Microsoft has chosen a name for its new unified enterprise technology conference that kicks off next May, and opened registration for it on October 16.

The new conference, Ignite, will be held May 4 through 8 in Chicago. Ignite replaces and brings under a single umbrella a number of Microsoft conferences including TechEd, the Microsoft Management Summit, the Exchange, SharePoint, Lync and Project conferences.

The Microsoft speaker line-up for the show includes CEO Satya Nadella, Corporate Vice President Brad Anderson, UX chief Joe Belfiore, Chief Technology Officer Dave Campbell , Executive Vice President of Global Business Development Peggy Johnson , OS services chief Chris Jones, Executive Vice President Julie Larson-Green (who is working on redesigning the Office UI), Skype/Lync Corporate Vice President Gurdeep Singh Pall and many others.

Microsoft also went public on October 16 with its dates for its next Build conference. The next Build show will be held in San Francisco April 29 to May 1.

Here's how Microsoft officials are positioning Ignite:

"If you are on the hook to help your company make the right tech moves in the new world of mobile and cloud, Ignite is the show for you. For the first time ever, we’re putting under one roof the education, vision and guidance for the full spectrum of our enterprise solutions....

"We’re going to cover it all, across cloud infrastructure and management, big data and analytics, productivity, unified communications, operating systems, mobile devices and more. You’ll get the practical guidance and the insight you need to build a game plan for that big project....

"In addition to hundreds of sessions, technical training, hands-on labs and opportunities for certification, we’re making it a priority to give attendees direct access to hundreds of Microsoft engineers and executives. Our top gearheads and thought leaders will be there in force, ready to step down from the podium and get into the weeds with you."

Interestingly, Ignite was not on the initial list of conference names Microsoft floated with some of its insiders earlier this year. To me, this name is better than any of those previous ideas.

In addition to Ignite and Build 2015, other shows already on Microsoft's 2015 conference calendar include Convergence 2015 (its Dynamics CRM/ERP show) which will be in Atlanta March 16-19; and the Worldwide Partner Conference 2015, which will be in Orlando July 12-16.