It’s that time of year when everything slows down a bit, and I find myself reflecting on what we accomplished and looking ahead to what’s next. I wanted to share some of that with you.
Looking Back at 2025
This year brought some meaningful changes to how Voitanos works, and I’m excited about all of them.
New Website & Brand Refresh
I relaunched the Voitanos website with a completely refreshed brand. The goal was simple: make it easier for you to find what you need and better reflect what Voitanos has become over the years.
Launched Voitanos Learn
I also migrated from my old student platform (Kajabi) to Voitanos Learn on Circle. This new platform offers a much better student experience with faster navigation, better community features, and a more intuitive way to work through courses.
Private Coaching
I quietly launched private coaching this year, and it’s quickly become one of my fastest-growing offerings. I genuinely love working directly with companies and their development teams over an extended period. There’s something really rewarding about diving deep into a team’s specific challenges rather than teaching in generalities. If your team is tackling M365 development and could use hands-on guidance, I’d love to chat.
Live Learning Options
For years, I focused primarily on self-paced courses. They work well for a lot of people, but I’ve seen growing interest in live learning where developers can interact directly, ask questions in real-time, and benefit from the accountability that comes with a cohort. I started exploring this with my multi-week accelerators, but last year I shifted to shorter 3-day workshops that are more accessible and affordable.
The response has been fantastic, and I’m leaning into these even more in 2026.
Building Declarative Agents for Microsoft 365 Copilot
This one has really taken off. Five cohorts and 160 students have gone through this workshop now. Cohort 6 is scheduled for April 2026, and if you’re looking to extend Microsoft 365 Copilot with custom agents, this is where you’ll want to be. You’ll learn the approach Microsoft uses internally but rarely mentions in its marketing.
This 3-day workshop on building declarative agents for Microsoft 365 Copilot was exactly what I needed. I walked away with practical knowledge on how to build and extend declarative agents, plus the critical context of when and why to use them for different business cases. Many thanks to Andrew for all his efforts to make such valuable material and share his knowledge and experience. Highly recommend if you want hands-on learning that goes beyond the basics.
Sergey
Consultant Microsoft 365 | SharePoint | Power Platform
Get the most out of your Microsoft 365 Copilot investment with declarative agents, bringing data from LOB systems, and apply instructions for unique scenarios.
https://www.voitanos.io/workshop-microsoft-365-copilot-build-declarative-agents/
[SharePoint Framework Workshop](/workshop-sharepoint-framework)
I revamped this workshop for the next delivery in January 2026. Whether you’re building your first SPFx solution or need to modernize existing ones, this workshop takes you from setup through production-ready deployment. We cover web parts, extensions, React, Microsoft Graph, and all the real-world patterns you won’t find in the docs.
This workshop was incredibly helpful! I went from knowing little about the SharePoint Framework to confidently building my first web part in just a few hours. I now have the skills to create customized user experiences for our SharePoint sites.
Jocelyn Zavala
Microsoft 365 Functional Specialist | Enhancing User Experience | MCSA
LeasePlanLearn the SharePoint Framework (SPFx) in this live, multi-day workshop with Andrew Connell! Includes instructor-led demos to apply what you learned in class.
https://www.voitanos.io/workshop-sharepoint-framework/
Microsoft Teams Apps & Tabs Workshop
This is brand new, and I’m really excited about it. The first delivery is February 2026. If Teams development is on your radar, this workshop shows you how to build enterprise web apps that run inside Teams without managing separate client applications. We cut through Microsoft’s confusing SDK guidance and focus on what actually works.
Andrew has a commanding knowledge of MS Teams development. His demos included fully developed solutions that will be a tremendous help to our company as a reference for how to implement Teams apps, message extensions, and bots. I appreciated Andrew's regular checks of our understanding of the material and his offers to resolve any questions or difficulties.
Chad Vice
Sr. Software Engineer
NelnetCreate apps and tabs for Microsoft Teams in this live, multi-day workshop with Andrew Connell! Includes instructor-led demos to apply what you learned in class.
https://www.voitanos.io/workshop-microsoft-teams-apps-tabs/
All three workshops offer early bird discounts (save $50 when you register before the deadline) and purchase power parity (adjusted pricing based on your country’s cost of living, so developers worldwide can access quality training).
Looking Forward to 2026
More Live Learning
I’m going deeper on live workshops in 2026 while continuing to offer self-paced options for those who prefer that format. Here’s what’s on deck:
- January 2026: SharePoint Framework Workshop
- February 2026: Microsoft Teams Apps & Tabs Workshop
- April 2026: Building Declarative Agents for Microsoft 365 Copilot (Cohort 6)
Mastering the SharePoint Framework Updates
SPFx v1.22 fundamentally changed the build toolchain, moving away from the gulp-based approach. This impacts the getting started chapters, lessons throughout the courses that reference gulp tasks, and the toolchain customization chapters on gulp and webpack in the Ultimate bundle.
Microsoft has also announced upcoming changes to project scaffolding, retiring the Yeoman generator in favor of a new CLI-based approach.
Here’s where things stand:
- I’m actively updating existing sample projects to the latest SPFx version.
- I’m holding off on more significant lesson updates until Microsoft releases the new CLI.
This approach enables me to give you guidance that reflects where things are actually heading, not where they’ve been.
Voitanos Learn Improvements
I’m working through the plans for some upcoming changes and improvements to Voitanos Learn during this quiet part of the year. Stay tuned for more on these - I’m excited about what’s coming for existing and future students!
A Quick Ask
While I have you, would you mind answering a few questions? I’d genuinely love to hear from you!
Just leave a comment below with your answers!
- What’s your primary (and secondary) development focus for 2026?
- Are you using AI coding assistants in your development workflow?
- If so, what are you using? (Cursor, Windsurf, GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Codex, something else?)
- Would you be interested in learning how AI can make you more productive in your M365 development work?
- If there was one course or workshop you wished I offered, what would it be?
Anything else you want to share?
Wishing you a great end to 2025 and an even better 2026!!! 🍾 🎉 🥳
Microsoft MVP, Full-Stack Developer & Chief Course Artisan - Voitanos LLC.
Andrew Connell is a full stack developer who focuses on Microsoft Azure & Microsoft 365. He’s a 21-year recipient of Microsoft’s MVP award and has helped thousands of developers through the various courses he’s authored & taught. Whether it’s an introduction to the entire ecosystem, or a deep dive into a specific software, his resources, tools, and support help web developers become experts in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, so they can become irreplaceable in their organization.
