The Microsoft MVP Program: Insights from MVPs and Microsoft Experts

Interested in the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) program and want to learn more about it? Join us for a panel discussion featuring experienced MVPs and the people at Microsoft who run the program as they share their insights.

In this session, you'll hear about the criteria for becoming an MVP, the benefits and responsibilities of being an MVP, and how the program helps to build connections between Microsoft and its community of users and experts.

The panelists will share their experiences as MVPs and offer tips and best practices for anyone hoping to become an MVP.

Whether you're an aspiring MVP or simply curious about the programme, this panel discussion will provide valuable insights and perspectives on the MVP program and its role in the Microsoft community. Don't miss out on this informative session – join us and get a glimpse into the world of Microsoft MVPs!

Q&A: Getting involved with the Microsoft community and becoming an MVP

Do you want to get more involved in the Microsoft community? Do you want to speak at events or start a user group? Many MVPs are involved in the community - do you have questions about what an MVP is or how to become an MVP?

Join our panel discussion with speakers from Microsoft and MVP community veterans to answer your questions about the Microsoft community and MVP programme.

Making the most of Dynamics 365 Sales and the AI revolution

If your organisation is using Dynamics 365 Sales, you should ensure it maximises the potential of Dynamics 365 Sales by leveraging its newest features. These tools are designed to streamline your sales team's workflow, enabling them to accomplish tasks more efficiently. This increased efficiency frees up valuable time, allowing your salespeople to focus on what matters most: engaging and building relationships with customers.

In this session we're going to talk about the copilots available in Dynamics 365 Sales - Copilot *for* Sales and of Copilot *in* Dynamics 365 Sales, which leverage AI to enhance sales processes and decision-making.

Join me to unlock the full potential of Dynamics 365 Sales and stay ahead in the evolving world of sales technology.

Building a Dynamics 365 or Power Platform community in your area

Building a local user group for Dynamics 365 or Power Platform takes time, care, and consistency, but the rewards are worth it.

Over the past 10 years, I’ve helped grow Dynamics and Power Platform user group community in the UK from a single group to more than 10. We’ve built a Meetup community with over 3,000 members and a LinkedIn group that’s active and growing.

In this session, I’ll share what I’ve learned about getting a group started and keeping it going. We’ll cover how to run your first events, how to reach the right people and what it takes to build something that lasts. You’ll hear what’s worked, what hasn’t and how to avoid the common mistakes I’ve seen along the way.

Key takeaways:
- How to get your first meetup off the ground
- Tools and platforms that can help you grow
- Tips for long-term engagement and sustainable growth
- Lessons from running user groups for over a decade

If you’re thinking about starting a group or want to build more momentum with an existing one, this session will give you practical steps to make it happen.

The New AI Tools and Toys in Power Platform

Every release of Power Platform brings new features, and the current wave is packed with AI-driven tools. From generative pages to Plan designer and custom agents in apps, the platform is becoming both more powerful and more complex. For many organisations, the challenge is knowing what is useful today and what is still experimental.

In this demo-heavy session (good luck everyone!), Cathrine and Andrew will showcase these new capabilities and their ideal use cases, share where they work well and highlight their limitations. As experienced consultants and Microsoft MVPs, they bring both excitement and caution, helping you see what is worth investing in now and what to keep an eye on for the future.

Key takeaways:
- Clarity on which new AI features in Power Platform are production-ready
- Insight into what to avoid or test carefully before using them in your apps
- A forward look at how these tools will reshape app building in the coming years

Less Admin, More Selling: Sales Agent in Dynamics 365 Sales

Salespeople often spend a large part of their day searching for information, preparing for meetings and rewriting similar emails. Sales agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot aims to reduce that overhead by helping sellers prepare, prioritise and communicate more effectively within their existing sales tools.

In this session, Microsoft MVP and CRM expert Andrew Bibby will show how Sales agent works in practice through live demos. You’ll see how it acts as a conversational assistant, pulling together CRM data, meeting history and organisational knowledge using natural language. Sales agent helps sellers understand accounts, prepare for meetings, review pipeline health and draft relevant follow-up messages without jumping between multiple screens.

We’ll also look at what administrators and consultants need to think about when introducing Sales agent, including setup, governance and adoption. You’ll leave with a clear understanding of where Sales agent delivers real value, how to configure it responsibly, and how to position it as a practical capability that helps sales teams spend less time on admin and more time selling.

Designing, Governing and Operating Advanced Copilot Studio Agents

This full-day workshop is aimed at technical makers, developers and solution architects who already use Copilot Studio and want to build agents that work reliably in real-world scenarios. We’ll start with agent design, focusing on prompt guidance, context management and grounding techniques that help reduce hallucinations and improve consistency from day one. Attendees will leave with clear design patterns they can apply immediately in their own projects.

