Microsoft Ignite

Microsoft Ignite is an annual conference for developers, IT professionals and partners, hosted by Microsoft. The first conference, then known as TechEd, happened in 1993 in Orlando, Florida, United States.

Keynote at TechEd Europe 2007

After the TechEd conference held in Barcelona, 2014, Microsoft changed its conference schedule and introduced the name Microsoft Ignite starting in 2015. Thus marking the transition from the TechEd name to the current one.

The conference normally lasts between three and five days, and consists of presentation and whiteboard sessions and hands-on labs. It offers opportunities to meet Microsoft experts, MVPs and community members. Networking is enhanced through parties, community areas and "Ask the Expert" sessions. The event also includes an exhibition area where vendors can show off technologies and sell products. There is a vast content catalog from which attendees can select sessions that will be most beneficial. An agenda is published online before the conference begins. From 2024, Microsoft merged its partner event, Microsoft Inspire, with Microsoft Ignite to have one single event for both formats.

Africa

Was previously known as TechEd South Africa until 2007, where it changed to TechEd Africa. 2007 was also the last year the event was hosted at Sun City, after which it was moved to the Durban International Conference Centre (ICC) due to the growing size of the audience, which was no longer able to be accommodated at Sun City.

Australia

TechEd Australia is the largest TechEd in the Asia-Pacific region.

Europe

Microsoft Ignite is an annual event in cities like Amsterdam.

India

Microsoft TechEd India has been an annual fixture since 2003 except for 2008 which was the only year when Microsoft TechEd India event was not organized.

In 2006, TechEd was held in New Delhi, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore during the month of June. There were two TechEd events held in each city, the first one delved into architectural aspects of technology and laid emphasis on the needs of the Architect audience alongside four tracks focused on Platform and Tools for Developers. The second event was geared towards technology professionals working on IT infrastructure.

In 2007, TechEd was held in Bangalore.

In 2009, TechEd was held in Hyderabad in the month of May. Rechristened Microsoft TechMela, the name change was necessitated by an urge to Indianize the event and its content so that it aligned with the ethos of every Indian. It was attended by over 2,500 CXOs, TDMs, BDMs, Developers, IT Professionals, Architects, Designers, faculty Members and Technology Students.

TechEd-India 2009 was keynoted by Steve Ballmer, the only TechEd event worldwide where Steve Ballmer was to speak. There were 28 Technical Tracks that spanned more than 112 breakout sessions, 24 instructor-led Labs, more than 20 Chalk-Talk sessions. The tracks were designed as a navigational tool which assisted in finding the sessions and labs best suited for individual needs.

In 2011, TechEd India was held in Bangalore from March 23–25 at Hotel Lalit Ashok. The event included keynotes by Senior Microsoft Executives, breakout sessions, hands-on-labs, instructor-led labs, product team tents, free Microsoft certification, community programs and solution expo. The event was keynoted by Qi Lu.

In 2012, 2013, and 2014, Tech Ed India was held in Bangalore at The LaLiT Hotels, Palaces and Resorts.

Israel

TechEd conferences in Israel were held in Eilat. The first TechEd conference was held in 2001, with more than 1,000 participants. Six more conferences were held until 2010.

Latin America

The Latin American TechEd has always been held in São Paulo, Brazil. However, there was also an edition of it in Mexico in 2001.

Middle East

First started in 2010 and hosted in Dubai.

New Zealand

TechEd New Zealand is the largest IT Conference in New Zealand and is held annually in Auckland.

North America

Each year for the North American event changes to a new location. In 2024, Microsoft Ignite is returning to Chicago and will be held at the McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois between November 18-22, 2024.

TechEd Online

TechEd Online was an online supplement to the in-person events, which contained video interviews recorded at the event, videos of sessions and keynotes, blogs and speaker blog aggregation. Much of this content could first be found on Microsoft's Channel 9, but now is ordinarily available directly on the Ignite website itself.

For TechEd North America, video recordings, session slide decks, and supplemental content can be found on myTechEd.

myTechEd

Microsoft myTechEd is an online community and social networking tool where conference attendees can participate in technical discussions, access recordings of past year's sessions, and connect with speakers and other attendees through a directory. myTechEd is a free resource available for both in-person attendees and virtual attendees who are not able to make it to the annual conference.

