Speaking at SharePoint Saturday Virginia Beach

December 19, 2011 Leave a comment

I cannot believe it has been 4 years since SharePoint Saturday started, and I am honored to be speaking at the very place where it all started, at SharePoint Saturday Virginia Beach! Who knew that in 4 years, SPS is now a GLOBAL phenomenon, in almost all parts of the world? I owe a lot to SharePoint Saturday, as it gave me my start in speaking on SharePoint almost 4 years ago in Boston.

I will be presenting “Planning and Configuring Extranets in SharePoint 2010”. I will also be giving away 2 copies of my upcoming book of the same topic. You must be present to win, obviously 🙂

Planning and Configuring Extranets in SharePoint 2010

Session Level: 300
Session Type: IT Pro / Admin
Most companies, large or small, require contact and collaboration with external entities, whether they are vendors, clients, or contractors. SharePoint gives us the ability to open up portals for collaboration with these external entities – this session will show you how to accomplish this using SharePoint 2010.

We will review what is required to make SharePoint “open” to the external world, discuss scenarios regarding security and privacy, as well as walk through configuring Forms Based Authentication, Claims Based Authentication, as well as using Business Connectivity Services in SharePoint 2010, to authenticate, and manage our external users.

Once completing this session, you should have a firm grasp on how to configure an extranet environment using SharePoint 2010, as well as what should be considered during the planning of your extranet scenarios.

What’s SharePoint Saturday Virginia Beach?
SharePoint Saturday Virginia Beach is an educational, informative & lively day filled with sessions from respected SharePoint professionals & MVPs, covering a wide variety of topics focused on Microsoft SharePoint technologies.

SharePoint Saturday Virginia Beach is FREE, open to the public and is your local chance to immerse yourself in SharePoint!

When is SharePoint Saturday Virginia Beach?
January 7, 2012, Saturday

Schedule outline is listed below and we are currently looking at over 60 sessions for the event, including some sessions for the City of VA Beach Public Schools.
7:30 am – 8:00 am – Registration & Breakfast
8:00 am – 8:45 am – Welcome and Keynote
8:50 am – 10:00 am – First Sessions
10:10 am -11:20 am – Second Sessions
11:30 am -12:40 pm – Third Sessions
12:40 pm -1:30 pm – Lunch
1:30 pm – 2:40 pm – Fourth Sessions
2:50 pm – 4:00 pm – Fifth Sessions
4:10 pm – 5:20 pm – Sixth Sessions
5:30 pm – 6:00 pm – Closing & Giveaways

Where will SharePoint Saturday Virginia Beach be held?
Virginia Beach Advanced Technology Center
VA Beach Campus of Tidewater Community College
1800 College Crescent
Virginia Beach, VA 23453
http://www.vbatc.com

For more information and to register, visit the site here: http://www.sharepointsaturday.org/virginiabeach

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Presentation and Resources from 12/14/11 FCSPUG

December 19, 2011 Leave a comment

imageIt was earlier this year when I spoke with Bill Nagle of K2 about getting a user group up and running in Fairfield, CT. After many months later of successful meetings, I was happy to be able to go down and present to the group. The meetings themselves are hosted at Bigelow Tea, which was an interesting place – great facility, and the air smelled like tea 🙂 They even gave me a variety box of teas for coming down – I fully intend to enjoy it all!

Thanks again to Bill Nagle of K2 for spearheading the group there, Bigelow Tea for hosting the meeting, traffic for not being terrible (it’s about a ~6 hour round trip to Fairfield), Travel America for their awesome rest stops, and last, but certainly not least, everyone who came out for the meeting!

Below are my slides (minimal) from the meeting, as well as a link to the SPBasePermissions enumeration PDF I mentioned, as well as a link to Eric Kraus’s blog post with the PowerShell script to display all Custom Actions within the farm.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments on the material in the comments below!

