As a quick reminder, our Call for Topics is still open for a few more days! Summ. Summit is very much intended to be a kind of mega-user group, not a “conference,” so don’t assume all the “professional” speakers have taken up all the speaking slots. We want you to participate!
In the meantime, while we’re waiting on the content committee to select topics and before registration opens in early November, I wanted to offer a peek at what we’re planning.

Deep Dive Day

Sunday is now a formal “full day” of Summit, rather than a “pre-con” day. That means we’ll be presenting both Intermediate and Advanced content, including an opportunity for you to dig into the new open-source PowerShell GitHub repo, learn about the layout of the code, review what the community’s been up to with that code, and more. Sunday will also offer two Lab opportunities, one for Advanced Functions and one for DSC Resources. You’ll be able to wander in at will, and share some of your work with a domain expert, who’ll offer critique and advice. We’ll also have some pre-done scenarios, in case you’d like to try your hand and test your skills. The full four-day pass is expected to cost $1500, and will be the first opened for registration in November (3-day is expected to be $950 or $975, and will open in January or February).

All Together Now

Monday (the first day you can attend on a 3-day pass) will feature an opening keynote by myself, a full session with ShellFather Jeffrey Snover, an update on PowerShell from team leaders, and our now-famous Lightning Demos from various developers on the team. We’ll finish the day with a grand reception, where you can mix and mingle with everyone you’ve seen, and enjoy some quality food and beverages.

Breakout!

All day Tuesday, as well as Wednesday morning, we’ll feature our usual 45-minute breakout sessions on a huge variety of deep topics. We’ll be covering DSC, pull servers, JEA, best practices, security, and SO much more, including sessions delivered by members of the PowerShell product team. We’ve got a full three tracks - more than last year! - of content planned.

Par-ti-ci-pa-tion

We’ve noticed that Wednesday afternoons can drag a bit - so after lunch, we’re going to roll out some great snacks and drinks. Wednesday afternoon will get more interactive, with a variety of Community Lightning Demos (sign up on site with the moderator), panel discussions, focus groups, and more.

On The Air

We’ve expanded and refined our session recording capabilities, and you can expect better audio, as well as screen-capture recordings for every session (barring technical difficulties), something we haven’t been previously able to do with this much content. All sessions are made available on YouTube within a couple of weeks of the event’s conclusion (we do not live-stream, and we won’t be posting sessions instantly each day).

Networking

It ain’t just for routers and switches - Summit remains dedicated to providing plenty of face time with your fellow PowerShell and DevOps enthusiasts. We’ll offer additional evening fun (anyone interested in a trip to the Microsoft Museum one evening? We’re looking into it), side rooms for breakout conversations, and of course we encourage everyone to participate in breakout sessions by offering comments and asking questions.

Extra Bits

2017 will be the Fifth Anniversary of Summit, and so we’re bringing along some extra swag and collectible opportunities. If you attended in 2016, bring your 1-inch button to wear around your badge lanyard and show your alumni status (we’ll have 2017 buttons, too). Some merchandise will only be available as an advance purchase, so watch PowerShell.org for details; other merch might be available on-site, but in very limited quantities, so be sure to get that 4-day pass!

Mark Your Calendars

Sunday-Wednesday passes will open for registration the first week of November, 2016; we expect Monday-Wednesday passes to become available in January or February. As always, registration is limited to about 200 attendees (plus our speakers and the product team members), so _don’t delay. _Because registrations are nonrefundable, we do not maintain a waitlist, and we fully expect to sell out - as we have every year.