Dates and Locations of TechEd Events

Year	Africa	Australia	China	Europe EMEA	India	Japan	Latin America	New Zealand	Middle East	North America	Russia	South East Asia
1993										March 9–12, Disney Swan/Dolphin Hotels, Orlando, FL
1994				Apr 19-21, Bournemouth, UK						Mar 28-31, New Orleans, LA
1995		Sydney		Apr 10-12, Hamburg, Germany						Mar 27-31, New Orleans, LA
1996		Brisbane		June 11–14, Nice, France						April 15–19, Los Angeles, CA
1997		Melbourne		July 1–4, Nice, France						May 5–9, Orlando, FL
1998		Sydney		July 6–10, Nice, France						June 1–5, New Orleans, LA
1999		Brisbane		July 5–9, Amsterdam, Netherlands						May 21–28, Dallas Convention Centre
2000		Cairns		July 3–7, Amsterdam, Netherlands						Jun 5-9, Orlando, FL		Aug 21-25, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2001		Melbourne		July 3–6, Barcelona, Spain						Jun 17-21, Atlanta, GA
2002		Brisbane		Jul, 1-5, Barcelona, Spain						Apr 9-13, New Orleans, LA
2003		Brisbane		Jun 30 - Jul 4, Barcelona, Spain						Jun 1-6, Dallas, TX
2004		Canberra	Sep 15 - 17, Shanghai	Jun 29 - Jul 2, Amsterdam, Netherlands						May 23–28, San Diego, CA		Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2005	Aug, Sun City, South Africa	Gold Coast		Jul 5-8, Amsterdam, Netherlands						Jun 5-10, Orlando, FL
2006	Oct 21-24, Sun City, South Africa	Sydney		Nov 7-10/14-17, Barcelona, Spain						Jun 11-16, Boston, MA
2007	Oct, Sun City, South Africa	Gold Coast		Nov 5-9/12-16, Barcelona, Spain						Jun 3-8, Orlando, FL		Sep 10-13, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2008	Aug 03-05, ICC, Durban, South Africa	Sydney		Nov 10-14, Barcelona, Spain						Jun 2-6/9-13, Orlando, FL		Aug 11-14, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2009	Aug 02-05, ICC, Durban, South Africa	Sep 08-11, Gold Coast	Nov, Beijing, China	Oct 27-29, Vienna, Austria	May 13–15, Hyderabad	Aug 25-28, Yokohama		Sep 14-16, Auckland		May 11–15, Los Angeles, CA		Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2010	Oct 17-20, ICC, Durban, South Africa	Aug 24-27, Gold Coast		Nov 8-12, Berlin, Germany	April 12–14, Bangalore		Sep 13-15, São Paulo, Brazil	Aug 30 - Sep 1, Auckland	Mar 1-3, Dubai International Convention Centre, Dubai, UAE	Jun 7-10, New Orleans, LA
2011		Aug 30 - Sep 2, Gold Coast		Nov 8-10, Madrid, Spain	Mar 23-25, Bangalore			August 24–26, Auckland		May 16–19, Atlanta, GA	Nov 9-10, Krasnogorsk
2012		Sep 11-14, Gold Coast	Dec 4-6, Beijing	June 26–29, Amsterdam, Netherlands	Mar 21-23, Bangalore			September 4–7, Auckland		Jun 11-14, Orlando, FL
2013	April 16–19, Durban, South Africa	Sep 3-6, Gold Coast		June 25–28, Madrid, Spain	Bengaluru, March 18–19, 2013 Pune, March 25–26, 2013			September 10–13, Auckland		June 3–6, New Orleans, LA
2014				October 27–31, Barcelona, Spain				September 9–12, Auckland		May 12–15, Houston, TX

Dates and Locations of Ignite Events

Gathered from event page and announcements from the event Twitter feed.

Year	North America	Tour	Notes
2015	May 4–8, Chicago, IL
2016	September 26–30, Atlanta, GA		2016 was announced to be in Chicago for 2nd year in a row but was then canceled and subsequently rescheduled for Atlanta.
2017	September 25–29, Orlando, FL
2018	September 24–28, Orlando, FL
2019	November 4–8, Orlando, FL	17 cities around the world
2020	September 22–24, Digital Event		Originally planned for New Orleans, LA
2021	March 2–4, Digital Event
2021	November 1–5, Digital Event
2022	October 12-14, Digital & In-Person	Various cities around the world	Combination of in-person event in Seattle and digital/online participation.
2023	In Seattle: November 14–17; Online dates: November 15–16		Combination of in-person event, again in Seattle, and digital/online participation. This will be the first Microsoft event at the new Summit building at the Seattle Convention Center.
2024	November 18-22, Chicago

External links

• Microsoft Ignite Microsoft Ignite
• Microsoft TechEd North America Microsoft TechEd. Microsoft, 3 June 2010. Web. 3 June 2010.
• TechEd History at archive.today (archived 2013-01-26)
• TechEd Africa at the Library of Congress Web Archives (archived 2002-09-15)
• Microsoft Ignite Tel Aviv.