SPBasePermissions class enumeration PDF: http://go.gvaro.net/SPBasePerms

Erik Kraus’s PowerShell Script to list all Custom Actions in a Farm: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ekraus/archive/2010/05/03/list-all-customactions-in-the-farm.aspx

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Presentation from 12/13/11 CTSPUG

December 14, 2011 2 Comments

A big thank you to the Connecticut SharePoint User Group (CTSPUG) for having me down last night to deliver my presentation (slides below) on Best Practices in SharePoint Development. While the group itself has been around for 10 years (CT.Net), this was the second official SharePoint UG meeting, and I was happy to be a part of it! A big crowd too! The room was packed, and thankfully, I heard no snoring 🙂

As I mentioned at the beginning of the presentation, there are a lot of slides so you can have them for review afterwards, as we covered at lot of information. Below is a copy of the presentation on slideshare.

If you were at the session, or even wanted to attend but could not make it, please feel free to contact me in the comments below with any questions on the material.

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Speaking at the Fairfield County SharePoint User Group (FCSPUG) on December 14th, 2011

December 5, 2011 3 Comments

imageUPDATE 12/14/11: 2011 – not 2012! As in tonight!

It appears next week is Connecticut week! In addition to speaking at the Connecticut SharePoint Users Group (CTSPUG) on December 13th, I will be headed back into The Constitution State again on Wednesday to deliver a presentation to the Fairfield County SharePoint Users Group!

Presentation information below…

Title: The Ribbon UI and Custom Actions in SharePoint 2010

Abstract: Custom Actions control features in SharePoint such as the List Item Menu, the Site Actions menu, toolbars, and the links within the Site Settings page, as well as the Ribbon UI in SharePoint 2010.

Learn how to leverage Custom Actions to extend the SharePoint User Interface. This session will describe the basics of Custom Actions, demonstrations to build and apply them in SharePoint as they relate to our lists using SharePoint Designer 2010, as well as provide resources for additional information.

Meeting Agenda:
5:30 – Eat & Greet: Food/Drink courtesy of K2
6:00 – News: Commnents from meeting organizers
6:15 – Session Keynote: The Ribbon UI and Custom Actions in SharePoint 2010
7:15 – Wrap-Up: Announcements and Giveaway
7:45 – SharePint @ Field, 3001 Fairfield Ave

I look forward to seeing you there! For more information, and to register for the meeting, please visit: http://www.sharepointusergroup.com/FCSPUG/default.aspx

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Speaking at the Connecticut SharePoint User Group (CTSPUG) on December 13th, 2012

December 5, 2011 2 Comments

I am pleased to announce that I will be speaking at the Connecticut SharePoint User Group (CTSPUG) next week on Tuesday, December 13th, from 6-8PM.

I will be delivering a presentation I normally do with one of my partners-in-crime, Mark Rackley (@mrackley), but I will be going solo on this one, so I may need a stand-in to poke fun at…

Session Title: SharePoint Development Best Practices a/k/a: Just Freakin’ Work! Overcoming Hurdles and Avoiding Pain with SharePoint Development

Abstract: “Why am I getting a security error??” “Why does my code work sometimes, but not others?” “I wonder if McDonalds is hiring.” Writing custom code in SharePoint opens up unlimited possibilities but also throws many hurdles in your way that will slow you down if you don’t take them into account. So, before giving up and searching for careers in the fast food industry, equip yourself with the knowledge you need to succeed in writing custom code for SharePoint.

Attendees will learn:
1. Commonly used methods to improve functionality and performance
2. Best practices for disposing of SP Objects
3. How to avoid common issues when writing custom code for SharePoint

PREREQUISITES: Developers need to have a basic knowledge of SharePoint, know C# and be comfortable in Visual Studio.

For more information on the CTSPUG, and to register for the meeting, please visit: http://ctdotnet.org/CTSPUG.aspx I hope to see you there! I had fun speaking in Hartford at the last SharePoint Saturday Hartford, and am looking forward to going back!

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Registration Open for Boston Area SharePoint Users Group on 12/12/11

December 2, 2011 Leave a comment

BASPUG_195square_initialsRegistration is now open for the December 12th, 2011 meeting of the Boston Area SharePoint Users Group.

Please note the date change for this month’s meeting!!

