tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38389367255021861212024-03-13T02:29:17.026-04:00Rix BitsAll my techie thoughts & dreams...Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.comBlogger112125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-3810067000483868312013-10-17T12:00:00.001-04:002013-10-17T12:00:28.568-04:00DogFood Conference 2013<p>Here we go <a href="http://www.rixbits.com/2012/09/dog-food-conference-2012.html">again</a>! </p> <p><a href="http://www.dogfoodcon.com/" target="_blank"><strong>DogFood Conference 2013</strong></a> is here! If you like geeking out over Microsoft technologies, and can make it to Columbus, Ohio in November, then this is the place to be. </p> <p>I’ll be speaking on SharePoint this year – check out the details over at my <a href="http://www.sharepointcowbell.com/2013/10/speaking-at-dogfood-conference-2013.html" target="_blank">SharePoint CowBell website</a>:</p> <p><a href="http://www.sharepointcowbell.com/2013/10/speaking-at-dogfood-conference-2013.html"><img title="image" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto 20px; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-uZG5XXcq5Oo/UmAJmsbooPI/AAAAAAAABQU/czByD63JrTE/image%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="521" height="391" /></a></p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-79998724876053969242013-05-17T00:31:00.001-04:002013-05-17T00:32:24.576-04:00Talking Cloud with Cincy Techies<p align="left">I had a great time this week talking with the <a href="http://www.meetup.com/TechLife-Cincinnati/events/107764142/" target="_blank">Cincinnati Blacks in Technology</a> group, sharing my tips, tricks, and thoughts about how cloud computing can be leveraged. </p> <p align="left"><img title="cloudtalk-pic" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto 20px; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="cloudtalk-pic" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ZRDbduJIhzU/UZWylyYqPHI/AAAAAAAABIE/19nVTFJHlEY/cloudtalk-pic%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="391" height="319" /></p> <p>I tried to keep this talk focused on the lighter side of cloud computing, and didn’t go quite as technically deep as I’ve done in <a href="http://www.sharepointcowbell.com/2012/07/sharepoint-saturday-speaker-gear-taken.html" target="_blank">other cloud talks</a>. But it seems like everyone enjoyed themselves and learned a lot. One listener even admitted to me later that I’d convinced him to give the Cloud a try. Victory. : )</p> <p>Here’s my slide deck, or you can find it on <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/ricardo303" target="_blank">slideshare</a>:</p> <p align="center"><iframe height="327" src="https://skydrive.live.com/embed?cid=247165466E91A144&resid=247165466E91A144%212482&authkey=AKlg5wPWTrgtsR4&em=2" frameborder="0" width="402" scrolling="no"></iframe></p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-16718107723914366672013-04-22T01:17:00.001-04:002013-04-22T01:21:39.353-04:00PowerPoint Likes It When You Watch (Part 3 of 5 Things You Might Not Know)<p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-m-QU2QN-G2w/UXTI4bjCdqI/AAAAAAAABC8/l6vIItT_0Po/s1600-h/image%25255B26%25255D.png"><img title="image" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px 21px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-jey3cXXs1-Q/UXTI4rtmkqI/AAAAAAAABDE/GunKx7RrcUA/image_thumb%25255B11%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="205" height="158" /></a>In Part 3 of our <a href="http://www.rixbits.com/2013/02/powerpoint-5-things-you-didnt-know.html">series</a>, consider this: we’re all used to presenting our PowerPoints in a room from our laptops, connected to a projector. But what if our audience is on the other side of town? Or the other side of the world? PowerPoint solves this with its Present Online feature, which lets other viewers watch your presentation live as you flip through out it. It’s the same kind of experience that in the past we relied on web conference tools like Webex and Lync to provide. Here’s what it looks like as I begin the process of presenting my <a href="http://www.sharepointcowbell.com/">SharePoint</a> slide deck to an online audience (notice the word “free”):</p> <a name='more'></a> <p><img title="image" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto 20px; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-1nAIsZtzCyU/UXTH9om8yXI/AAAAAAAABCk/tmIuQVSPopc/image%25255B17%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="550" height="361" /></p> <p>Once PowerPoint uploads your presentation and makes all the necessary preparations, you’re presented with a link that you can Share:</p> <p><img title="image" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto 20px; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-ORjPeFeo8Q4/UXTH97K5aDI/AAAAAAAABCs/m9SiXNiyfsQ/image%25255B18%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="295" height="165" /></p> <p>The result? A web-based presentation of each slide, as you (the Presenter) flip through your slide deck in real-time (see below – the words “Viewer” and “Presenter” have been added by me to distinguish the two):</p> <p><img title="image" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto 20px; border-left: 0px; display: block; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-hSUq1StzfWI/UXTH-cEe6DI/AAAAAAAABC0/RkLMhLzU1-g/image%25255B19%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="528" height="391" /></p> <p>Perhaps a better example of this feature is Microsoft’s latest marketing video (see below).  Notice that this young man is presenting his PowerPoint presentation to his class, while his Mom watches from a coffee shop, and his grandmother watches from home:</p> <p> </p> <p><iframe height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7O1qTK3nPDM" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p>Stay tuned for Part 4 of our <a href="http://www.rixbits.com/2013/02/powerpoint-5-things-you-didnt-know.html">5-part series</a>.</p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-10542377500985309222013-02-18T00:33:00.001-05:002013-04-22T01:24:39.786-04:00PowerPoint is a Spike Lee Joint for Video (Part 2 of 5 Things You Might Not Know)<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_Lee" target="_blank"><img title="image" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px 25px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-nn7gCjbovHg/UXTJlZdCpFI/AAAAAAAABDM/YnJTzS-LnfA/image%25255B5%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="230" height="189" />Spike Lee</a> is the acclaimed director of such films as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_the_Right_Thing" target="_blank">Do The Right Thing</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X_(film)" target="_blank">Malcolm X</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_Man" target="_blank">Inside Man</a>. To create these classics, I’m sure Spike used many different kinds of film editing technologies throughout the years. That being said, I’d still bet that PowerPoint is not one of the tools he ever thought about using.</p> <p>But even though PowerPoint won’t necessarily give you the same cinematic skills to qualify your video as a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Collection-Clockers-Jungle-Better-Crooklyn/dp/B000E40QC4" target="_blank">Spike Lee Joint</a>, we’ll see in Part 2 of <a href="http://www.rixbits.com/2013/02/powerpoint-5-things-you-didnt-know.html">our series</a> that it does have the ability to do some pretty interesting things with videos that you might want to add to your presentation.</p> <p> </p> <h3></h3> <a name='more'></a> <h3>Insert Web-based Videos</h3> <p>Perhaps you want to show a YouTube video to help bring home a point that you’re trying to make in a presentation. PowerPoint makes it easy to not only insert a YouTube video, but [in PowerPoint 2013] it also helps connect you to your SkyDrive account, or to do a general web search for your video:</p> <p><img title="image" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto 20px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-6NKBCoyLahA/USG9NefNEUI/AAAAAAAAA-s/k4BfWir5fnA/image%25255B29%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="546" height="391" /></p> <h3>Edit Your Own Videos</h3> <p>There’s an nice list of controls available to you in the Playback tab of the Ribbon once you’ve clicked on your video in a PowerPoint presentation:</p> <p><img title="image" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto 20px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ZlR2Gmmfkq0/USG9NjBDiWI/AAAAAAAAA9U/keyGlS216zQ/image_thumb%25255B10%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="546" height="118" />As you can see, this includes things like trimming out unwanted parts of the beginning or end of your video, as well controlling the audio in your video.