Go Deep: Sign up for a Focused Pre-Day Session at Microsoft Ignite

Ignite—the premier Microsoft tech conference—is definitely going to be intense. Because that’s the way IT pros like it.

There’s an easy way to step it up and learn as much as you can in the shortest period of time: arrive a day early and sign up for any of the 17 day-long classes offered on the newest and best technologies. It costs a little more ($500, to be precise) and it's worth it.

Here are just two examples of the intensive, 300-level classes on Sunday, May 3, 2015:

The Microsoft Azure Cloud for IT Pros

Looking for an overview of what Azure is all about? An overview with depth? A chance to get your detailed questions answered? This is your best opportunity.

In this demo-packed session created for IT influencers as well as implementers, John Craddock will let you know what skills you’ll need to manage, control, and maximize the potential of your entire IT environment. Cloud services are an extension of your on-premises environment, requiring you to learn new technologies and new approaches to building, deploying, and managing applications, services, and networks. This is powerful stuff.

Craddock is an outstanding presenter. He has the expertise: he’s designed systems ranging from high-speed industrial controllers to distributed IT systems, with a focus on identity, security, and high availability. He’s also an accomplished trainer, developing and publishing courses worldwide through his company, XTSeminars.

Hybrid Cloud Management and Automation with Microsoft System Center

During this session, you’ll hear from a full team of presenters, including Alex Frankel, Daniele Muscetta, Joe Levy, John Ballard, Laura Cruz, and Ravi Kiran Chintalapudi. Together, they’ll cover how to manage disparate infrastructures and workloads that span cloud boundaries.

You’ll learn how the new Azure Operational Insights can turn data into real-time operational intelligence for automated troubleshooting across multiple data sources. You’ll also learn how intelligence packs can automatically perform the initial analysis for critical scenarios such as capacity planning, configuration intelligence, and change tracking.

You’ll also get the details on Azure Automation, particularly how it can help you automate the manual, long-running, error-prone, and frequently repeated tasks that are commonly performed in a cloud environment. You’ll find out how you can create, monitor, manage, and deploy resources in your Azure environment using runbooks, which are based on Azure PowerShell workflows.

In this one-day session created for IT decision makers, you’ll learn how to save your team untold amounts of time—well worth the $500 investment.

So are you getting excited about Ignite? Subscribe to the email newsletter here. And if you haven’t already, register for Ignite here.