December 12th, 2011 Meeting Information – Cambridge

PRESENTER
The presenter for our next meeting is Richard Harbridge, Senior SharePoint Evangelist for Allin Consulting. He will be presenting "Is Your SharePoint Really Healthy? What’s The Right Prescription?"

Session Abstract
In many organizations SharePoint is a critical enterprise platform. As an organization matures the platform must mature and grow along with it to ensure it can continue to meet/exceed the needs of the business. If the SharePoint implementation is unhealthy or has problems these will compound overtime and may lead to solution, project and potentially even platform failure. This talk is about how to ensure that never happens.

What we will discuss in this session:

  • A “SharePoint Health Check” which help will identify how “Healthy” your SharePoint Implementation is in the following areas:
    • SharePoint Infrastructure
    • SharePoint Performance
    • SharePoint Security
    • SharePoint Integration
    • SharePoint Search
    • SharePoint Taxonomy
    • SharePoint Governance
    • SharePoint User Adoption
    • SharePoint Usability
    • SharePoint Development
  • A “SharePoint Prescription” You will learn about many SharePoint Best Practices that can help make your SharePoint environment healthier based on the above mentioned areas.

About Richard
Richard Harbridge is an internationally recognized expert in Microsoft SharePoint and is a technology and business evangelist with deep expertise in information architecture, enterprise content management, and technology strategy. He has defined, architected, developed and successfully implemented well over a hundred SharePoint solutions from small implementations on a single server to over 80,000+ user implementations in international organizations.

As a sought-after speaker he often shares his insights, experiences, and advice around collaboration, knowledge management, social computing, ROI, governance, user adoption and training at many industry events.

Richard hopes to see you/speak with you at the Boston Area SharePoint User Group as it’s an amazing community where many people exchange and share experience, knowledge, and relationships to help us all become even better at our jobs and the things we are passionate about.

MEETING SPONSOR – Certeon
Certeon is the Application Performance Company. aCelera, our suite of software WAN optimization products delivers fast and secure data transfer for any user accessing any application, on any device, across any network.

As enterprises aim to make their IT infrastructure flexible for business agility, contain IT costs and deal with regulatory changes, they are adopting a number of initiatives:

  • Centralization of servers to data centers
  • Consolidation of hardware using virtualization
  • Reduction in the number of data centers
  • Increasing globalization with more telecommuters, road warriors and other remote workers
  • Transition to network based backup and disaster recovery network replication
  • Leveraging public cloud services

The IT infrastructure is going through an evolution and the Wide Area Network (WAN) is now the backbone of both private and public cloud services. Each of the initiatives listed above further drives more and more remote access to data. If nothing is done, user productivity drops as WAN links are clogged and costs go up as IT tries to increase WAN links as consumption rises.

In this new world WAN optimization is not an option but a necessity. At Certeon we believe WAN optimization should not be considered as a point solution to solve pain at a couple of remote sites; instead it should be thought of a strategic initiative for the entire infrastructure. When deployed across the board at all points of access, CIOs and IT administrators will no longer have to worry where the data and where the user are. Data will be available instantly at LAN like speeds anywhere in the world.

Our mission is to deliver best of breed WAN optimization and application acceleration technology at a cost that is value based such that enterprises and cloud providers can afford to deploy it at every point of access in the network. No longer should you have to worry about the network or where the data is located, you should have instant access to it no matter where you are. Our software is scalable to be installed in the largest enterprise or a cloud provider’s infrastructure.

Only a software solution can deliver the lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) that CIOs are searching for. Some examples of how costs can be saved from software versus hardware based solution include remote installation to anywhere in the world, leveraging commodity hardware and corporate standards for sparing and maintenance, and maximizing consolidation initiatives like virtualization to reduce cooling, power and rack space costs.

SUSTENANCE
Food and beverages will be provided at the event.

RAFFLE PRIZES
We will be handing out raffle tickets at the BASPUG meetings.

  • Black Blade Associates will be raffling off a license, valued at $2000 for their SharePoint Zip product.

  • Lightning Tools will also be raffling off a license for their BCS MetaMan (or other) product.