</p> <p> </p> <h3>Transform Your Videos with Effects</h3> <p> </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-1YjLazEtWAY/USG9N5InneI/AAAAAAAAA9c/ZMvqjdI0BTQ/s1600-h/image%25255B25%25255D.png"><img title="image" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto 20px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-KXXCPTTQvXs/USG9OP-GaGI/AAAAAAAAA9k/YVxikqjeUSw/image_thumb%25255B11%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="546" height="92" /></a></p> <p>Here’s a demonstration of a PowerPoint presentation (featuring <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT6P98C9YVs" target="_blank">my Boxer Kwali</a>) that shows how some of these effects and transformations can be used:</p> <p align="center"><iframe height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9YN6DqxECB8" frameborder="0" width="420" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p align="center"> </p> <p> </p> <h3>Export your Presentation as a Video</h3> <p>The demo above started as a PowerPoint presentation, but in order to show it to you in all it’s glory (without making you download the file), I decided to Export it as a video. PowerPoint gives lots of options for this process:</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-a6FuRMGUDxc/USG9OW6e1UI/AAAAAAAAA9s/iehpG8RcB5g/s1600-h/image%25255B28%25255D.png"><img title="image" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px auto 20px; display: block; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-UUh2knTagUk/USG9O6uWJ3I/AAAAAAAAA90/-ZCwLcoN2Z8/image_thumb%25255B14%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="428" height="351" /></a></p> <p>In fact, I recently used this feature to make a video out of an animation my 11-year old nephew created using PowerPoint (<a href="http://pixar.wikia.com/Pixar_Wiki" target="_blank">Pixar</a>, here we come!):</p> <p align="center"><iframe style="height: 200px; width: 301px" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/svWPQ23Er7Q" frameborder="0" width="420" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p> </p> <p>So, although we have many different video editing tools at our fingertips these days, it’s nice to know that one of the tools that we’ve known for so long can serve the dual purpose of presenting not only text and images, but video as well. Stay tuned for Part 3!</p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-30051391407779931292013-02-07T07:57:00.001-05:002013-02-18T07:41:08.791-05:00PowerPoint is Free! (Part 1 of 5 Things You Might Not Know)<p>In the past, most people’s experience with Microsoft Office involved using it at their place of employment, because the price tag on the full suite of software was a bit hefty for personal home use. But the times, they are a-changing. : ) Microsoft has a handful of new options to help make Office available to home users. One of these is <a href="http://www.skydrive.com">SkyDrive</a>. That’s right, with your FREE SkyDrive account (which you get automatically when you sign up for a FREE Hotmail or Live email account), you’re now able to create, edit, view, and store Office documents in the browser for FREE (using what’s called <a href="http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/web-apps/">Office Web Apps</a>), including PowerPoint:</p> <p><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Ei5X0HL7sHc/UROkqF8zwuI/AAAAAAAAA3g/aCwF5pt12aM/image%25255B16%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="513" height="289" /></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <a name='more'></a> <p align="left">Perhaps you’re thinking: “In the browser? That’s gotta be some do-nothing, super-basic version of PowerPoint, right?” Not really. Although there are certainly many pieces of functionality that don’t exist in the browser version, there’s a surprising amount of features that <strong>are</strong> included. In fact, for the average user, probably just about everything they need is there. And the look-n-feel is almost identical to the desktop experience. Here’s a look at a new PowerPoint document opened using the PowerPoint Web App:</p> <p><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/--n0Q5yQQdyM/UROkrqPhiZI/AAAAAAAAA3k/zGz2CGXpn5s/image%25255B17%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="518" height="433" /></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>Among other things, some of the nice advantages of using Office Web  Apps is the ability to share and embed your PowerPoint presentation:</p> <p><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-eNSNmWR7Mtg/UROks3zQ3DI/AAAAAAAAA3o/d7u38Xd2UIE/image%25255B18%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="437" height="308" /></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>In fact, here’s an embedded slide deck from <a href="http://www.sharepointcowbell.com/2010/05/columbus-2010-launch-event.html">a presentation I did a few years back at a Microsoft Office/SharePoint Launch Event</a>:</p> <p align="center"><iframe height="327" src="https://skydrive.live.com/embed?cid=247165466E91A144&resid=247165466E91A144%212459&authkey=AC1d_JJUjXLfwkQ&em=2" frameborder="0" width="402" scrolling="no"></iframe></p> <p> </p> <p>So, in addition to the above, some of the other upsides of the PowerPoint Web App include <font color="#000000">the ability to access, work on, or present your PowerPoint document from any computer that has Internet access. Also, </font><font color="#000000">Office Web Apps are constantly updated by Microsoft to the latest version of the software – no longer do you have to be stuck 2 versions behind while the rest of the kool kids are using the latest-greatest. : )</font></p> <p> </p> <p>The downsides? Well, the key disadvantage is probably that some features are not included – the most obvious one being the lack of many of the fancier transitions and animations. (Fancy transitions in an existing PowerPoint presentation will still work, they’ll just be downgraded to something simple like a Fade)</p> <p> </p> <p>Nevertheless, FREE is a pretty good deal, especially when all your trying to do today is view a fancy new PPTX presentation that your colleague sent you. Simply upload it into your SkyDrive and let Office Web Apps take it from there.</p> <p> </p> <p>Stay tuned for <a href="http://www.rixbits.com/2013/02/powerpoint-is-spike-lee-joint-for-video.html">Part 2</a> of this <a href="http://www.rixbits.com/2013/02/powerpoint-5-things-you-didnt-know.html">series</a> on PowerPoint….</p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-28745770358808530862013-02-04T19:56:00.001-05:002013-04-23T13:18:22.226-04:00PowerPoint: 5 Things You Might Not Know About It<p><img style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 20px 27px; display: inline" align="right" src="http://www.file-extensions.org/imgs/articles/3/279/microsoft-powerpoint-2013-icon.png" width="109" height="109" />I’m sure you’ve heard of PowerPoint. It’s been around for decades, and it’s the de facto tool for creating a presentation. Whenever you sit in a meeting and someone stands up to give a prepared speech, you probably assume they’re going to use a PowerPoint presentation, and if they don’t you probably look at them funny. We’ve grown accustomed to learning things from others by watching a projector screen full of words fade in and out, and many times we’re even patient enough to allow the speaker to once again read the slides to us as if we’re not already Hooked On Phonics.</p> <p>But there are a few things about the PowerPoint of today that you might not know about. Over the next few posts, I’ll talk about 5 PowerPoint factoids that may shock and amaze you. Specifically:</p> <ol> <li><font color="#0000ff" size="2"><a href="http://www.rixbits.com/2013/02/powerpoint-is-free-part-1-of-5-things.html"><u>It’s free!</u></a></font><font size="2"> </font></li> <li><font size="2"><font color="#000000"><a href="http://www.rixbits.com/2013/02/powerpoint-is-spike-lee-joint-for-video.html"><u>It’s a Spike Lee joint!</u></a></font> </font></li> <li><font color="#000000"><a href="http://www.rixbits.com/2013/04/powerpoint-likes-it-when-you-watch-part.html"><u><font size="2">It likes it when you watch</font></u></a><font size="2">.</font></font><font size="2"> </font></li> <li><font size="2"><font color="#000000">It’s the Wizard of Oz.</font> </font></li> <li><font color="#000000" size="2">It’s mocking you.</font> </li> </ol> <p>Stay tuned for the upcoming posts where we’ll explore each of these topics! See ya soon!</p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-21039317553013391022012-12-28T19:21:00.001-05:002012-12-28T19:21:19.026-05:00Development & Operations–Bridging the Gap<p><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px 28px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" border="0" align="right" src="http://i40.fastpic.ru/big/2012/0819/58/c0fafa2eb3b3133fe7caa39f8f646358.jpg" width="125" height="125" />Last month I represented <a href="http://www.improvingenterprises.com">Improving Enterprises</a> (a Microsoft partner) as a speaker at the <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/enterprise/events/theneweraofwork/default.aspx">Microsoft Visual Studio Launch event</a> in Columbus, OH. I spoke on the topic of what is commonly called <em>DevOps</em>. It could be described in one sense as the need within software development to maintain an effective relationship between the software-building phase of a project, and the push-to-production phase.</p> <a name='more'></a> <p>If you’ve been in the software development game long enough, you’ll appreciate how challenging it can sometimes be for all parties on a project team to interact efficiently and effectively. Many times the developers code software without taking into account the Production-specific issues that the Operations team will have to deal with when trying to deploy the code. And sometimes the Operations team struggles to find qualitative ways of communicating bugs and other issues back to the Development team.