From there, we’ll move into the challenges that appear once agents move beyond demos and into production. Based on real-world projects, we’ll cover authentication and authorisation, cost control and usage limits, and how to design effective human-in-the-loop flows. You’ll also learn how to use Dataverse with an MCP server and we will show how to bring services like Microsoft Foundry and AI Search into Copilot Studio in a controlled and practical way. The day follows the natural lifecycle of an agent, iterating through design, to testing, to operation and evaluation.

The workshop will be delivered by Microsoft MVPs Andrew Bibby and Cathrine Bruvold and is structured into clear modules, each supported by hands-on labs and guided exercises. Labs will cover refining prompts at agent and topic level, securing agent tools, monitoring behaviour in Copilot Studio and the Agent 365 workspace, and refining agent functionality over time. By the end of the day, you’ll have practical experience and a clear framework for designing, running and improving production-ready agents.

Key takeaways from this workshop:
- Design agents with clear boundaries and guidance to improve agent accuracy and ensure consistent results
- Apply governance, security and human-in-the-loop patterns to run agents safely in production
- Use a lifecycle approach to test, monitor and continuously improve agent behaviour over time

Don’t Wait for Errors: Monitoring Power Platform in Real Time

Nobody likes getting the dreaded call: “the app is broken.” With the new monitoring alerts in the Power Platform admin center you can catch issues before users even notice.

MVPs Cathrine Bruvold and Andrew Bibby will take you on a troubleshooting adventure packed with demos. We begin with proactive alerts in PPAC that flag problems early. Next we turn to the Power CAT tools to uncover hidden design and performance flaws. With the suspects identified we switch to Power Apps Monitor to watch the issue unfold live from the user’s perspective. We might even ask Copilot to lend a hand with the fix!

You will leave confident in how to spot issues before they escalate, analyse app performance, capture the live user experience and keep your apps and flows running smoothly 🚀.

Building Production-Ready Agents with Copilot Studio (Advanced)

This full-day, hands-on workshop is for people who have already built agents with Copilot Studio and are comfortable with its core features. If you want to move beyond the basics into more reliable and maintainable, production-ready approaches, this workshop is for you. It is not intended for first-time users of Copilot Studio.

The workshop is built around in-depth technical labs that focus on how agents should be designed, evaluated and extended. You’ll work with advanced prompting and instruction approaches, including agent- and topic-level guidance, and grounding strategies to reduce hallucinations and unpredictable behaviour.

Participants will explore agent design techniques such as componentised agents and agent-to-agent collaboration. MCP servers are introduced as a key integration approach for agent-based solutions. You’ll learn how to use out-of-the-box MCP servers, including Microsoft-provided MCP servers such as Dataverse, and where they fit architecturally when connecting agents with data and tools.

Testing and evaluation are covered as a core theme, with practical techniques for validating agent behaviour, tracking changes over time and identifying regressions. Prompts are treated as versioned and testable assets rather than static text.

By the end of the workshop, attendees will have a clear, practical framework for designing, testing and evolving Copilot Studio agents they can trust in real-world scenarios.


Key takeaways:
- Design Copilot Studio agents using approaches that improve reliability and maintainability
- Use advanced prompting and grounding to reduce hallucinations and unpredictable behaviour
- Test and evaluate agents with repeatable techniques that support change over time
- Understand and apply MCP servers as an integration approach 

The Future of Low Code: Skills You Need in the Age of AI

AI is reshaping the Power Platform at a rapid pace. Tools such as Generative Pages, Copilot Studio and agents promise to speed up development but also raise questions. Will low code skills still matter in 2026 and beyond? Who will be building business apps (customers??), and how will roles shift across consultants, developers and organisations?

In this session, Cathrine and Andrew will explore what the rise of AI means for people working in Power Platform projects today. As experienced consultants and Microsoft MVPs, they will share where AI in Power Platform delivers real value and where it still falls short, and how roles such as developer, architect and consultant are evolving. They will also highlight which skills teams need to invest in to thrive in this new era of delivery.

Key takeaways:
- A clear view of how AI is changing roles in Power Platform delivery
- Which skills remain essential and which ones are evolving
- Practical advice on reskilling and preparing your team for the future
- Confidence in using AI as a partner rather than a replacement

Expert panel: the impact of AI on Power Platform and app development

How will AI and intelligent agents redefine app development and the Power Platform in the next 3-5 years?
Join leading experts as they explore the evolving role of AI in shaping the future of app design and functionality. Discover how intelligent agents will enable smarter apps and streamline complex processes.
The panel will discuss emerging trends, potential challenges, and the innovations that could revolutionize development strategies. This is your chance to gain insight into how AI will transform the Power Platform landscape in the years ahead.

Agent showdown! Copilot Studio Lite vs. Full Experience

Microsoft is known for a decade-long tradition of - yes, you’re right - rebranding their products.
What has been Agent Builder and Microsoft Copilot Studio are now Copilot Studio Lite and the Copilot Studio Full Experience. But what are the differences? How to determine which tool is right for you?
Join Sebastian Sieber and Andrew Bibby on a hands-on journey through Copilot Studio Lite and the Full Experience, showing how to create powerful, intelligent agents with both. We will explore what these tools can and can’t do, using some fun real-world examples to highlight their strengths and limitations.

