Microsoft Ignite 2016 Registration Now Open

Microsoft’s multi-event merge that culminated in the company’s first-ever Ignite conference last year in Chicago, has now opened its doors for general registration.

Earlier this year, the company changed its plans, announcing that Ignite would be hosted in Atlanta instead of returning to Chicago. There was much hubbub over the inaugural event in Chicago, including an announcement from Microsoft’s Julia White at a Chicago presser suggesting that the combination of several Microsoft-owned events came from customer feedback.

Nothing was communicated about why there was a location and date change. But, speculation suggests that Microsoft needed desperately to alter the date to better match the company’s scheduled product messaging and the new dates weren’t available for the McCormick Center in Chicago. Ignite is a Keynote Conference so must match product timelines to be most valuable to Microsoft.

Ignite offers 700+ sessions and runs from September 26-30, 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia. There were roughly 30,000 attendees last year and according to reports, Microsoft would be fine with an event that boasted 50,000 or more.

Funny enough, Brad Anderson's "In the Cloud" blog boasted open registration yesterday. That post was subsequently removed. Expect it to go live again sometime today.