</p> <p><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 29px 23px 0px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" border="0" align="left" src="http://cloud.tech-recipes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/visual-studio-logo-618x350.jpg" width="129" height="86" />Fortunately, there are many tools today to help make this process much more productive. When <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/alm">Visual Studio 2012 and Team Foundation Server</a> are combined with <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/system-center/datacenter-management.aspx">System Center 2012 Operations Manager</a>, the software project team can finally begin to experience the kind of streamlined and effective application lifecycle management processes that we’ve been needing all these years.</p> <p>Learn more about these tools using the links above. Also, my slide deck from my presentation can be found below, or on <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/ricardo303">Slideshare</a>:</p> <p align="center"><iframe height="327" src="https://skydrive.live.com/embed?cid=C2E3E72C0653A192&resid=C2E3E72C0653A192%215456&authkey=ACN_KadZbNXswRQ&em=2" frameborder="0" width="402" scrolling="no"></iframe></p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-69893272809165193932012-12-23T17:32:00.001-05:002012-12-23T17:33:20.842-05:00Surface RT Pro vs Windows XP?<p><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px 16px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="IMAG0262_1" border="0" alt="IMAG0262_1" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Bwho-RVKuMA/UNeGbORsVyI/AAAAAAAAAps/fB81hi_r3Eo/IMAG0262_1%25255B12%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="270" height="388" />Clearly <a href="http://www.rixbits.com/search/label/tablet%20pc">I’m a tablet PC fan</a>. I appreciate the power of a PC in a tablet form.  I also appreciate the power of <a href="http://www.rixbits.com/2011/04/hp-slate-500-digital-ink-for-windows.html">digital ink</a> and true handwriting on my tablet. So I’m not easily impressed by all the <a href="http://www.stuffistumbledupon.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Tablet-PC-ipad-apple-bill-gates-steve-jobs-steve-ballmer-surface-2002-2010-2012.jpg">Johnny-come-lately</a> consumer tablets that are popular these days.</p> <p>Right now I’m waiting to see how good the upcoming <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/Surface/en-US/surface-with-windows-8-pro/home">Surface RT Pro</a> will be. Unlike the current Surface RT, it will contain a full version of Windows 8 Pro, as well as the inclusion of a pen for digital handwriting. In particular, I’m wondering if it’s worth upgrading from my <a href="http://www.rixbits.com/2011/02/hp-slate-500-finally.html">HP Slate 500</a>. </p> <p>But I’m also wondering if anything will match the smooth performance of my <a href="http://www.rixbits.com/2010/12/tablet-pc-powerpoint-productivity.html">Windows XP (yes, XP) Toshiba hybrid tablet</a> from 2005. I still pull that out every now and then – not when I want to be mobile (it’s big & heavy) but when I want a large screen and good writing experience at my desk. The pen on that thing is flawless. If it wasn’t for it being so bulky, I’d still prefer the WinXP tablet over an iPad to this day.</p> <p>I’ll let you know if the Windows Surface RT Pro seems powerful enough to become my new tablet. Let’s wait and see.</p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-23537473544614641582012-09-25T23:20:00.001-04:002012-09-25T23:20:50.502-04:00Dog Food Conference 2012<p><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 7px 14px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Dogfood" border="0" alt="Dogfood" align="right" src="http://danilocasino.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/dogfood_thumb.png?w=244&h=186" width="244" height="186" />Just when you thought all the great local conferences were done for this year, suddenly you realize that the <strong><em>Dog Food Conference</em></strong> is coming up on November 8-9, 2012 at the Columbus Microsoft Office.  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_your_own_dog_food">Dogfooding</a> is all about using the very tools that you produce, and this year Microsoft will show once again how they make use of many of the products that they sale to us. Whether it be Windows 8, SharePoint (<a href="http://www.sharepointcowbell.com/" target="_blank">my favorite</a>) or the Cloud, the Dog Food Conference this year will showcase many of them with over 40 topics presented over 2 days by community IT professionals.</p> <p>Registration will open soon, but until then here are some useful links you’ll want to use:</p> <ul> <li><font color="#000000"><a href="http://dogfood2012.cloudapp.net/" target="_blank"><strong><font color="#800000">Topic Submission Link</font></strong></a> – use the Suggestions button to submit a topic suggestion</font> </li> <li><font color="#000000"><a href="http://dogfood2012.cloudapp.net/" target="_blank"><strong><font color="#800000">Call for Speakers</font></strong></a> – use the Submit process to submit a talk for this year’s conference</font> </li> <li><font color="#000000">The <a href="http://dogfoodcon.com/dogfood/" target="_blank"><strong><font color="#800000">main website</font></strong></a> will be updated soon.</font> </li> </ul> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-39156178979957896272012-09-05T11:50:00.001-04:002012-09-05T12:51:09.332-04:00Everything I Know About Career Planning I Learned from The Matrix<p><img style="margin: 0px 24px 40px 0px" src="http://scifidramaqueen.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/the-matrix-neo.jpg" width="218" height="178" /><strong><font size="3">B</font></strong>ased on <a href="http://www.rixbits.com/search/label/EverythingIKnowAbout" target="_blank">previous articles in this series</a>, it’s clear to me now that Hollywood has all the answers we need to guide our professional lives. : ) From <a href="http://www.rixbits.com/2012/04/everything-i-know-about-consulting-i.html" target="_blank">consulting</a> skills to <a href="http://www.rixbits.com/2012/07/everything-i-know-about-self-promotion.html" target="_blank">self-promotion</a> tips, movies provide more wisdom about our day-to-day lives than a <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109830/quotes" target="_blank">box of chocolates</a>. And for guidance on <em>career planning</em>, we don’t have to look any further than the digital drama known as The Matrix. Here are a few rules we can learn from the saga of these hackers-turned-heroes. But remember, as we all know, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/quotes" target="_blank">some of these rules can be bent… others can be broken</a>.</p> <p><strong><font size="3"></font></strong></p> <a name='more'></a> <p><strong><font size="3">Know When You’re In an Unhealthy Position</font></strong> – Before Morpheus freed Neo from the Matrix, Neo was one of millions of humans whose life energy was being harvested for the machines. Sometimes your job can be rather one-sided – you may feel like your time & talent is being used up, without a reciprocal feeling of reward. You have to be able to identify when you’re in an unhealthy position in your career. Signs of this are a lack of career mobility, and a culture that asks for long hours and extra work without an attempt to recognize or reward the effort. You’ll have to determine when it’s time to unplug.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong><font size="3">A Mentor Can Help</font></strong> – A call from Morpheus helped guide a naïve Neo throughout the cubes and corridors of his office in an attempt to escape apprehension by the Agents. If you have a mentor at your job, especially one that has been in the organization for a long time, they may be able to help you understand the social or political ins-and-outs of the job, and can give you good advice about how to proceed with your career. A mentor, of course, is someone you can trust, and whose help stems from a desire to see you succeed. Try to gain a mentor relationship with a seasoned person at your job, or perhaps be a mentor to someone else.</p> <p> </p> <p><img style="margin: 0px 0px 20px 20px; display: inline; float: right" align="right" src="http://www.supermaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/the-matrix-bullet-time.jpg" width="183" height="140" /><strong><font size="3">Imitate Others, but Avoid Unhealthy Career Choices</font></strong> – Trinity remarked to Neo that “<em>…you move like they do…</em>”, after seeing him dodge a flurry of bullets fired from the gun of an Agent. Just as Neo’s imitation of his enemies’ techniques helped him in a crucial situation, we can also help ourselves in our career by making choices similar to those we’ve seen made by others, especially when the outcome of their choices match the outcomes we’re hoping for. But be careful – career planning is not a one-size-fits-all adventure. What works for someone else may not work well for us. Be prepared to dodge a career-ending bullet that may come in the form of a career decision that is not the right fit for you.