The Road to ECS - S1 E1: Lee Stott & Vesa Juvonen

Welcome, everyone, to the very first episode of The Road to ECS.
Hey, folks.
Today, this is going to be our first inaugural episode of The Road to ECS. And of course, we have just published the content for 2025 last week, basically. And we have the people who are among the most responsible for having this content.
We also have people directly in charge of the program for the European AI and Cloud Summit.
So, right. Why are we here? Apparently, all roads lead to ECS, right?
There you go. Right, so first things first. Folks might have heard about the event and maybe gotten a bit of the history of where it came from. But let’s recap that very shortly because we don’t have that much time.
Also, another thing: why another event?
Two things: where are we coming from, and why another one? One more event across all the lateral events.
This is really an easy and cool story.
My two friends and colleagues — and more than friends — and I were sitting in a bar for a few hours. At some point in time, the idea came for a conference.
Now, twelve years later, we’ve got an event with three thousand people from all over Europe having a lot of fun.
The first editions were hosted from 2012 to 2017 in Zagreb, Croatia’s capital. In the beginning, it was under the name SPC Adriatics, which stood for SharePoint and Project Conference Adriatics.
At some point in 2017, it became clear that the focus was getting too one-sided. SharePoint development basically became Azure development. There were many other segments within Microsoft 365 besides just SharePoint or Project.
So the name changed to European Collaboration Summit in 2017. That was also the last year it was held in Zagreb.
Soon after that, there was a realization that more space was needed for development, infrastructure, business, and government topics within the European Cloud Summit, which later changed its name to European AI and Cloud Summit.
The first edition was supposed to happen in 2020, but it didn’t. We all know the reasons.
There are a bunch of events across the world, and in theory they’re all the same. You go to a place, you learn from experts — either people who work at Microsoft and build products, or people who implement things in practice and bring their real-life experience.
ECS is that, but ECS is also more.
For many people, ECS means a reunion. It’s a chance to see people they’ve known for a long time, many of whom they now call friends.
The learning aspect is important — and there’s always something to learn — but more importantly, it’s about building relationships and reconnecting with people you trust.
If you attend events regularly, you start seeing the same folks again and again because people come back if they enjoy an event.
Another great thing is meeting new people. Every single time, for every person you know, there will be a few you don’t know. You get to hear about their journey and experience.
One thing people don’t often talk about is this:
What would be your tip for every attendee? Imagine it’s your first time or maybe you’ve attended many times. How can you get the most out of ECS from the moment you arrive until after you leave?
Talk to everyone. Meet people. Exchange experiences.
This is an amazing place to do that because the event has grown in numbers but still kept the community spirit. People are approachable — speakers, attendees, sponsors, everyone will talk to you.
So go talk to people, network, learn things, exchange experiences.
Technology now supports pretty much every persona out there.
There are developers, engineers, IT admins, operations people, compliance specialists, and technical decision-makers. The conference now caters to much more than just developers.
It’s about understanding different scenarios and features, and getting different personas to meet each other.
Organizations can grow, adopt technology, and learn best practices, but more importantly they can listen and share experiences.
Discussion panels, theater sessions, and workshops provide a lot of variety in what people can engage with and learn from.
Technology is no longer on an annual release cycle. Three years ago it was all about major yearly announcements. Now something new comes every three weeks.
No one is truly an expert anymore because things change too fast.
People can move much more quickly from proof of concept to MVPs. That creates opportunities for startups, side projects, and innovation.
There are now technologies like RAG and fine-tuning that allow models to become more specialized or enriched with specific data.
Everything today is based on the idea that computers are getting smarter and helping people become more efficient.
The networking aspect is incredibly important because developers often get business ideas from business users and decision-makers.
Those ideas come from real business gaps and requirements. That’s why networking spaces, expo areas, and conference gatherings matter so much.
The technologies are all mixing together now. What used to be separate ecosystems are becoming increasingly integrated.
Looking back historically, SharePoint was the leading product and still remains fundamental because files, intranets, and news systems are still built around it.
But over time, the ecosystem evolved into multiple products, which is actually good because innovation now happens across all areas.
The conference itself evolved from being about one product into an event driving innovation across industries.
A third summit was introduced because that area had grown too much to remain just part of ECS. So now there are three connected conferences.
One thing people get at ECS is learning. But they also get the chance to talk to others, share stories, and exchange experiences.
Talking to strangers is hard for many people though.
So here’s a question: what’s one thing an attendee could ask to break the ice?
“How can I get more closely involved with communities worldwide?”
Or simply:
“What’s this lanyard for?”
Because it breaks the ice. Just say hi. Whether you’re in line for coffee or registration, start with hello.
There are large events like ECS with three thousand people, but also smaller community events all over Europe — Germany, Amsterdam, Brussels, London, Portugal, Croatia, Hungary, Norway, Switzerland, and many others.
There are also online opportunities, but there’s something special about meeting in person.
As organizers, people are often approached with practical questions like “When is lunch?”
But honestly, what would really be nice to hear is:
“Do you want a hug at some point?”
There you go. If you see the organizers at ECS, give them a hug.
Hopefully this episode goes out on Friday because the goal is for the podcast to stay lighthearted and fun. Good Friday content.
Very soon, there will be announcements about new guests and new things coming to ECS in May because the road to ECS continues until then.
All right, folks. Thank you all.
See you at ECS. Cheers. Bye-bye.