2010 is in full-swing, and there seems to be no shortage of activities for me to jump into! If anything, I need more free time to take on some of the stuff I really want to sink my teeth into (such as a SharePoint 2010 CodePlex project I want to have ready for RTM). Until I have something more tangible in hand, though, I’ll avoid talking about that topic any further.
Here are some of the things occupying my free time in the short-to-mid term:
TechOlympics Expo 2010
The TechOlympics Expo is the type of event every adult geek wishes they had when they were in high school – a weekend lock-in featuring technical competitions, cool toys, games of every imaginable sort, and pretty much everything else that would get a teenage gearhead jazzed-up. The underlying goal of the event is to get high school kids interested in technology, careers in technology, and technical opportunities in the Cincinnati area.
The event (on March 5-7) is being put on by the INTERalliance of Greater Cincinnati, and my involvement in the event is kind of a curious thing. My primary client of the past 2+ years is a big backer of (and heavily invested in) the INTERalliance, so naturally they kick-in help whenever events come up. I helped the INTERalliance through a last-minute (and somewhat ugly) technical hurdle involving SMS voting for their PharaohFest event last October, and I suspect that played a part in my being asked to help out with the TechOlympics.
With the TechOlympics, I’m part of a team that’s working to make all the “technical stuff” (behind-the-scenes and otherwise) happen. My responsibilities seem to shift a bit each day, but the bulk of what I’ve been working on is coordinating network logistics and services, translating “the vision” into technical infrastructure, providing some guidance on applications being written to support the event, and generally doing my best at “collision avoidance” to ensure that we don’t miss anything important for the event.
I’m confident that the event is going to be incredible, and it’s been a lot of fun doing the planning thus far. Seeing everything come together is going to be neat – both for me and for everyone else who has been laboring to make the magic happen!
SharePoint Saturday Michigan
What would an “Upcoming Activities” post be without a SharePoint Saturday announcement! The next one I’ll be attending is SharePoint Saturday Michigan in Ann Arbor on March 13th. I’ll be presenting “Saving SharePoint,” the disaster recovery talk that John Ferringer and I have been delivering at various SharePoint Saturday events around the region. I’ll be flying solo this time around, though, as John has some other things going on that weekend.
As always, SharePoint Saturday events are free and open to the public. If you have any interest in learning more about SharePoint, getting some free training, or simply networking and meeting other professionals in the SharePoint space, please sign up!
SharePoint 2010 Disaster Recovery Guide
This announcement is last, but it’s definitely not least. Some of you are aware, but for those who aren’t: John and I have been working on the SharePoint 2010 Disaster Recovery Guide for a while now. I’m not going to lie – it’s slow going. Personally, I’m a very slow writer, and the process itself is exceptionally labor-intensive. Nevertheless, we’re making progress – one page at a time.
Our goal (and Cengage’s goal for us) is to have the book ready for SharePoint 2010 RTM. I haven’t seen or heard anything official from Microsoft, but rumor has it that SharePoint 2010 will probably be out sometime in June. If that’s the case, then John and I are on-track.
If you have suggestions for us, particularly if you read the first book, we would love to hear them. We’re incorporating a few that we already received (for example, a chapter that covers some real world use-cases), but our ears are open and listening. We know that DR isn’t a topic that gets everyone overly hot and bothered (unless they’ve lost everything at some point, of course), but our goal is to make the book as useful as possible. We’d love your help!
Additional Reading and References
- Site: CodePlex
- Event: TechOlympics Expo 2010
- Organization: The INTERalliance of Greater Cincinnati
- Event: PharaohFest
- Event: SharePoint Saturday Michigan
- Partner In Crime: John Ferringer on Twitter
- Book: SharePoint 2010 Disaster Recovery Guide