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong><font size="3">Use Your Colleagues for Tips & Advice</font></strong> – While waiting to be interviewed by The Oracle, Neo met a young friend with an interesting ability to bend a spoon. The boy later enlightened Neo that the secret was realizing that ‘there is no spoon’. Many times, our colleagues and peers may have good tips and advice for us regarding our career. Although we should carefully discern the good advice from the bad, we should be open to listening to the thoughts of our peers & friends in the organization when we ask their advice about our career options. You never know – one of them may be able to give you just the right tip you needed to take you to the next level.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong><font size="3">Know When to Say “No”</font></strong> – Neo had to make many key Yes/No decisions on his path to becoming The One. He said Yes to Trinity’s invitation to meet Morpheus. He said Yes to Morpheus’ offer to take the red pill and learn the truth. But his most important decision was when he said No to the bullets flying at his head in the final battle scene with the Agents. It was this No that marked his enlightenment, and his transformation into The One. You, too, will have many options presented to you – both in your current position, as well as from offers by other companies. However, not all of them are what’s best for your career. Be prepared and willing to say No to options that don’t have your best interests in mind.</p> <p> </p> <p>Although the Matrix isn’t real (or is it???), the career decisions that we make definitely are. But with careful planning, you can make the kind of decisions that set you on the right path, and bring you closer to the day when you can finally <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/quotes" target="_blank">‘free your mind’</a>. : )</p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-3451072503199750172012-07-05T15:27:00.001-04:002012-09-05T11:52:44.920-04:00Everything I Know About Self-Promotion I Learned from The Princess Bride<p><img style="margin: 0px 20px 20px 0px" src="http://content7.flixster.com/movie/10/92/26/10922677_det.png" width="146" height="199" /></p> <p><strong>I </strong>got a great response to my previous article, “<a href="http://www.rixbits.com/2012/04/everything-i-know-about-consulting-i.html">Everything I Know About Consulting…</a>”, and it made me realize that there are even more things to be learned from classic 80’s cinema. While good consulting techniques are certainly important to help us land our next client, they’re not the total package.  We have to also use certain skills after we’ve landed the project to show that we were indeed the right person to pick for the job, and worthy of even more projects. This falls into the category of <em><strong>self-promotion</strong></em> – our ability to display our expertise, ability, and confidence to those around us, so that we’re seen as the very subject matter expert we claim to be.  And what better piece of work to illustrate these techniques than that classic movie “<em><strong>The Princess Bride</strong></em>”*. Let’s take a look at what this movie has to tell us about how to promote ourselves:</p> <a name='more'></a> <p> </p> <blockquote> <h4 align="right"><em><font style="font-weight: bold">“I am the Dread Pirate Roberts!…”</font></em></h4> <p align="right"></p> </blockquote> <p><img style="margin: 0px 0px 20px 20px; display: inline; float: right" align="right" src="http://nutshell-movies.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/vlcsnap-2011-05-09-21h18m09s16-300x168.png" width="187" height="112" />Just as Fezzick had only one chance to strike fear into the hearts of the castle guards, we’ve only got one chance to <strong>MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION. </strong>Make that first day a great one, a memorable one. We should introduce ourselves to as many people as we can, so that people know that someone new with our expertise and experience is in the building and available. And if possible, we should try to qet some quick wins in our project – even if they’re small, that early victory can have a lasting impression.</p> <blockquote> <h4 align="right"><font style="font-weight: bold"><em>“I mean, if we only had a wheelbarrow, that would be something…”</em></font></h4> </blockquote> <p>Certain key tools were all that Westley needed in order to come up with a master plan for storming the castle. We, too, need to <strong>USE OUR PERSONAL MARKETING TOOLS </strong>to help promote ourselves. The most obvious one is our business cards – we should have them ready to hand out, but also placed on our desk in plain sight for anyone to take, or for us to easily access when we meet someone new at our desk. Other useful tools are signs or posters, even light-hearted ones, related to our technology or area of expertise, that we can post on or around our desk or work area. Passer-byers can then easily see what we’re all about, and might be motivated to enquire.</p> <blockquote> <h4 align="right"><em><font style="font-weight: bold">“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”</font></em></h4> </blockquote> <p><img style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; display: inline; float: right" align="right" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivC8IkIMf6lw_LN6z8W86L91lRshsLU3PT_GV8YXNhL_NgII5HM434IyOBkpo8__9RhcBOoXvaFDrLt7j3hM2Iyx8OaScZ_-VLKYYviteh6VzFR6rwHtIuNCdzmQQsLfl41qbhDQVj7oGH/s1600/princess-bride5.jpg" width="139" height="169" />Inigo had practiced this speech for 20 years, just for the one moment when he needed it most. It’s also important for us to <strong>HAVE OUR ELEVATOR SPEECH READY </strong>for that inevitable moment when it will be needed. This is that 30-second speech that we’ll give in the brief moment in which we meet someone new that asks “So, what do you do?” Also, we should know which of our talents we want to highlight in that speech – we may have several areas of expertise, but only certain ones are important to the person we’re talking to at the moment.. In that same way, we’ll need more than one elevator speech ready to be prepared for the different types of people we might meet.</p> <blockquote> <h4 align="right"><em><font style="font-weight: bold">“Do you hear that, Fezzik? That is the sound of ultimate suffering…”</font></em></h4> </blockquote> <p>Inigo heard the tormented screams of Westley from miles away, and so did everyone else throughout the land, from the Prince to the village people. In the same way, we should try to <strong>MAKE OUR PRESENCE KNOWN </strong>throughout the organization. What can we do to get ourselves, our brand, or the fruits of our labors in front of as many people as possible?  What about volunteering to do training in our area? Or to show a demo of a new application we’ve developed? Better yet, if the organization has online forums or internal SIGs (Special Interest Groups) – let’s participate! Also, if we’re a writer or blogger, we should let people know when we’ve published a new article.</p> <blockquote> <h4 align="right"><em><font style="font-weight: bold">“True Love is the greatest thing in the world…”</font></em></h4> </blockquote> <p><img style="margin: 0px 20px 20px 0px; display: inline; float: left" align="left" src="http://thelostclassics.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/princessbride.jpg" width="177" height="156" />Even though Westley was ‘mostly dead’, he was still able to bellow “t-r-u-e l-o-v-e” when Miracle Max asked him what’s worth living for.  People around us should also know how much we care about our craft. We need to find a way to <strong>SHOW OUR PASSION </strong>to our client. To do that, we need to talk-up our technology or area of expertise, and show our excitement about the subject. Let’s be vocal about a possibly bigger vision for our area or technology – talk about the visionary things that could be done on our project in future phases, or if more time or funding was available. And also, we should highlight our community involvement – make sure everyone knows about our attendance at user groups, conferences, or perhaps our upcoming speaking engagements.</p> <p> </p> <p><font size="2"><em><strong>What are some techniques you use to promote yourself with your clients?