The Inaugural Microsoft Envision Conference

April 2016. New Orleans, LA, The New Orleans Convention Center

In 2016, Microsoft launched a new conference, Microsoft Envision, with the goal of bringing together business leaders and decision makers from across several industry sectors to discuss trends and technology that are helping enterprises succeed in a fast changing world.

For the opening keynote, Empire delivered astronaut Captain Scott Kelly for his first public appearance following his historic 340-day journey in space aboard the International Space Station. Captain Kelly joined Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella for an introductory conversation, as well as Microsoft CMO Chris Caposella later in the program for a ‘fireside chat’ in front of an audience of approximately 6,000 attendees. Throughout his on-stage appearance, Captain Kelly discussed how Microsoft’s augmented reality technology, Hololens, was used on the ISS and the challenges of living in space for a prolonged period of time.

On the conference’s second day, Empire helped the Microsoft Envision content team deliver a series of eight concurrent “State of the Industry” panel discussions on the topic of how technology is transforming business. Each panel included industry luminaries, established business leaders, disruptors, academics and industry association figures to bring broad perspective to the discussion. Industry panels were held for Government, Finance, Sports & Entertainment, Retail & Consumer Packaged Goods, Health Care, Travel & Hospitality and Professional Services. Among the 40+ participating panelists, notable figures included Former Senior Advisor to President Obama, Daniel Pfeiffer; Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for the NFL, Michelle McKenna Doyle; and the 18th Surgeon General of the United States, Regina Benjamin. Empire worked closely with the Microsoft Envision team to research, contract, coordinate and deliver all speakers for these panels.

To close out the inaugural Microsoft Envision, multiple Grammy-award winning band Train brought the attendees to their feet at a final night party that ended the conference on a high note. Train frontman, Pat Monahan, delighted the crowd by taking selfies on attendees phones during his performance, and inviting two lucky attendees on stage to belt out Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believing.’

For more information on Microsoft Envision, please visit: www.microsoft.com/en/envision