Countdown to Ignite Ep. 10: The one about the Yammer network on MyIgnite

Countdown to Ignite Episode 10Episode 10 of the Countdown to Ignite Show is up, and this week we have a special guest.

Keep reading for my summary, but make sure you click over to the Ignite blog for the video and full blog post.

Joey Snow welcomes a special guest this week with special guest Olaf Hubel standing in for Rick Claus. He’s the content owner for Ignite this year, and he’s talking about MyIgnite and the new Yammer integration.

If you were at MEC in Austin then you’re already going to be familiar with the extra features Yammer brings to Ignite this year. The functionality that Olaf demos is very similar to what we had at MEC. It’s a good way to interact with the speakers for your sessions (and others too). If you have questions or comments, you can share them before you get to Chicago and start a conversation to help shape the session that gets delivered.

The conversation doesn’t stop when you get to Chicago though. You will be able to access a second screen environment during the session hat you can use to review the slides, submit questions to the speaker, and discuss things with fellow attendees. The second screen also gives you a way to follow along with a session from one of the overflow seating areas. I don’t necessarily advocate following one session while sitting in another, but if your multitasking skills are up to the task, go for it.

And for about 30 days after Ignite, the Yammer network will remain active, letting these discussions continue after you’ve arrived back at work and start trying out some of the things you saw in Chicago. So don’t think that Ignite ends on May 8. Ignite keeps going for as long as you want to be part of it.

Of course, the Yammer network only adds value around sessions if the speakers participate. Adoption was mixed at MEC, so I’m hopeful that speakers get engaged early and stay engaged throughout.

I have to mention that the example session in the episode — “The Social Intranet: Integrating Yammer into your Microsoft SharePoint Experience” — is one of two being presented by fellow Ignite Roundtable member Naomi Moneypenny.

Don’t think the conference organizers are done with MyIgnite. More functionality is coming to the site between now and May. Keep an eye out for:

  • Speaker Search and Details
  • Attendee Search and Details
  • Meeting Scheduling
  • Personal Appointments
  • OneNote Conference Guide
  • Mobile App

The OneNote guide is another aspect of MEC that made it to Ignite. I thought it worked well (make sure you have chargers!) and was a nice alternative to a paper booklet.

Olaf also confirmed that even though MyIgnite works great on mobile devices and has some short-term offline capability, a mobile app is coming. No word on platforms, but I’ll be surprised if it isn’t cross-platform (my opinion, no inside info here about the app).

Stay tuned for next week’s episode which will focus on what’s new at different at Ignite

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