</strong></em></font></p> <p><strong><em><font size="2"></font></em></strong></p> <p><em>*ACT III Communications, 1987, Rob Reiner<strong><font size="2"></font></strong></em></p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-25530930105476631142012-04-17T21:28:00.001-04:002012-09-05T11:53:29.416-04:00Everything I Know About Consulting I Learned from The Ghostbusters<p><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 22px 20px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" border="0" align="left" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ee/Ghostbusters_logo.svg/220px-Ghostbusters_logo.svg.png" width="197" height="176" /><strong><font size="5">B</font></strong>eing a consultant can be challenging, and although there have been many books and articles written on the subject of how to be a good consultant (or even how to be <a href="http://www.sharepointcowbell.com/2012/01/why-bad-consultants-are-so-necessary.html" target="_blank">a BAD one</a>), much of what we learn about consulting comes from hands-on experience and trial-and-error. Fortunately, in the 1980’s there was another body of work produced on the subject of consulting that has been particularly useful for me. It was a film called “<strong><em><a href="http://www.ghostbusters.com" target="_blank">The Ghostbusters</a>”*</em></strong>, and for me, it was an enlightening look at several areas of consulting that we’ve all had to deal with from time to time. Here are some of the subjects that this ground-breaking piece of work helped to make clear for me: </p> <p><strong><font size="4"></font></strong></p> <a name='more'></a> <p><strong><font size="4">Opportunities</font></strong> – Sometimes a closed door can be an opportunity. While Dr. Spengler and Dr. Stantz were worried about their reputations after being fired from the University, Dr. Venkman saw it as an opportunity to follow a career path that they had long been wanting to pursue - ghost busting. Sometimes as a consultant, we may lose a contract, perhaps even one with a long-standing client. We have to learn when to see these moments as a chance to expand our skills and experiences with new clients, or maybe even a new type of business. </p> <p><strong><font size="4">Fears</font></strong> – In the hallway of the Sedgewick Hotel, Dr. Venkman turns a corner and comes face-to-face <img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 18px 0px 20px 18px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" border="0" align="right" src="http://smallindulgences.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/pete-v.jpg" width="206" height="170" />with a green blob of a monster. This was only the second ghost he had ever seen, but this one looked particularly scary. However, he controlled his fear and immediately radioed for help. Many times we’ll be faced with new and unknown technical or business challenges. It’s important to learn not to panic, but to think through the situation rationally. It’s also important to know when to ask for help, which could mean hiring additional consultants for your project team, or subcontracting to another consultant. </p> <p><font size="4"><strong>Clients</strong></font> – When Dr. Venkman shows up at Dana Barrett’s apartment for their first date, he discovers that in fact she’s no longer the person he originally met. She’s now possessed by a demon, and surprisingly now has an entirely different disposition towards him. Over time, our clients may appear to change their mind or their demeanor in a way that seems completely different from when you first met them at the start of the project. They may have new needs, or new opinions about the project plan you originally set in motion. As consultants we have to be able to quickly change gears, and perhaps use different skills and approaches to address the new business requirements, just as Dr. Venkman immediately saw the need to try to exorcise the demon out of Dana. There may not even be time or a need to discuss how or why this change has suddenly occurred, but when it does, many times we have to make the best of it. </p> <p><font size="4"><strong>Relevance</strong></font> – Dr. Venkman helps land a key citywide consulting contract from the Mayor by helping to show him how their proposed solution can benefit his Office – “…you can save the lives of millions of registered voters…” Similarly, our clients also need us to show them the business value of our solutions and expertise, and the positive impact on their bottom line. Many times we may be focused on the elegance of our technical approach, or perhaps even on the cost-saving measures we’ve implemented to control the project budget. But at the end of the day our clients need assurance that the project’s success will solve the pain points from which the project was conceived in the first place. </p> <p><font size="4"><strong>Marketing</strong></font> – After Ray’s bad response to a demonic line of questioning (consultants: think carefully about your responses during an interview!) almost ends in a fatal mishap, Winston Zeddemore quickly tells Ray that “when someone asks you if you’re a god, you say YES!” It’s important for us as consultants to let our potential customers know our skills and talents, and to be able to market ourselves as experts in our field. We need to have confidence in our abilities, because our clients want a confident consultant tackling their challenging business needs. </p> <p>Although our industries tend to be much more challenging than the world-ending paranormal elimination market that Dr. Venkman and his colleagues found themselves in, I think we can all still see value in the consulting techniques they used to be successful. If we can master these areas of our business, then ultimately when the decision-making staff of our client companies start thinking about which consultant to hire, they will without question have to ask themselves… <em>“Who You Gonna Call?”</em> (you knew it was coming) : ) </p> <p> </p> <p><em><font size="1">*Columbia Pictures, 1984; Ivan Reitman</font></em></p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-90557873805182042172012-04-01T12:39:00.001-04:002012-04-01T12:39:30.167-04:00SharePoint Crash Course webinar with BDPA Atlanta<p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-sZYqwmvJ2do/T3iEv00vyvI/AAAAAAAAAfk/hI9bnnzqh08/s1600-h/Untitled-1%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="Untitled-1" border="0" alt="Untitled-1" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-CaVMVBN-NiM/T3iEwbtHqzI/AAAAAAAAAfs/2bb_V2Q1wKw/Untitled-1_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="402" height="218" /></a></p> <p>On Tuesday, April 3rd at 7pm EST, I’ll be delivering an online webinar for the <a href="http://atlantabdpa.org/index.html" target="_blank">Atlanta chapter of the BDPA</a> as part of their Tech Talks series. I’ve got 90-minutes to give a crash course to attendees on everything that is the wonderful world of SharePoint… [<a href="http://www.sharepointcowbell.com/2012/04/sharepoint-crash-course-webinar-with.html" target="_blank">read more here</a>]</p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-49113822162296114652011-09-14T01:02:00.001-04:002011-09-14T01:02:58.852-04:00The 3 T’s of Giving Back to the IT Community<p><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px 12px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" border="0" align="right" src="http://www.itmartini.com/phpthumb/phpThumb.php?src=../uploads/stories/142926416heaintheavy.jpg&w=228&h=228&zc=1" width="228" height="228" /></p> <p>[my article originally posted at <a href="http://www.itmartini.com/columbus/stories/ways-of-giving-back-to-the-it-community/" target="_blank">ITMartini</a>]</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>A</strong>s IT professionals, we spend many years developing our crafts, and investing in our careers. Along the way, we have all probably been fortunate enough to get help from many sources, including colleagues and mentors who decided to take the time to share their knowledge and experience with us. As a result, we grow in our profession, and for most of us we inevitably ask the question – what can I do to give back, and make the same investment in others that someone made in me? Fortunately, there are many ways in which we can ‘return the favor’ in the IT community, and by doing so, make a positive impact on our industry.</p> <p><b>Talk</b></p> <p>For some, the thought of public speaking is frightening. Ironically, the best way to get over that fear is to do more of it. And if you can overcome your hesitations about public speaking, you’ll find that it’s both a great way to share what you know with others, as well as demonstrate your own level of expertise. You can speak at local events relevant to your field, and talk about topics that you’ve dealt with on your job which might resonate with others in your line of work. In addition to sharing your expertise, you can also share your experience. There are many local organizations who would love to have someone come speak to their group about the positive and negative aspects of your career or industry. You could speak to high school groups with students who are considering going into the IT field. Or speak to members of non-profit organizations interested in facilitating knowledge-share session on IT topics. Perhaps even your own religious or social groups would be interested in having you speak on a topic.</p> <p><b>Teach</b></p> <p>Giving away your knowledge may seem counter-intuitive, but it’s actually a great way to gain a relevant perspective on what you’ve learned over the years, and helps foster your own credibility as an expert in your field. Not only that, but studies show that your own understanding on a subject increases when you attempt to teach it to someone else. In addition to these benefits, there are many opportunities to teach what you know to others in your local community. Many schools are looking for technical professionals to serve as an instructor for their students, whether in the classroom or online. And youth organizations like <a href="http://techcorps.org/">TechCorps</a> or <a href="http://www.rixbits.com/2011/08/bdpa-columbus-earns-3rd-place-in.html">BDPA HSCC</a> are always looking for volunteers to teach youth computer skills that they can use to pursue careers in technology.