In lieu of a SharePoint Shop Talk session this Thursday, my partners and I at Arcovis are teaming up with Cloud Strategies and Integrated Systems and Services Group to give what I hope will be an interesting presentation on Microsoft’s online services, focusing on the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS).  Arcovis actually uses BPOS for its internal SharePoint portal so we have some hands on experience and the kind of experience borne of daily use.  In fact, the demo itself is running in our very own BPOS environment.

You can read all the gory sales details here but the main points are:

We held our 3rd SharePoint Shop Talk session yesterday.  Twenty-five folk braved the overly aggressive registration screen (we’re working on that!) to sign up and dial into the call. 

The topics varied widely although they were a bit more end user and light admin focused this time.  We spent a lot of time discussing the age old question, “how do I secure a view”.  There was some SharePoint Designer in there, a bit of content deployment, version of web parts on publishing pages (there really isn’t any versioning for web parts), best practices for setting up security (answer = “it depends” and keep in mind Joris’ post here: http://jopx.blogspot.com/2009/08/sharepoint-and-2000-principal-limit.html) and analytics (which led to promoting Todd Klindt’s post here about LogParser and SharePoint: http://www.toddklindt.com/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=85). 

A pattern seems to be forming with these calls.  A question is emailed in or asked during the Q&A and the bottom line answer is “it depends.”  The panel discusses various angles to the question, we may stray off onto the odd tangent or two, but in the end, we’ve had a pretty thorough discussion of that topic.  My goal with these sessions is that question asker walks away from the call with more options to solve her problem than she had before she joined the call.  I think it’s safe to say that that’s happening (in fact, she may have too many options in some cases).

Next week, my colleagues and I at Arcovis are jointly presenting a webinar with two of our partners, Integrated Systems and Services Group and Cloud Strategies about Microsoft Online services.  I think it’s going to be very informative.  Our role (Arcovis) is to present a short demo on how to build a real world solution using Microsoft on line.  We’re going to demonstrate a human resources application to manage the on-boarding process for new hires.  If you’ve wondered about MS Online, check this webinar out. 

This webinar probably means that we won’t be holding a Shop Talk session next week, but keep tuned 🙂  If we do have it, it won’t be on Thursday.

Once again, my thanks goes to the panel: Harry Jones, Natalya Voskresenskaya and Laura Rogers.  Thanks, guys!

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We are holding our 3rd SharePoint Shop Talk session tomorrow, 08/20 from 12:30 to 1:30 PM EDT.

You can read about last week’s session here: SharePoint Shop Talk Thoughts and Reactions

Bring your questions or email them in advance to info@arcovis.com.

Register here: https://www.livemeeting.com/lrs/8000043750/Registration.aspx?pageName=xnddgb0b7zh5w9xs

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We held our second “SharePoint Shop Talk” session yesterday and it was a lot of fun.  We had fewer attendees this time (mainly because our partner, ISSG, didn’t send out a big email invite to their customer base).  On the other hand, we had probably more than twice as many questions to answer.  We had so many, in fact, that we couldn’t get to all of them, so now we have a little bit of a head start on questions for next week’s Shop Talk session.  The questions and our responses touched on data view web parts, setting user region specific information programmatically, SharePoint designer workflows, crazy infrastructure question about Kerberos (that was probably a plant by Bob Fox) and jQuery.  Sadly, no banjo jokes, however.  Sigh…

We’ve registered the site, www.sharepointshoptalk.com and we want start using that to do all the usual things, like announce the schedule of calls, put up the recordings of the sessions and the questions/answers themselves.  (don’t bother clicking the link as there isn’t any content there as yet).

On yesterday’s call, we had the original expert panel which included my Arcovis partners (Natalya Voskresenskaya and Harry Jones).  We added Laura Rogers of EUSP.com (and elsewhere) fame.  To top it all off, SharePoint MVP Bil Simser joined the call and we roped him into the discussion.  Bil even dusted off an old blog entry and updated it in response to one of the questions. 

