From “How Do You Spell Breakfast?” to the Microsoft MVP Summit

Traci Williams shares what it’s like to attend the MVP Summit, and gives her top tips for attending a multi-day conference

I often think back to one of my earliest school memories. I must have been about six years old. I asked the teacher how to spell breakfast. She looked me up and down and said, “You look like you’re wearing half of it” and walked away.

I remember feeling embarrassed. The egg on my jumper was from my dinner the night before, and I was wearing the same clothes again. That moment stayed with me. Not because of the spelling (I did eventually learn that!), but because of how small it made me feel. Like I didn’t quite belong. Like I shouldn’t be asking questions.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and I found myself at Microsoft Headquarters in Seattle, attending the Microsoft MVP Summit as a Microsoft Excel MVP (Most Valuable Professional), surrounded by some of the most brilliant minds in technology.

The ‘wall’ with all the MVPs’ names… including mine!

The Experience

Just being at Microsoft HQ (the Home of Excel!) was surreal. It’s not just one building, but an entire campus (0.78 square miles), with offices, labs, and even treehouse meeting spaces. (The treehouses were my favourite thing; they’d make any meeting more fun.)

But what really stood out wasn’t the scale, it was the atmosphere. The Microsoft MVP Summit is an invitation-only event where MVPs connect directly with the teams behind products like Excel. It’s a genuine two-way exchange: we gain insight into what’s coming next, and Microsoft gains real-world feedback from the people using these tools every day. That’s what makes it so powerful. Because it’s not just about learning, it’s about contributing.

Being in the Room

Very quickly, I found myself surrounded by incredibly intelligent people: Microsoft engineers, product teams, and fellow MVPs from around the world. And yes, there was a moment where I thought, “Do I belong here?” Then I remembered a quote from Confucius:

“If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.”

Which meant I was exactly where I needed to be. So, I leaned into it. I listened more than I spoke (which, for me, is saying something!) and absorbed as much as I could. There is something incredibly powerful about being surrounded by people who care deeply about what they do. You feel it everywhere – in the sessions, in conversations over coffee, and in the discussions over dinner where ideas are flowing faster than you can keep up. It goes beyond Excel. It’s about innovation, curiosity, and problem-solving. And it stretches your thinking in ways you simply can’t replicate on your own.

Stepping Up

Attending the Summit wasn’t about turning up, it was about stepping up. It meant long-haul flights, jet lag (very real!), and navigating unfamiliar surroundings. It meant walking into rooms with new people and starting conversations from scratch. Those small moments – introducing yourself, asking a question, saying “hello” – can feel uncomfortable. But they’re also where growth happens.

What made it easier was the community. The Excel world is full of genuinely supportive, welcoming people, which meant no one stayed a stranger for long.

Even though I am confident, there were definitely moments of imposter syndrome too. Moments where I looked around the room and wondered whether I was experienced enough, knowledgeable enough, or accomplished enough to be there.

But I had a great conversation with one of the other MVPs, where I voiced this and they reminded me that every opinion and contribution counts. We as MVPs all have different experiences, skill levels, and ideas, and that’s what makes the MVP program so ACE, purely because we’re all so diverse.

This single conversation made me view the entire MVP program and my place in it differently, in a positive way.

Why This Matters

For me, being there wasn’t about the experience, it was about what I could bring back. I spend my days helping people make sense of Excel, making it simpler, more accessible, and far less intimidating. Being at the MVP Summit gives me a direct line to the people who build IT, and that’s huge.

It means I can take real-world challenges, things my clients struggle with, and feed them directly back to the Excel development team. It means ‘we’ get to play a small part in shaping how Excel evolves.

That’s something I’m incredibly excited and passionate about because every improvement, every new feature, has the potential to help thousands of people work smarter, not harder.

There’s really nothing better than being around people who share the same passion for what you love and watching how they were able to contribute to the discussion with real-life examples from their clients. It made me realise I’ve never really ‘asked’ my client base what changes they would like to see in Excel, and it inspired me to issue a short survey the minute I got home!

I’m still collecting results, so please feel free to fill it out: Excel & AI Usage Survey

A Full Circle Moment

Standing there, it was hard not to think about that little girl asking how to spell breakfast. Not with sadness, but with gratitude and perspective. Because journeys like this aren’t built on big, dramatic moments. They’re built on lots of small steps. Asking questions. Trying things. Getting things wrong. Trying again. If I could go back and tell her anything, it would be this:

Keep asking the questions.

Because one day, those questions will take you further than you ever imagined.