As the Christmas TV adverts fill our screens and the festive decoration go up, it can only mean one thing: Bett 2017 is nearly upon us.

For the Microsoft education team BETT is a special time of the year where we meet with our broader community, provide a stage for our Showcase Schools and MIEEs to share their stories/best practice and connect with the many Microsoft partners exhibiting at the show.

We will be sharing a more in-depth overview of our plans for the show post-Christmas, but wanted to take this opportunity to give a top level overview of the core themes and focus areas for what we have planned for visitors.

Building on our close relationship with the lovely team at i2i, Microsoft is once again a Worldwide BETT Partner. As part of this partnership, we will be working closely to share amazing examples of Classroom best practice, celebrate educators – who are the real heroes in schools – and help inspire schools leaders to embark on their own digital transformation journey.

More specifically, Microsoft will be participating in a wide range of activities, both on the show floor and across a number of featured fringe events.

The core focus will be the main Microsoft booth at BETT 2017 where we will be running a packed series of educator led ‘Learn Live’ Theatre sessions that are guaranteed to provide you with something you can take back to your school and start implementing straight away, to better engage learners and empower educators.

These will be complemented with hands-on sessions within our showcase classroom where you can roll your sleeves up and experience how Windows 10, OneNote and more can help improve experiences and learning outcomes in the classroom. These are always a lot of fun and places fill up quickly. Make sure you don’t miss out!

Outside of these sessions, no BETT Show would be complete without a wide selection of the latest devices and collaboration tools being available for visitors to experience that help empower students to be able to learn through doing — solving problems, practicing, progressing and having fun along the way.

These include all the latest Surface and OEM devices, Surface Hub, Skype in the Classroom, Office 365, OneNote and Learning Tools. Sway, Office Mix and Microsoft in the Classroom will also be available to visitors to explore.

A wide range of teacher training and CPD opportunities, centered around our Microsoft Educator Community platform will also be available for educators to learn new skills, get trained, connect with other educators and be inspired. Pop over to the Microsoft booth to learn more.

Finally, we will have a wide range of activities – including a Microsoft Partner Village – for visitors to experience.

More details about all of these activities will be shared in our next post. Watch this space.