First we got the James Beard Awards. Then we scored the NFL Draft. And today Mayor Emanuel announced that new tech conference Microsoft Ignite is coming to Chicago in 2015.
Taking place from May 4–8 at McCormick Place, the conference will bring in 20,000 attendees and $47 million in spending, the city estimates in a press release.
So what's going to happen at this new conference? Judging by the website created for Microsoft Ignite, attendees will hear various Microsoft bigwigs speak, including CEO Satya Nadella, who recently drew fire for saying that women shouldn't ask for raises, and should instead rely on "good karma."
According to the site, "the best and brightest minds will be all in one place to talk cloud infrastructure and management, productivity, big data and the internet of things, unified communications, mobility and more." Attendees will also be able to have a "hands-on experience" with Microsoft products like Surface, Lync and Microsoft Office 365. Is it just us, or is this just a massive, days-long ad for Microsoft?