If you’re interesting in participating as an “official” panel member, fire off an email to info@arcovis.com and let us know (I promise that that email address now works!) or DM me, Natalya or Harry via Twitter.

Thanks Bil and Laura!

That’s a lot of SharePoint firepower on the line ready to answer your questions as best we can. 

I’ll be posting details for the next SharePoint Talk Shop session on my blog and twitter. 

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Arcovis will be hosting our second “SharePoint Shop Talk” session this Thursday at 12:30 PM EDT.  Show up with your SharePoint questions and we’ll do our best to entertain you with banjo jokes, smart but harmless put-downs of our fellow panelists and maybe even answer a question or two.  This week’s “official” panel includes yours truly, my Arcovis partners (Natalya Voskresenskaya and Harry Jones) and Laura Rodgers (of twitter & EndUserSharePoint fame).  Bob fox threatened to join too, but I don’t take that too seriously.  Last time, we had a great level of audience participation which blurred the line between panelists and attendees and I expect the same will happen Thursday.

This event is co-sponsored by Integrated Systems and Services Group (www.issgroup.net).

Please register here: https://www323.livemeeting.com/lrs/8000043750/Registration.aspx?pageName=9xrzxfs9x34sb0sm

If you have questions that you’d like us to take, just dial into the call and ask it.  If you want us to think about it first, send us an email or leave a comment here.

See you then!

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Update: The format for this is basically a conference call with a couple of PPT slides to set the stage.  We have a SharePoint environment on stand by to fire up in case it helps out, but this is mainly people talking out loud.  There will be opportunities for follow up by email.

Going back to my first ever SharePoint conference, just over a year ago, I’ve been struck by how terrific a live Q&A session can be.  The conference organizers had put together a sort of ad hoc group of “experts” (i.e. people who were hanging around and weren’t afraid of looking to silly up on stage) to answer any questions that came from the audience in the room.  It was in my head back then, and periodically since then, to host a similar session but do it on line and the phone.  I don’t think it can be as good as an in-person Q&A session, but I think it could be pretty cool.

I finally got around to it and next Thursday, 07/30, my company (Arcovis) and business partner, Integrated Systems and Services group, will be hosting a Q&A like that.  I’m hoping to do these regularly, as often as weekly. 

This inaugural session will probably be a little bumpy, but the concept is this:

• If you have questions that you’d like to have answered during the session, just show up and ask.
• If you want, you can email the question in advance.

We plan to spend the first half of the Q&A on emailed questions and then open it up to anything that anyone asks after that.

The session takes place on Thursday, 07/30 starting at 12:30 and ending at 1:30 PM EDT.

If you’re interested, kindly register here: https://www323.livemeeting.com/lrs/8000043750/Registration.aspx?pageName=pxlsd9fpsm2md7h9

The panel will include me and other SharePoint luminaries.  You’ll have to sign up to find out who they are 🙂

If you’d like to be one of those luminaries for a future Q&A session, let me know.

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I returned from Washington DC yesterday after attending the latest SharePoint Saturday.  What a remarkable event!  Continuing the tradition of other SP Saturday’s, it was very well run.  The environment, the overall organization, the flow, vendor area, food … all of it was terrific.

Of course, the best part is the content and I don’t think anyone was disappointed.

It’s really quite amazing to me how so many people are rousing themselves out of bed early on a Saturday to go and listen to people talk about SharePoint for 8 hours 🙂  Amazing.

Odds are, there’s a SharePoint Saturday event coming your way and if there isn’t, why don’t you start one?

I presented at the conference with the tongue twisting title, “Using the SharePoint Platform to Build Vertical Business Applications.”  You can get the presentation here: https://cid-1cc1edb3daa9b8aa.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Public.  It’s not my usual sort of presentation and I had fun with it.  I’ll be giving this again in June at the North VA user group conference at the end of June.

