Microsoft merges six major conferences into one

Microsoft’s TechEd, Management Summit, Exchange Conference, SharePoint Conference, Project Conference and Lync Conference will all be replaced by the Ignite event, which will take place on 4-8 May 2015 in Chicago. The event is expected to attract 20,000 delegates.

Ignite will be one of four major US conferences to take place in 2015, with the business event Convergence taking place in Atlanta in March. This will be followed by Build in San Francisco in April and lastly the Worldwide Partner Summit in Orlando in July.

A statement on Microsoft’s website read: "Last July, we put the word out that Microsoft will host a unified enterprise technology conference in May.

"For the first time ever, we’re putting under one roof the education, vision and guidance for the full spectrum of our enterprise solutions."

The Ignite event is estimated to generate £29m ($47m) for Chicago in terms of its economic impact.