarahhaase), Microsoft MVP, corporate collaboration evangelist & librarian, organizer of SPS Twin Cities
• Galen Keene (@sdkeene), consultant and collaboration architect, managing partner at Butterfly Technologies
• Adam Ball (@AdamCBall), co-founder of COUCUG, Teams and Skype for Business MVP
• Jeff Willinger (@jwillie), Office 365 MVP and independent consultant
• Wes Preston (@idubbs), SharePoint MVP, evangelist,  and owner at TrecStone
• Harjit Dhaliwal (@Hoorge), Microsoft MVP, IT Pro, technology & social media evangelist
• Brian Culver (@SPbrianculver), SharePoint MCM, sr. customer engineer and application development manager (ADM) at Microsoft
• Tobiasz Koprowski (@KoprowskiT), Data Platform MVP, founder and consultant at Shadowland Consulting
• Noorez Khamis (nkhamis), SharePoint MVP, cloud technologies architect and vp technology at Creospark
• Mike Maadarani (@mikemaadarani), Office Apps & Services MVP, cloud solution architect at MCM Consulting
• Norm Young (@stormin_30), Office Apps & Services MVP, director of collaborative analytics at UnlimitedViz
• Suzanne George (@spgenie), Microsoft Regional Director, MCTS, and chief architect for collaboration services at Cognizant
• Joel Oleson (@joeloleson), Microsoft Regional Director & MVP, director of SharePoint practice at Perficient
• Shari Oswald (@shortcutshari), co-founder and productivity evangelist at PowerUP! Learning
• Andy Honeycutt (@AndyHuneyCutt), Microsoft MVP, MCT, & MCP enterprise collaboration specialist
• David Drever (@DavidMDrever), SharePoint MVP and SharePoint services lead at Solvera Solutions
• and your host, Christian Buckley (@buckleyplanet), Microsoft MVP & RD, founder & ceo of CollabTalk LLC

If you would like to be included on one of these panels, please drop me a line via email, LinkedIn, or Twitter. And thank you again to tyGraph for your support of these CollabTalk tweetjams! And finally, if you are interested in being a sponsor of a future tweetjam, please contact me.