</p> <p><b>Text</b></p> <p>No, I don’t mean pull out your phone and mentor someone via SMS. But I do suggest that by sharing our expertise and experience through writing, we can find another avenue in which to give back. In today’s world, one of the easiest ways to do this is by starting a blog. This can come in many forms. You may find that you simply want to keep an online ‘journal’ of your saga as an IT professional. Or you may take the more technical route and share technology-specific information about problems you’ve solved, and how you did it. Both have value to others who may find your blog, and you may soon find your writings being followed by others who are interested in your perspectives. Writing can also come by way of social media – learn to stay involved in social forums like Twitter, LinkedIn Groups, or any other online platform where other IT professionals come together to discuss issues and challenges in your industry. Not only can you learn from these forums, but your participation and contributions can be helpful to others following a career path similar to your own.</p> <p>There’s no limit to the number of creative ways you can find for giving back to the IT community. Pick any one and get started – you’ll find that it not only gives you a better perspective on your own experiences, but helps strengthen and grow our IT community as well.</p> <p align="right"><i>-Graphic art courtesy of </i><a href="http://gilbertyoungart.com/"><i>http://gilbertyoungart.com/</i></a></p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-24730706787490416642011-08-07T02:48:00.001-04:002011-08-07T03:10:34.291-04:00BDPA Columbus earns 3rd Place in national competition!!!<p><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 9px 13px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-w0o0WInc5uM/Tj41IuYdq3I/AAAAAAAAAXw/vIR95OIkt14/image%25255B4%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="244" height="155" /></p> <p>The results are in! As we close out the 33rd Annual BDPA National Conference and High School Computer Competition, I’m proud to announce that the <a href="http://www.bdpacolumbus.org/hscc/blog/" target="_blank">BDPA Columbus high school team</a> scored <strong>THIRD PLACE</strong> this year out of 19 participating teams!  </p> <p>This achievement earned each team member a $500 scholarship award, as well as a plaque and special recognition at the BDPA Awards Gala. This is the first time that the Columbus team has placed among the Top 5 teams, and is an improvement from last year’s 12th place prize (out of 24 teams).  I should also point out that, in the Programming category (which specifically represents the ASP.NET website development work the team did as part of the competition), they scored the 2nd highest score of 509, missing the 1st place ranking in that category by only six points!</p> <p>We’re all extremely proud of this year’s team! More details to come.</p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-58571005485586847362011-06-25T05:32:00.001-04:002011-06-25T05:48:10.814-04:00Game-changing tool for entrepreneurs coming soon<p>I recently <a href="http://itmartini.com/columbus/stories/sharepoint-online-for-the-entrepreneur/" target="_blank">had an article published at IT Martini</a> where I discuss the upcoming release of Office 365, Microsoft’s latest cloud-based services offering, and the value that the SharePoint component of that offering has for entrepreneurs and businesses trying to make use of SharePoint for collaboration.</p> <a name='more'></a> <p>While my focus in the article was on <a href="http://www.sharepointcowbell.com/" target="_blank">SharePoint</a> specifically, entrepreneurs and small businesses should also be very excited at the opportunities and cost-savings that this offering could present to them.  I spoke recently with a local non-profit organization, and helped them to see potential value in the following areas:</p> <ul> <li><font color="#000000">Office 365 can mean that your organization can upgrade to the latest version of Microsoft Office, while not having to worry about the large software costs of buying licenses of the software for each user – a subscription-based model is now offered.</font></li> <li><font color="#000000">Many organizations do not have an IT focus – so why try to be an IT shop. Get rid of the expensive, hard-to-manage servers in your closet, and let Microsoft manage your email and intranet implementation via the cloud.</font></li> <li><font color="#000000">Start incorporating effective instant messaging techniques in your office by using the included Lync instant messaging communication tool.  Or, if you’re already using instant messaging, you can now stop using free tools, and use a more reliable, secure and private service that’s tied directly into the rest of your infrastructure.</font></li> <li><font color="#000000">Break free from your desk – using cloud services means you can get the same services, performance, and experience whether your’re at your desk, mobile with your laptop, at a public internet kiosk, or even via your phone.</font></li> </ul> <p>This is a great time to be an entrepreneur, as we continue to see technology level the playing field for the sole proprietor or SMB.  And I think Office 365 will be another step toward getting enterprise-level services in the hands of entrepreneurs at an economical and easily-scalable price point.</p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-48570666282494939762011-06-25T05:10:00.001-04:002011-06-25T05:12:07.031-04:00Technology & my international midnight presentation<p>I just finished giving <a href="http://www.sharepointcowbell.com/2011/06/sharepoint-saturday-india.html" target="_blank">a presentation via Live Meeting for an event based out of India</a>.  Start time: 3:30AM EST.  I’m so glad that someone invented coffee :)</p> <p>I think it’s very kool, tho, to have lived long enough to see a world where people all over the planet</p> <a name='more'></a> <p>can have a community event with people from other countries, and do so effectively with relatively little effort, thanx to technology.  Live Meeting did a great job of easily letting people from India, Australia, and South Africa join my presentation by simply clicking a web link.  Once in the meeting, they were able to see my slides in real-time, streamed from the desk in my home office.  The organizer in Australia was able to send me a text message to my phone to remind me that my presentation time was approaching. And of course, the party continued in the social media space, as we all used tools like Twitter (some right from their phones) to communicate with each other using the <a href="http://twitter.com/search?q=%23SPSIndia" target="_blank">#SPSIndia</a> hashtag. </p> <p>Although I’m pretty sleepy {as I yawn one more time}, I’m glad I was able to participate – great experience.</p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-16212361703346599402011-06-11T15:56:00.000-04:002011-06-12T01:16:53.220-04:00HSCC Midwest Regionals 2011<p>Today I’m in Cincinnati at the <a href="http://bdpa-2011midwest.eventbrite.com/" target="_blank">Midwest Regional Mock Competition for HSCC</a>, supporting our high school student team, and helping to serve as one of the judges during the competition.  <img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 20px 9px 14px 25px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="IMAG1105" border="0" alt="IMAG1105" align="right" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-2TWMxQ4oay0/TfRLNRn__3I/AAAAAAAAAXI/iUb6L9xLyQ8/IMAG1105%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="232" height="165" />Regional competitions are a great way for our students to begin to get a feel for what they can expect in the actual <a href="https://bdpa.site-ym.com/?page=Student_Programs" target="_blank">national competition</a> in August.  </p> <p>Aside from a slightly abbreviated time schedule and fewer teams to compete against, the regional mock competition offers a pretty accurate representation of the real thing.  The Cincinnati chapter of BDPA put a </p> <a name='more'></a> <p>lot of work into bringing this together, with special thanks going to Cincinnati State Technical and Community College  for providing their facilities.  <img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 20px 24px 20px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="IMAG1128" border="0" alt="IMAG1128" align="left" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-nHhUoPbFkyM/TfRLOaaVdiI/AAAAAAAAAXM/fOSsJqN4TIE/IMAG1128%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="224" height="159" /></p> <p>Among the teams represented at this year’s Midwest regionals are Columbus, Cincinnati, Detroit, and even Los Angeles (the West Coast did not have a regional event this year, so LA is participating virtually in our competition this year via Skype). </p> <p>I’m always amazed at the stamina and endurance of our young students, as they sit through an entire day of testing and coding.  The first couple of hours involves team quizzes and oral competitions, and a written portion as well. But the bulk of their day is spent in one room, huddled around a single computer, working together for several hours to solve a web development problem that they’ve seen for the first time that day.  I know some adults that probably wouldn’t be able to hang in there for something like this.  :)</p> <p>Good job, HSCC – see you in Chicago in August!