July and August 2014 Travel Plans
While I very much enjoy the community activities and interesting destinations, I really am more of a homebody. My idea of a perfect vacation is a stack of sci-fi DVDs and a huge bowl of popcorn in front of my big screen. But my “visit” with the family is quickly coming to a close as I prepare for some major events, followed by an EPIC road trip (which includes some vacation time between SPUG activities).
This Sunday (7/13) I head to Washington DC to participate in my 5th Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (#WPC14). I return home on the 17th….only to catch a flight on the 19th to Auckland, New Zealand to participate in my 4th New Zealand SharePoint Conference (#NZSPC). Disappointed to miss the Australian SPC next week, but WPC took priority this year. At the end of the month, I’ll be on the road for an almost 3-week road trip, with confirmed SPUG activities in Salt Lake City, Utah on 7/30, and Nashua, New Hampshire on 8/7. I’m waiting for confirmations on 2 or 3 other SPUGs as I make my way through the northeast by car (that’s right – I’m driving from Seattle to the east coast and back), and will conclude my speaking circuit at an Office365 event back in Washington DC on 8/15.
It’s going to be a jam-packed adventure, that’s for sure. Along the way, I plan to visit numerous historical and LDS church history locations (Nauvoo, IL, Kirtland, OH, and Palmyra, NY) that I have never visited before, but plan to end the trip with my second visit to one of my all-time favorite landmarks: Mount Rushmore. Very excited to head back through that part of the country when Sturgis is NOT underway (made that mistake once before).
Here are my confirmed events to date (will update as additional details surface):
Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (#WPC14)
Washington DC, July 13th through 17th, www.digitalwpc.com
ES685 – Instant Productivity with Yammer
Monday, July 14th, 3:00 to 3:30pm, Expo Hall: Social Hub
Wondering where to begin with Yammer and what steps you can take to quickly realize its business benefits? Come and join this session conducted by SharePoint and Yammer Certified Admin Christian Buckley, Chief Evangelist at SharePoint ISV Metalogix, as he walks through several tips and tricks for getting the most out of Yammer.ES682 – Connecting with Partners Using Yammer
Tuesday, July 15th, 12:30pm to 1:00pm, Expo Hall: Social Hub
One of the most compelling use cases for the Yammer platform is how quick and easy it is to connect with partners and expand your partner relationships. In this session, SharePoint MVP and Yammer Certified Admin, Christian Buckley, Chief Evangelist at SharePoint ISV Metalogix, will demonstrate how simply and powerfully Yammer can connect your company with partners and customers. He will also show how Yammer is perfect for maintaining product or sales-related communities.
#RoadSPUG2014
From Seattle to the East Coast and Back, July 30th through August 15th
8 Things to Consider as SharePoint Moves to the Cloud
Utah SharePoint User Group
Thursday, July 31st, 3:00pm to 5:00pm, WesTech Engineering, 3665 S West Temple, Salt Lake City
Over the next 3 to 5 years, Microsoft estimates that 50% or more of the existing SharePoint customer base will maintain a hybrid environment. As companies make this transition, do you understand the true cost and governance impacts of moving to the cloud? In this presentation, attendees will get an overview of the many different paths from SharePoint on premises to the cloud–with an outline of the costs, risks, and considerations so that companies can properly prepare for the move. While some technical aspects of SharePoint's architecture will be covered, the goal is to provide business owners and administrators alike with a firm understanding of the hidden costs of implementing and maintaining a hybrid SharePoint environment, or a pure cloud SharePoint environment. This event sponsored by Metalogix!10 Steps Toward Information Governance Nirvana
Granite State (NH) SharePoint Users
Thursday, August 7th, 6:00pm to 8:00pm. (Date confirmed, waiting to confirm details)
Most organizations have some semblance of information governance in place today, but it is often scattered across team and divisional boundaries, with no centralized authority or enforcement. The goal of this session is to provide attendees with a roadmap for decision rights and permissions, and a framework for management of roles and policies around content creation, site provisioning, storage optimization, archiving, retention and deletion.Baby-Stepping Into the Cloud with Hybrid Workloads
Washington DC Office365 Ramp-Up Day
Friday, August 15th, 8:00am to 9:00am
As organizations begin to think about their roadmap toward the cloud, they need to consider how best to move away from their on premises infrastructure investments. There are multiple paths into the cloud, depending on the goals and needs of the business. This session walks through some of the various hybrid options – what they are, what they take to implement, and the risks, feature gaps, and overhead for deploying them.
Of course, in the middle of all of this I will be running my monthly #CollabTalk tweetjam, currently scheduled for the morning of the 31st, however the topic and panel have not yet been finalized. Hope to have that completed before I disappear to DC this weekend. I am also trying to confirm a couple webinar dates/times while on the road, which means its going to be a fairly jam-packed adventure.
Looking forward to seeing a few new states, and having some stories to tell.