Get ready for a jam-packed session filled with demos, expert tips, best practices for writing effective prompts, and guidance on deploying agents across different channels. We will also touch on the developer options available for building agents that go beyond Copilot Studio using tools like Azure AI Foundry.

Whether you are new to AI agents or looking to enhance your skills, you'll clearly understand when to use Agent Builder, when to advance to Copilot Studio, and how to create AI agents that add value.

Navigating the shift from the Dynamics 365 app for Outlook to Copilot for Sales

The Dynamics 365 app for Outlook is on its way out! Copilot for Sales is the new AI-powered kid on the block for Sales users, so it's time to get up to speed on how it works and the best way to adopt it.

We'll look at the new Outlook functionality that awaits users - email summaries, smart suggestions and tight CRM integration. Then we'll go beyond Outlook and see how Copilot for Sales can be used in Teams, PowerPoint and Word to help salespeople prepare for meetings, collaborate on deals and build stronger relationships with customers.

Finally, we'll look at the practical stuff: how to deploy Copilot for Sales and get users onboard and productive with the new tools available to them.

This is the biggest shift for Dynamics 365 Sales users in years - let's explore it together!

Making the most of Dynamics 365 Sales and the AI revolution

If your organisation is using Dynamics 365 Sales, you should ensure it maximises the potential of Dynamics 365 Sales by leveraging its newest features. These tools are designed to streamline your sales team's workflow, enabling them to accomplish tasks more efficiently. This increased efficiency frees up valuable time, allowing your salespeople to focus on what matters most: engaging and building relationships with customers.

Discover how the Sales Accelerator optimises sales efforts, Sequences can automate key tasks, and Conversation intelligence offers deep insights into customer interactions. Learn about the revolutionary impact of Copilot in Dynamics 365 Sales and Sales Copilot, which leverage AI to enhance sales strategies and decision-making. This interactive session will feature live demonstrations, engaging participants in hands-on scenarios to showcase the practical application of these features.

This session aims to educate and inspire, focusing on practical solutions to modern sales challenges. Join us to unlock the full potential of Dynamics 365 Sales and stay ahead in the evolving world of sales technology.

A beginner's guide to speaking at events

Do you want to start speaking at community events or user groups but don't quite know where to start?

Join me for a fun, interactive session where we'll talk about how to choose a topic, how to find events, how to submit your session, getting prepared to speak, presentation tips and more!

Make 2024 the year you start getting more involved in our fantastic community! I'm here to help you do that - bring your questions!

Exploring Dynamics 365 Sales for Business Central Users

If you're already using Dynamics 365 Business Central, you might be curious about what Dynamics 365 Sales has to offer. In this session, we'll bridge the gap between the two.

We'll start with the basics of Sales, highlighting its user-friendly features and how it can simplify your sales processes. You'll see firsthand how it can help organise your sales tasks, manage customer relationships and track potential opportunities.
We'll also give you a brief introduction to Copilot, a handy tool within Sales that can assist with tasks like email responses and meeting summaries.

By the end of the session, you'll have a clear understanding of how Dynamics 365 Sales can complement your existing Business Central setup, and how the two can work together to make business operations smoother. Join us for a practical dive into another side of Dynamics 365.

Turbocharge Your App Development with Copilot in Microsoft Power Platform

Dive into this interactive session to explore how using the new Copilot functionality in Power Platform will revolutionise your app development process.

Learn how to leverage Copilot's AI capabilities within Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI to create apps in record time. Not only that, but we'll build a working app in the session and YOU get to decide what the app does!

Attendees will gain insights on why this powerful combination of Copilot and Power Platform is a game-changer, and walk away with practical knowledge on utilising Copilot to streamline app creation and boost productivity. Don't miss this opportunity to transform your app-building experience!

Change Requires Management - Improve your chances of a successful Dynamics 365 project

Why do so many CRM projects ‘fail’, or at least not achieve all of their objectives? A major reason is that the business is not properly prepared for the change brought by the new system.

We'll discuss some of the primary change management obstacles typically encountered on Dynamics 365 projects. Then, using methods backed by 20 years of independent research by Prosci, we'll talk about ways in which you can address these problems and increase your chances of project success!

Turning resistance into results: proven strategies for Dynamics 365 success

Dynamics 365 projects aren’t just about technology - they’re about the people using it. This session will focus on practical ways to overcome resistance and help your organisation succeed with Dynamics 365. We'll look at the most common reasons projects struggle, from mismatched expectations to poor user adoption, and how to tackle them head-on.

Drawing on nearly 20 years of experience and a proven change management framework, you’ll learn how to get your organisation on board, address resistance, and set your project up for success. This session will give you practical tips you can apply immediately to ensure your Dynamics 365 project delivers lasting results.

Requested by Antti Pajunen for EPPC 2025