</p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-3958205669169728092011-06-07T10:50:00.001-04:002011-06-07T10:50:52.090-04:00Published article at NBSP<p>In addition to being a big geek, <a href="http://www.rixbits.com/p/about-ricardo.html" target="_blank">I’m also a SharePoint dude</a>. I blog on all things SharePoint in <a href="http://www.sharepointcowbell.com/" target="_blank">my other blog site</a>, but every now and then some of my <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-TPISrlNZyyo/Te46yGPZ41I/AAAAAAAAAXA/w9p0WQNsu-I/s1600-h/image%25255B2%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 8px 28px 8px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="left" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-OTSxCfbwRbg/Te46yv2aZUI/AAAAAAAAAXE/dcRu7S5SDco/image_thumb.png?imgmax=800" width="244" height="53" /></a>blog posts go viral. :)  It turns out that <a href="https://www.nothingbutsharepoint.com/sites/eusp/Pages/Document-Management-and-SharePoint-Forms-vs-Documents.aspx" target="_blank">one of my articles has been published</a> in a well-known SharePoint website for end-users, admins, and developers called <a href="http://www.nothingbutsharepoint.com" target="_blank">NothingButSharePoint.com</a>.  The article is based on a challenge I had at one my client sites, where definitions about key corporate artifacts like ‘documents’ and ‘forms’ had to be agreed on in order to make the project successful.  Since then, I’ve learned that with any client, whether you’re implementing a SharePoint solution or not, agreeing on key terms as early as possible is always helpful for project success.</p> <p> </p> <p>Take a look a the article and let me know what you think.  And if you’re on Twitter, <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/SPCowbell/status/77845560073273344" target="_blank">feel free to retweet me</a>.  Thanx!</p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-62321416205552787282011-05-21T21:57:00.001-04:002011-05-21T21:59:37.696-04:00Malware attack on Mac OS X<p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_wzEbPT2jVIk/TdhtcW99FhI/AAAAAAAAAWY/k00RJz8EaSo/s1600-h/image%5B9%5D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="left" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_wzEbPT2jVIk/TdhtcmppHyI/AAAAAAAAAWc/Qf5NThhOm0Y/image_thumb%5B7%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="82" height="92" /></a>Recently, <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-05/20/apple-malware" target="_blank">Wired Magazine (UK) posted an article regarding a malware attack on the Mac OS X platform</a>.  I couldn’t resist commenting on this article, since as many know I've been known to <a href="http://rixbits.blogspot.com/2008/08/iphone-frenzy-why.html" target="_blank">bad mouth Apple products</a> from time to time. :)  But this one was particularly interesting because it reminded of a post I wrote about three years ago.</p> <p> </p> <p>My favorite part of the article says:</p> <a name='more'></a> <blockquote> <p><em>It's an urban myth among many that the Apple's OS X operating system is immune, or at least highly resistant, to viruses and malware. In reality that's not necessarily true. Virus creators tend not to target the Mac ecosystem simply because of its low market share in comparison to Windows, and that's changing as OS X becomes more and more popular.</em></p> </blockquote> <p>This sounds strangely similar to <a href="http://rixbits.blogspot.com/2008/08/mac-vs-vista.html" target="_blank">my post I wrote in 2008</a>:</p> <blockquote> <p><em>Let's get the easy one out of the way first - we know that viruses are created by crazy & malicious hackers out there that want to cause trouble, right. Historically Mac has never had trouble with viruses. Why? Cuz those hackers didn't bother wasting their time on Mac! Windows machines control the world - why would I waste my development time putting a virus together to affect all seventeen of the Mac users of the world! :- )</em></p> <p> <br /><em>okay, i'm exaggerating, but you get my point. Anyway, this security piece is recently being proven now that Mac is starting to get products like the iPhone that are taking a bigger bite out of the market. Check the news - you hear more and more stories about </em><a href="http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/07/03/cx_0703darkreading.html"><em>Mac being 'hacked' </em></a><em>these days. So yes, you probably will have less trouble with viruses while using a Mac, but please don't assume it's because Mac is somehow superior in its security design - and please remember that the more popular your Mac becomes, the more susceptible it will be - will Mac be ready when the hackers decide they're ready to launch a full-blown attack?</em></p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_wzEbPT2jVIk/TdhtdPru1fI/AAAAAAAAAWg/DTO9cJ5DK-4/s1600-h/image%5B14%5D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 4px 0px 14px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_wzEbPT2jVIk/Tdhtdca-2WI/AAAAAAAAAWk/pZ_SsleCriM/image_thumb%5B10%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="87" height="108" /></a>I wonder if I’ll live long enough to see the day when the hypnotic veil surrounding Apple products is finally uncovered for good.  ; )</p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-88578466817769134032011-05-20T18:33:00.001-04:002011-05-20T18:39:18.830-04:00My Interview with BDPA<p><img style="margin: 0px 27px 30px 0px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaQqzem9L6_QsEbqm-N72x64pCv9tH9OJNm50p2WAJwTUDjxqtFr2TDP-qXehfa_2o_6FgosSrO1_FN23Z-gqWAU0R0Fwh9Gx_z4a6SlSyZRwNQGJwxkAp1Dh5dttsr7CyjXDvAJcEl2ZM/s1600/TakeFive-7.jpg" width="197" height="132" /></p> <p>I was recently interviewed by the Black Data Processors Association Education and Technology Foundation regarding my volunteer work teaching web development to youth in the BDPA <a href="http://rixbits.blogspot.com/search/label/hscc" target="_blank">High School Computer Competition (HSCC)</a>.  It’s part of their <a href="http://betf.blogspot.com/search/label/Take%20Five" target="_blank">Take Five interview series</a> where they interview notable members of the organization.  As you can see from the interview, I find a lot of fulfillment in my work with HSCC. <a href="http://betf.blogspot.com/2011/05/take-five-ricardo-wilkens-columbus.html" target="_blank"><strong><em>Check out the full interview here</em></strong></a><strong><em>.</em></strong></p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-35543662519581703182011-05-15T11:36:00.001-04:002011-05-15T11:39:07.655-04:00Multiple Personalities in Social Media<p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_wzEbPT2jVIk/Tc_y8SF_iOI/AAAAAAAAAWI/V6Rf-MoIJT4/s1600-h/image%5B8%5D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 40px 20px 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_wzEbPT2jVIk/Tc_y8x39QTI/AAAAAAAAAWM/3jq5clmykJw/image_thumb%5B6%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="265" height="228" /></a>I recently decided to start shifting my <a href="http://rixbits.blogspot.com/search/label/sharepoint">SharePoint-related posts</a> over to a <a href="http://www.sharepointcowbell.com" target="_blank">new blog</a>, instead of here at RixBits.com.  My main concern was that I had [at least] two very different types of content that I was producing at RixBits, and I felt it was time to stop mixing them.  SharePoint, while a very popular topic, certainly has a smaller and more specific audience than many of the other general techie topics I blog about.  I wanted to make sure that anyone coming to RixBits to read about <a href="http://rixbits.blogspot.com/search/label/tablet%20pc" target="_blank">tablet PCs</a>, or about how <a href="http://rixbits.blogspot.com/search/label/macintosh" target="_blank">Apple is overrated</a>, would not be confused when they see a post related to <a href="http://sharepointcowbell.blogspot.com/2011/05/infopath-team-development.html" target="_blank">SharePoint team development using InfoPath</a>.  :)</p> <p> </p> <p>But as I thought about it a little more, I realized how important the idea of multiple personalities is to social media……</p> <p> </p> <a name='more'></a> <p> In <a href="http://rixbits.blogspot.com/2010/11/facebook-for-grown-folk.html" target="_blank">my presentation on how adults and business professionals can leverage Facebook</a>, I had a slide (seen above) that addressed this.  In Facebook, I recommend that you use the FB concept of ‘Pages’ to help separate your business persona from your personal profile. I also recommend using multiple Pages when appropriate.  This is just as important, and probably even more useful, in the world of <a href="http://rixbits.blogspot.com/2010/07/why-i-use-twitter-and-why-you-should.html" target="_blank">Twitter</a> as it is in Facebook.</p> <p> </p> <p>Here are some of the reasons why it’s a good idea to use different profiles/personalities in your social media world:<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_wzEbPT2jVIk/Tc_y9FaMSvI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/iyuABVUzXjo/s1600-h/image%5B14%5D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; margin: 16px 0px 16px 21px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_wzEbPT2jVIk/Tc_y9jcUxxI/AAAAAAAAAWU/F2NN0sNXII0/image_thumb%5B10%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="137" height="192" /></a></p> <ul> <li><font color="#000000">As ego-blowing as it may sound, I suspect very few of your followers are actually interested in ALL of the many hats you wear.  