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Ever since I heard a quote, reportedly during a Q&A session with Steve Ballmer in March 2007, I’ve sort of been holding my breath for something to happen.  The quote was basically this: “SharePoint is an operating system for business applications.”  Knowing a fair bit about SharePoint and a middling bit about operating systems, I thought it was really apt.  I’m holding my breath, waiting for companies to really buy into that concept and start to build applications within the SharePoint “operating system.” 

I’ve devoted a lot of thought to this subject this year (going back to my 2009 predictions) and I’m going to speak on this at the May 2nd SharePoint Saturday event in Washington.

This is my presentation’s abstract, entitled “Using the SharePoint Platform to Build Vertical Business Applications”:

“Horizontal?” “Vertical?” What do these words mean in a SharePoint context?  SharePoint, as we often hear, is a “platform” for building applications. This fact is often lost on us since the so-called horizontal platform features, such as document management and search, are so easy and useful in and of themselves.  However, SharePoint is even more powerful and will return greater value when used to create vertical applications tailored to meet your business’ day to day requirements. This session describes how to assemble platform features into a verticalized solution using a real world business example – a sales quote management process and customer gateway. The speaker’s goal is to open your eyes to the possibilities of the SharePoint platform and to leverage its horizontal platform features to create specialized business solutions for your vertical organization.

If that subject doesn’t float your boat, there are a bunch of other good topics.  And DC is a great venue in and of itself to visit.

Registration opens this Thursday, 04/16.  Keep on top of the site and grab a seat before it’s too late 🙂

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This time last week, I was in Montreal, attending the highly recommended SharePoint Summit 2009.  I gave a 3.5 hour tutorial on installing and customizing SharePoint.  It was a scary subject on many levels.  I’m not really a SharePoint admin, but I know enough to give a tutorial on the subject. (Thankfully, Geoff Schaller from Software Objectives in Australia, among a few others, was in the crowd to answer some of the deeper questions [I don’t know what they put in the water down there, but we need some of it here in the U.S.]). 

But, back to many levels of scariness…  It had a lot of potential to be very boring.  I actually installed WSS and then upgraded it to MOSS.  In front of a room full of people.  Canadian poeple.  There were long 5 and 7 minute gaps where we were watching the installation process chug along.  I needed to fill that time with something useful and interesting.  I’m not sure I succeeded.

Finally, it was loooong.   Three and one half hours.  That’s a long presentation.   I made a little joke of it, saying “We have a long presentation ahead of us.  Three and one half hours.  That’s 210 minutes.  And I don’t even know how many minutes that is in Canadian.”

Everyone laughed and as a result, Montreal is officially on my Good Places list 🙂

Even if they hadn’t laughed at my joke, I would love Montreal.  I try very hard to be open minded and not take my cues from South Park, but I admit, to my chagrin, that I had no idea how great is the metropolis of Montreal.  I can’t wait to go back in a few months, when it’s a little warmer, to visit again.

On a sort of related note, I also sat through Erik Swenson’s first public presentation entitled “IA and Branding Process: Sketches to Wireframes to Hi-Fidelity Designs.” (Erik is my EMC colleague).  Check out the abstract here: http://www.sharepointsummit2009.com/conference_day2.htm.  I even recorded it for for him.  I tried several times for some “action shots” and zoomed in on him when he paused to drink some water.  I didn’t always succeed, but I tried 🙂

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A few weeks ago, I presented at the New York City SharePoint Developers Group meeting at the Microsoft office in Manhattan.  They meet every last Tuesday of the month.

I’ve been spending most of my time lately in my beloved New Jersey so I don’t get to go into the city as much as I like.  As a result, I think I made it to the first or second of this group’s meetings and then again at January’s meeting.  I missed all of the meetings in between (four or five of them probably).  It’s a new group.

I was really struck by the truly technical focus and high quality of the discussion, before, during and after my presentation.  We talked about a wide range of subjects relating to SharePoint and other Microsoft technology.

If you’re looking for a friendly place to get real techy, I highly recommend this group.

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