  • CubisOne will be raffling off a license for their SharePoint Power Pack iChat product ($1000 value).

  • We also have books, T-Shirts, and more!

    LOCATION
    We will be meeting at the Microsoft New England Research and Development center at One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA.

LINKED IN
Join our group on LinkedIn today to connect with the rest of the BASPUG members, and spread the word!

FACEBOOK
We are also on facebook! http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Boston-Area-SharePoint-User-Group/113652405354617

TWITTER
Follow news about the Boston Area SharePoint Users Group on twitter by following us @BASPUG, and by using the hashtag #BASPUG

WEB
Visit the Boston Area SharePoint Users Group website at http://www.bostonsharepointug.org

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Registration Open for Boston Area SharePoint Users Group on 11/9/11

October 26, 2011 1 Comment

BASPUG_195square_initialsRegistration is now open for the November 9th, 2011 meeting of the Boston Area SharePoint Users Group, at the Microsoft Waltham office located on the 6th floor at 201 Jones Road, Waltham, MA.

November 9th, 2011 Meeting Information – Waltham

PRESENTER
The presenter for our next meeting is Manmeet Chaudhari, Sr. Project Advisor for Advisicon Inc. She will be presenting "Project Management" – showcasing Project Server 2010 and its integration with SharePoint 2010.

Session Abstract
This session will introduce the integration of collaboration strategies and features of Microsoft Project Server 2010 for participants in a project management office (PMO)/project portfolio management (PPM) environment.

It will also showcase what Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 has to offer with features such as Project Sites and Workspaces, version control, task synchronization between Project Server 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010, governance workflows, tagging, wikis, discussion boards, integration of connectivity with remote team, and business intelligence for dynamic reporting.

About Manmeet
I am a Senior technology consultant with a career history in diverse aspects of information technology, enterprise level IT, business analysis implementation and training. I have led the delivery of complex business processes and enterprise solutions to fortune 100 companies in Asia-Pacific, India and North American markets.
My expertise is in providing technology consulting services with life cycle implementations for a variety of industries including Health Care, Airline, Financial, Manufacturing, and Energy.
I am proficient in architecture design, development, and delivery of business intelligence using business portals & collaborations systems. In depth knowledge of Microsoft based technologies including SharePoint, Business Intelligence platforms such as Project and Portfolio Server and various software development methodologies.
I have been awarded as Microsoft’s Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for 3 consecutive years since 2009 for my contribution towards the Microsoft Project community.
(I am based out of Cambridge and I am a home worker).

MEETING SPONSOR – Commvault
Headquartered in Oceanport, New Jersey, CommVault is a publicly traded data management software company passionately committed to giving companies a better way to organize, protect, and access business information.
CommVault was founded in 1996 and first made its mark with the industry’s leading backup software product. But what we ultimately provide for our 13,500+ customers goes far beyond backup. Our unique Solving Forward® philosophy and one-of-a-kind Simpana® software deliver complete data management solutions with infinite scalability and unprecedented control over data and costs.

CommVault has recently been positioned in the "Leaders" quadrant in Gartner’s 2011 Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Disk-Based Backup/Recovery. And leading technology companies worldwide have formed strategic partnerships with us, including Dell, HDS, HP, Microsoft, NetApp, VMWare, Novell, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, and Bull.

A wealth of accolades and revenue growth greater than three times the software industry average further reflect the industry’s need and enthusiasm for CommVault’s revolutionary approach to data management.

To learn much more about CommVault, our Solving Forward philosophy, and Simpana Software, download a brochure from the menu to the right, tour the rest of our Web site, or simply contact us. We’re confident you’ll like what you discover.

SUSTENANCE
Food and beverages will be provided at the event.


RAFFLE PRIZES
We will be handing out raffle tickets at the BASPUG meetings.

LOCATION
We will be meeting at the Microsoft New England Research and Development center at One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA.


LINKED IN
Join our group on LinkedIn today to connect with the rest of the BASPUG members, and spread the word!


