Crafting the Perfect Desktop End-User Experience

This session is part of the NerdioCon 2026 on demand series [link]—replays of our top sessions from NerdioCon 2026 

End-user experience is one of those things that's easy to deprioritize until it becomes a problem. Slow onboarding, inconsistent configurations, friction at every turn: these aren't just annoyances; they're productivity killers that land on your team to fix. In this session, Aaron Parker brings back one of the most popular talks in NerdioCon history—fully updated for 2026—and gets specific about what it actually takes to design a desktop experience that works... for both users and the IT teams supporting them. 

Through practical guidance and live demos, Aaron walks through how to use Windows Autopilot, Intune, Microsoft 365 Apps, plus customization packages to build an environment that's consistent, fast to deploy, and easy to maintain. Whether you're managing physical desktops, virtual desktops, or both, you'll walk away with a concrete playbook for reducing friction, cutting deployment time, and raising the bar on what "good" looks like for your end users. 

• How to streamline onboarding with Windows Autopilot so new users are productive from day one, without manual setup or IT hand-holding. 

• How to configure sensible defaults and policies in Intune that reduce friction without sacrificing control or consistency. 

• How to leverage Microsoft 365 Apps and customization packages to deliver enterprise-ready applications at scale across physical and virtual desktops. 

• Best practices for designing a UX that holds up across diverse user types, device types, and deployment scenarios.