Gary Vaughan's Collaboration Times

SUGDC SharePoint Conference a Big Success!

We had over 200 attendees, 18 vendor exhibitors and more than 40 speakers at our annual SharePoint Users Conference in Dulles, Virginia last June 26-27.  A good time was had by all!  Thanks to everyone who helped make this event such a success! 

At the conference, I gave a presentation on a "SDLC for SharePoint", and also shared a draft white paper on the same subject.  Given the great feedback from this event, I plan to repeat the presentation at SharePoint Saturday in Baltimore on July 25, and again at a meeting of the Richmond SharePoint Users Group on July 30.  I intend to post online my final slides and white paper later this month.

SDLC Presentation for SharePoint conference

I previewed my presentation on "An SDLC for SharePoint" at the last May 14 meeting of our SUGDC users group in Reston.  The talk focused on how one might adapt the System Development Life Cycle to help a large enterprise better plan and implement SharePoint by melding governance, project and program management concepts.  The session was well received, and I have been invited to repeat it at the July 30 evening meeting of the SharePoint users group in Richmond.

Reminder:  our SUGDC SharePoint users conference is shaping up to be an exciting event!  Over 45 speakers, 15 exhibitors, and growing...check out the program and pre-register at the extended early bird rate of $299 at www.sugdc.org! I will be teaming with i3SolutionsLinc Williams to talk further about "SharePoint Planning Overview and Lifecycle" on 11:30 Friday, June 26 in a Track 2 session for the Conference.

June Conference: Mark your Calendars!

The SharePoint Users Group of Northern Virginia (SUGNOVA) will be holding its third regional SharePoint users conference at the Holiday Inn Dulles on Friday-Saturday, June 26-27.  The conference will be similar in format to our event last June, with three topical tracks for managers, administrators and developers, plus a wide variety of exhibitors in the field.  Conference details should be available soon on the SUGNOVA site.

In the interim, anyone interested in speaking or attending the program is welcome to contact me, since I will again be assisting SUGNOVA in organizing this year's conference agenda.  We expect another "full house", so please sign up soon!

Next SUGNOVA Meeting in Reston February 12

I plan to attend the next meeting of our SharePoint Users Group of Northern Virginia on February 12.  Presentations will include one by Susquetech on SharePoint and social networking, plus a demo by Prosoft Systems International of how to apply their EBAX tool to enhance usage of Excel in conjunction with SharePoint.  Susquetech will also likely promote their upcoming conference (I have registered!) in Baltimore March 22-24.

The SUGNOVA users meeting next Thursday starts with networking at 6 PM, with the program about an hour later.  Location is at HireStrategy's offices in Reston (directions)...hope to see some colleagues there!

What is our Deepest Fear...?

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us... And as we let our own light shine, we subconsciously give other people permission to do the same... 

from the film "Coach Carter",and author Marianne Williamson

Governance White Paper

I recently posted my updated governance white paper.  Originally presented at the June 2008 Regional SharePoint Users Conference in Virginia, its title is Maximizing Business Value from SharePoint:  A Business and Management Perspective.  My thanks to the many references or colleagues that I have consulted in drafting thIs paper.  I look forward to any feedback readers care to offer on this latest draft, either via this blog or other blogs and discussion groups

Growing Functionality of LinkedIn

As many of us examine the potential of various social network tools (e.g. SharePoint MySites, etc.), you might go check out LinkedIn.  This professional business network has added various new features over the last few months. A recent overview article from Information Today notes this professional network's functionality and popularity (20 million members), and another from ABCNews.com points to screen shots of how it works.  Membership is free, as are most basic services.

I have also started tinkering with it:  see my evolving online profile using document and slide-sharing features; people search to locate colleagues; and participation in a large (over 3,200 members) SharePoint discussion group, as well as other groups on Web 2.0 and project management.  Many other features and "widgets" are included on polling, workspaces, etc.

"Launching a New IT Career" at 40 Plus

On November 24 at 10:00 A.M. I will be talking about the evolution of my SharePoint career as a Monday morning speaker at FortyPlus of Washington D.C.  Hopefully, I can share some useful tips on how I got started as a SharePoint Governance Advisor at State, WINS and other organizations based on my two years experience and training since retiring from USAID.  Follow these links for the full program announcement as well as directions to Forty Plus near Dupont Circle.  The presentation is free and open to the public, but space is limited.

SUGNOVA Activities

The next users group meeting of SUGNOVA will take place from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. on Wednesday, September 10 in the Reston offices of Hire Strategy.  The directions to HireStrategy's office can be found here.

At the last users group meeting in August it was decided to postpone our next Regional SharePoint Users Conference from November until early next year.  This will allow additional time to assemble and promote the kind of excellent program and exhibits we showcased last June and October.  Prominent features of the conference will likely be the evolution of the SharePoint human resource market, and best practices for SharePoint implementation.  Stay tuned to the SUGNOVA users group web site and/or emails from SUGNOVA President Gary Blatt for further details on the rescheduled date and location for this important event!

Power User Training

On August 7-8 I took a SharePoint Power User Training course from Susquehanna Technologies, based on a curriculum from Element K.  I felt the training was very practical for a site administrator wishing to accomplish basic tasks in WSS 3.0.  The interaction with Office 2007 was stressed, as was combining the various functionality of WSS 3.0 to accomplish basic business processes.  For further information on the training, see the course outline.