SharePoint Best Practices Conference – September 15-18, 2008

Ever wondered whether the way you’ve designed, implemented and continue to support your SharePoint installation is the best way possible? Or could there be easier, better, more efficient ways to get things done?

Almost every SharePoint practitioner I’ve met has wondered the same thing at one time or another.  Well here is your chance to find out.  Join some of the brightest SharePoint experts in the business to discuss just what are SharePoint’s Best Practices.

The first, and to the best of my knowledge only, conference dedicated to discussing SharePoint Best Practices will be held in Washington, DC from September 15-17.  As the conference Web site says,  “The 2008 Best Practices Conference replaces confusion with Clarity, Direction and Confidence by establishing key principles to guide effective SharePoint decision-making in any situation.”   Hope to see you there.

BP Conference

Speaking at the Cleveland SharePoint User’s Group

I will be speaking at the Cleveland SharePoint User Group on Wednesday, May 28th.  The meeting will start at 4:00pm.  My topic will be "SharePoint Content and Infrastructure Deployment”.  Here’s a brief description of the talk:

  • SharePoint Content and Infrastructure Deployment
    Deploying a custom SharePoint Web site can be confusing due to the array of tools available.  This is complicated even more because some tools are only appropriate in certain circumstances.  In this session we will review the variety of tools available and demonstrate how to use some of the most important ones.

The group will meet at the Microsoft Office in Cleveland and this will be the kick-off meeting.  Address information for the office is below.

 Cleveland SharePoint User Group Kick Off

Wednesday, May 28th from 4pm – 6:30pm

Cleveland Microsoft Office at 6050 Oak Tree Blvd.

Independence, 44131

Speaking at the Central Ohio SharePoint User Group in May

I will be speaking at the Central Ohio SharePoint User Group on Thursday, May 15th.  The meeting will be from 5:30-7:30pm.  My topic will be "SharePoint Content and Infrastructure Deployment”.  Here’s a brief description of the talk:

  • SharePoint Content and Infrastructure Deployment
    Deploying a custom SharePoint Web site can be confusing due to the array of tools available.  This is complicated even more because some tools are only appropriate in certain circumstances.  In this session we will review the variety of tools available and demonstrate how to use some of the most important ones.

The Central Ohio SharePoint User Group (COSPUG) is a Microsoft sponsored community group that comes together to explore SharePoint and the applications that work with SharePoint.  The user group is targeted towards end users, administrators, implementers, developers, and anyone who likes to learn about emerging technology. 

They meet the third Thursday of every month at the Microsoft Office in Columbus, Ohio.  Everyone who attends the user group meeting, no matter what their level of SharePoint experience is, will likely leave having learned something new.

Update 05/16/2008 ===================================================================

Here are the slides I used for my presentation.  You can also get them from the COSPUG site.  I will also probably be presenting the same talk at the new Cleveland SharePoint User’s Group on May 28th at the Microsoft Offices.  Watch this BLOG for more details.

SharePoint Connections Spring 2008

Ben Curry and I will be presenting a Post Con session on April 24, 2008 at the SharePoint Connections Conference.  The session will be entitled.  HPS301: Web Content Management (Bring Your Own Laptop).  You can read the abstract describing the session below.

In this hands-on workshop, you’ll learn how to leverage Office SharePoint Server 2007 to build “Content Driven” Web sites that are updated by the content owners while still maintaining a strong corporate branding. We’ll follow a recurring pattern of a short slide presentation followed by a longer “hands on” demo/lab. Attendees will be provided with handouts that contain click-by-click instructions that describe how to accomplish the lab. If you prefer not to have a computer in front of you, you’ll get just as much out of watching us demonstrate. All code snippets and materials needed to complete each lab will also be provided to the students. Attendees will complete the hands-on labs on their own laptops (or at home after class). The agenda for the day will include the following lessons.

  • Introduction to “Content Driven” Web Sites 
  • Maintaining Corporate Branding with a Customized Master Page
  • Controlling Content Input with a Custom Field Control
  • Managing Content Placement with a Custom Layout Page
  • Customizing SharePoint Navigation 
  • Optimizing Performance with Output Caching Profiles and the Object Cache
  • Automating Content Deployment

I Hope to see you there!

Speaking at the GCPCUG Windows Server SIG

I will be speaking at the Greater Cleveland PC Users Group Windows Server SIG on Thursday, June 28th from noon til 1:30.  My topic will be an “Introduction to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007”.  Collaboration is one of the big buzzwords in the IT industry. Teams working on documents and projects together. There’s also a lot of buzz about Microsoft Sharepoint – a tool for working collaboratively. But, that buzz includes a lot of confusion about the product. This meeting will answer some of the basic questions about Sharepoint.

The GCPCUG Windows Server SIG is focused on Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 Server and even Windows NT.  Whether you are a network administrator, working toward certification or just interested in learning more, you can get together with other interested people at the Windows Server Special Interest Group (SIG) meetings. We are affiliated with the Greater Cleveland PC Users Group which has many special interest groups you will want to check into.

The SIG meets at the local Microsoft Offices in Independence on Oak Tree, which is about 1/2 mile West of 77 on Rockside (First Energy is also there). They are the first building complex on the right and are on the 3rd Floor.

Meetings are free and open to the public.