The overwhelming majority probably tolerate your posts on other topics while they wait for you to discuss the idea for which they originally chose to follow you. <br /> <br /></font></li> <li><font color="#000000">It gives you the freedom to represent your topic more passionately when you know that anyone following you did so specifically to hear your views on that specific topic. <br /> <br /></font></li> <li><font color="#000000">The social media tools available to us these days actually make it very easy to manage multiple accounts/personalities across different social media platforms. This, plus the specificity that each of your accounts implies, means you can feel more confident about your posts without wondering if there’s someone listening for whom it might not be appropriate. <br /> <br /></font></li> <li><font color="#000000">Cross-posting between your personalities provides additional exposure to your ideas. <br /> <br /></font></li> <li><font color="#000000">For business owners, this becomes even more crucial – wrapping your personal image together with your business is probably only a good idea for movie stars and fashion models. :) <br /> <br /></font></li> </ul> <p><font color="#000000">To those who would claim this as being unauthentic, I would say that in fact this is called focused marketing.  Each of my social media personalities is genuine in the context of the topic or idea that I’m representing with that personality.  And it provides a service to your followers, allowing them to decide the terms on which they follow you – whether they add you to their custom <a href="http://support.twitter.com/entries/76460-how-to-use-twitter-lists" target="_blank">Twitter List</a>, to their Facebook filter group, a certain folder in their RSS feeds, or any number of other options.  As our attempt to control our social media intake grows increasingly more complex, certainly we can all see the value of a little good old-fashioned segmentation. :)</font></p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-73792164210702971422011-05-08T13:54:00.001-04:002011-05-08T14:07:35.996-04:00HP Slate 500: Using OneNote on the desktop and tablet<p>I’ve often said that anyone who doesn’t understand what’s so cool about a tablet PC and a pen is probably someone who’s never used a tablet & pen with Microsoft OneNote.  OneNote lets me store all my handwritten notes in one searchable location, including screenshots, documents, and even audio & video recordings (imagine recording the meeting you’re sitting in, and having OneNote keep track of the point in the audio at which you write each of your notes).  Another way to think about – think Franklin Covey notebook without all the physical paper to keep track of. ; )</p> <p> </p> <p>In today’s video, I’ll be showing how I use OneNote on both my desktop and tablet PC in order to sync changes between the two. </p> <a name='more'></a> <p>This is useful when I need to prepare some OneNote notebook pages for a meeting – I can prepare them via desktop quicker sometimes (with mouse & keyboard), then sync-grab-n-go to take my slate to the meeting with all my notes prepared.  It’s also kool when I want to compile some screenshots or documents that I know I want to annotate on using my pen & tablet.</p> <p> </p> <p>My desktop and tablet are sharing their sync via one of my local network drives, but you could also sync to the cloud (specifically, your SkyDrive account), and of course share this not just with yourself, but also with 1 or more other OneNote users.</p> <p> </p> <p>Enjoy</p> <p> </p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; width: 448px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:87c066a6-8140-4a4c-88b7-1f449b0246b0" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="2f525175-97c7-4803-8bda-b330478b48e1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLFaj1WKOm0" target="_new"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_wzEbPT2jVIk/Tcbb59OUa3I/AAAAAAAAAVQ/u_Mhmh4iTBg/videodbc8341e0b1b%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('2f525175-97c7-4803-8bda-b330478b48e1'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/RLFaj1WKOm0?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/RLFaj1WKOm0?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-8581867348626554032011-05-06T06:23:00.001-04:002011-05-14T23:01:55.269-04:00SharePoint Cowbell up & running<p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_wzEbPT2jVIk/Tc9CISJ-lYI/AAAAAAAAAWA/IgBiry2mZZ0/s1600-h/spcb-logo-200%5B3%5D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="spcb-logo-200" border="0" alt="spcb-logo-200" align="right" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_wzEbPT2jVIk/Tc9CIhu59gI/AAAAAAAAAWE/hdpZIwqK_Iw/spcb-logo-200_thumb%5B1%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="123" height="131" /></a><font size="2">I’ve decided to start posting all </font><a href="http://rixbits.blogspot.com/search/label/sharepoint" target="_blank"><font size="2">SharePoint-specific posts</font></a><font size="2"> to my new brand over at </font><a href="http://www.sharepointcowbell.com" target="_blank"><strong><font size="2">SharePointCowbell.com</font></strong></a><font size="2">.  Among other things, it’ll let me post some highly technical SharePoint posts w/o feeling like I’m boring any readers who came here looking for info about the </font><a href="http://rixbits.blogspot.com/search/label/hpSlate500" target="_blank"><font size="2">HP Slate 500</font></a><font size="2">. :)  Lemme know what you think of the new format!</font></p> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3838936725502186121.post-86523497287049102622011-04-11T23:41:00.001-04:002011-04-14T07:51:22.957-04:00Heartland SharePoint Conference Redux<p>Ever since ICC presented the <a href="http://www.iccohio.com/blog/2011/01/12/the-heartland-region-sharepoint-conference-announces-the-2011-keynote-speakers/" target="_blank">Microsoft Heartland Region SharePoint Conference 2011</a> in February, and even after a mini encore presentation via online webinar in March, I’ve had a few people ask me where they can get all the presentation slide decks from ICC’s SharePoint team in one convenient location.  Poof! Your wish is granted!:</p> <p> </p> <table border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2" width="400"><tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="99"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_wzEbPT2jVIk/TaPJ3A-ws-I/AAAAAAAAATg/t7HRJaSBiKo/s1600-h/image%5B20%5D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwKw_J_kVPT1bYKK3t4fDkUZFQQX_GpXtLUPz0K141mvdBM1zF86DISmKZ8tJUHq4GNit2tGVGsPcBXcCu6TanDzPYAK2SwHcE-jyCGjaqjySKLOd1ZEDHdgREgRReuqqrkT05H2LgKvw/?imgmax=800" width="104" height="125" /></a></td> <td valign="top" width="17"> </td> <td width="283"> <h4><a href="http://rixbits.blogspot.com/2011/02/slides-from-microsoft-heartland.html" target="_blank"><font color="#c0504d">Make Your Developers Love You! (aka SharePoint 2010 ALM for Dev Managers)</font></a></h4> <p align="right">-Ricardo Wilkins</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="99"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_wzEbPT2jVIk/TaPJ3hPykVI/AAAAAAAAATo/fGcxDUsLjzA/s1600-h/image%5B21%5D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieZdB5BVqdEaLQ5FUMu7F4OYgm2Wn7zHwag8LlLImFc7V_h-wyJDZK1K-B547L8xPEp-vrB1KBOQThJhzWZkH_ejvLsXkTbxBFPPmZENS__QhvNnP3n3rgTZfwHYlsRY_Xj8sxz72MD6A/?imgmax=800" width="102" height="143" /></a></td> <td valign="top" width="17"> </td> <td width="283"> <h4><a href="http://www.sharepointroundtable.com/blogs/mfulan/archive/2011/03/09/slides-from-microsoft-heartland-sharepoint-conference-2011.aspx" target="_blank"><font color="#c0504d">Success with SharePoint 2010 – Over and over and over again!</font></a></h4> <p align="right">-Mario Fulan</p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="99"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_wzEbPT2jVIk/TaPJ4cE4W0I/AAAAAAAAATw/Xstcmrq13u4/s1600-h/image%5B22%5D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_wzEbPT2jVIk/TaPJ4tGW_8I/AAAAAAAAAT0/oMpk7JERqaw/image_thumb%5B14%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="102" height="122" /></a></td> <td valign="top" width="17"> </td> <td width="283"> <h4><a href="http://www.sharepointroundtable.com/blogs/vmaximiuk/archive/2011/02/02/getting-sp2010-deployment-right.aspx" target="_blank"><font color="#c0504d">Getting SharePoint 2010 Deployments Right</font></a></h4> <p align="right">-Veenus Maximiuk</p> </a></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="99"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikR5VrS-KodQd9DgbpU2lFV-G_Wt3wi_fYCeV-xDA6zR7dcVaye5oCj8JyyxHS3-7rz9f-iKU3-MPMDVR4r5AuBc8PAV3QMjJMuxi4q23HlgmjiKbBJR1-0AX7oiIk3kzWwyqo2CUWnT0/s1600-h/image%5B23%5D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPxlAAfvSL-b_xaFTrOfnyoBsMG-zMWDIziEEKXL24rWjjHYMyH9JH3DQPEY5e1NajXPXUgfYfAIlW1T3op7MIs49Kr9_yVSaI3bGk-oqCy5AMWxKltyAA-FR3Czlt4VDwvbj09LqN7pM/?imgmax=800" width="105" height="142" /></a></td> <td valign="top" width="17"> </td> <td width="283"> <h4><a href="http://www.sharepointroundtable.com/blogs/crygielski/archive/2011/02/03/conference-presentation-posted.aspx" target="_blank"><font color="#c0504d">Social Networking Features and Governance in SharePoint 2010</font></a></h4> <p align="right">-Chris Rygielski</p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> Ricardo Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00012656566305502851noreply@blogger.com1