Some conferences you attend for the technology. Others you attend for the people. And then some conferences stay with you because they manage to bring both together. For me, Scottish Summit is one of those conferences.
I keep coming back for a reason. Scottish Summit has always felt different to me. It is one of those conferences I genuinely want to travel to, whether I am lucky enough to be there as a speaker or to attend as a member of the community.
Being a speaker is an honour, but what truly draws me back is the sense of community, the conversations, and the welcoming atmosphere that make this conference special to me.
The conference day on Saturday brought together the Microsoft community around familiar topics such as Microsoft 365, Azure, Security, Power Platform, AI, and the Cloud. But another part of the agenda made this conference particularly special to me: Inclusion & Personal Development had its own dedicated place in the programme.
And that matters.
Making Space for Topics Beyond Technology
Most conferences I attend revolve around technology. We discuss architectures, products, security, cloud services, AI, Microsoft 365, and other topics that occupy our professional activities. These topics matter because they’re a key reason we unite as a technical community.
However, our professional lives aren’t solely defined by technology.
Behind every architecture diagram, every PowerShell script, every Microsoft 365 tenant and every project are people. People with different experiences, challenges, fears, ambitions and personal histories.
Topics like inclusion, health, and personal development often get little space at tech events, but at Scottish Summit, sharing personal stories creates genuine trust and understanding.
That is one reason Scottish Summit stands out for me, and why returning to Edinburgh feels worthwhile every time. For me, that changes a conference’s character.
Stepping Outside My Comfort Zone
This year’s Scottish Summit was also a very personal milestone for me.
In my session, “Hidden Disabilities – Courage, Awareness & the Challenge of Speaking Up in IT,” I shared my personal experience to encourage others to open up about their own challenges and foster a more inclusive community.
That was new territory for me.
I am used to standing in front of an audience and talking about Exchange, Microsoft 365, security or cloud technology. Technical topics bring a certain comfort. There are architectures to explain, configurations to discuss and technical facts to rely on.
Talking about hidden disabilities is different. Talking about hidden disabilities made me open and vulnerable, intentionally stepping outside my comfort zone to promote personal growth.
I am therefore especially grateful to the Scottish Summit organising team for giving me the opportunity and the space to do this. Being able to bring such a topic to a technology conference is anything but something I take for granted.
It was a completely new experience, and an important one.
The Conversations Between the Sessions
Looking back, however, it is not just the sessions that I will remember. It is the conversations.
Those brief encounters in the hallway. Conversations over coffee. Discussions that start with technology and suddenly turn into something much more personal. And sometimes the conversation after a session becomes more important than the session itself.
For me, this is what community conferences are ultimately about. We share knowledge, of course. But we also share experiences. And sometimes someone tells you something that makes you stop, listen and think differently about your own experiences.
Those are the moments that make attending a conference worth far more than simply consuming technical content.
“More To Life Than Work”
One session stayed with me: “More To Life Than Work” with Matt Beard and Zoe Wilson.
Their openness in talking about their personal development and recent experiences deeply impressed me.
What made the session so powerful was not simply that they spoke about difficult personal experiences. It was the connection between personal life and professional life, and the reality that the two cannot always be neatly separated.
What happens to us outside work does not magically disappear when we open a laptop, enter an office or join a Teams meeting. Personal circumstances can fundamentally change how we see our work, our priorities and sometimes ourselves.
Hearing Matt and Zoe speak so openly, including about the impact on their professional lives and how their employers dealt with their situations, visibly moved the people in the room.
It certainly moved me.
Some conference sessions leave you with notes, links, or ideas you want to try Monday morning. And then there are sessions where you leave with thoughts that stay with you much longer.
This was one of those sessions for me.
More Than Just a Conference
Scottish Summit describes itself as “More Than Just a Conference.”
After this year’s event, I understand that description even better.
Technology brought us to Edinburgh. But technology alone didn’t make the day special.
It was the willingness to make room for conversations that are sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes very personal, and often difficult to start, inspiring attendees like us to pursue similar opportunities for growth and connection in our own communities.
For me personally, Scottish Summit 2026 was also about stepping into unfamiliar territory and speaking about something that matters to me beyond my usual technical world.
I am glad I took that step.
And I am grateful to everyone who shared a conversation, listened to my session, told their own story or took the time to listen.
Because in the end, I won’t remember the technology most from Scottish Summit 2026.
It is the people.
Further information about Scottish Summit 2026 is available on the official Scottish Summit website.
Edited with the help of Grammarly
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