FACEBOOK
We are also on facebook! http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Boston-Area-SharePoint-User-Group/113652405354617


TWITTER
Follow news about the Boston Area SharePoint Users Group on twitter by following us @BASPUG, and by using the hashtag #BASPUG


WEB
Visit the Boston Area SharePoint Users Group website at http://www.bostonsharepointug.org

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Secure Your SharePoint Extranet!

October 20, 2011 4 Comments

Or any extranet really… I presented tonight at the Baltimore SharePoint Users Group on Planning and Configuring Extranets in SharePoint 2010, and had the idea to make a quick post like this.

If you are opening your organizations virtual doors to the outside world, please, please,  PLEASE, only open up port 443, and use a secure certificate (or Secure Sockets Layer certificate), a/k/a, SSL certificate, to secure it.

Even if you do not have anything resembling a budget – you can still be secure. GoDaddy offers SSL certificates for as little as $12.99 – just use this link.

Why? Well… take this scenario. Say you are connecting to your extranet from a café, and they do not have a secure WiFi setup, and you can just connect and browse. I bet you that somewhere in there, there is some pimply kid with his Macbook his parents bought him, in his Misfits T-Shirt, sniffing the unsecured WEP network, and watching you log into your Forms Based Authentication extranet, over an unencrypted port 80. Not only does he see the URL you are visiting, and your username and password. He can also see everything you do. Confidential documents, payroll information – you name it. And there you go, your company’s data has been breached.

Now, if you take the extra time, and spend a few dollars – this would not have happened. SSL encrypts the connection from the end user’s browser, all the way to the server, so all the pimply faced hacker would see is just gobbledygook.

So a login session may just look like this (encrypted using SSL):

OIHP(@Q*YPR*Y@*(Y@C*(YR(*@YUP&@G&*T(*@&^$&@()&*CNHUSHLKSJLSHGLRWCTBLSUGL*r(*n^N(*#9693r562095876209387652097cUYTOIWESOFIY#3tyiuGi IWOLIWJdILW#T&@RLIU@HDIWUYR(Q*&#@yrOiu32H  lu hr*#@y*ry b@r*hsdiu wOIU8H9WQ83H RL iuliug # iqq&*g(iU3RG qiu

That looks a lot better than this (unencrypted – not using SSL):

http://intranet.mytopsecretcompany.comJohnSmithPass@word1secretdocument1.txt012-34-5678

While I do not have specific details, certificate providers also can actually insure your SSL certificates, in case a data breach does take place. GoDaddy, Network Solutions, GeoTrust, Thawte, etc. Look around, find what is right for you. And secure your extranet. Not tomorrow, but NOW. Pay for some security, it is worth it to pay money up front and be secure, than be involved in lawsuits, and corporate losses, all due to a yearly fee of up to a couple of hundred dollars. Protect your company, protect yourself, and protect your clients.

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Boston SharePoint Salon–Power View and Visualization

October 20, 2011 1 Comment

The Boston Area SharePoint Users Group, SharePoint Saturday Boston, and The SharePoint Technology Conference Boston. We have a lot of SharePoint around here. And just when you think that there cannot possibly be any more local SharePoint events… think again.

Next  Thursday, October 27th, the 3rd meeting of the Boston SharePoint Salon will be taking place at Eastern Standard in Boston.

We’re a small group of SharePoint professionals, to get together with a topic, and just talk. No presenters, no sponsors – just a SharePoint get together with food and drink.

Interested in going? Go here for more information… I’m just spreading the word.

sharepoint%20salon

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Resources and Slides from Granite State SharePoint Users Group Meeting

October 17, 2011 Leave a comment

GSSPUGI had the pleasure of presenting my Planning and Configuring Extranets in SharePoint 2010 session at the Granite State SharePoint Users Group this past Thursday evening.

After a pleasant drive up to Nashua, I was met with a good sized crowd, and had fun presenting, as well as interacting with the crowd.

I would like to thank the #NHSPUG for allowing me to come up and present – and hope I get a chance to do it again soon!

Below is my deck from the session. Please feel free to contact me directly, or, via the comments below with any questions on the material!

 

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