I’ll be back for the SharePoint Conference 2019 in Las Vegas!

We’re approaching holiday season and Oslo, Norway where I live, has gotten a nice coating of snow to brighten up those dark evenings. Christmas lights are also popping up, bringing that jolly feeling all around.

And what else has that jolly feeling all around you might ask? SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas Baby! Yes, it’s true, SharePoint Conference came back last year, and SharePoint Conference 2019 (SPC19) is arriving with a twist. I’m back! Last time I was in Vegas was for the SharePoint Conference 2014, which means come May 21-23, 2019, it will be a whopping 5 years since the last time. I’ve had nothing but great experiences with the SharePoint Conference in the past, and I’m sure this time will be no different.

Save $50 and register via https://pzl.no/SPC19 today!

SPC19 is one of two major Microsoft events where Microsoft product groups announce new and upcoming features for the Office 365 and SharePoint suite. The other conference is of course Microsoft Ignite being held in November in Orlando, Florida. Which means attending one or both of these conferences puts you right in the middle of where it happens.

Governance and Lifecycle management

Back in 2014 search in SharePoint was still hot and sunny, and that was my speaking topic. This time around I’m older and wiser and have devoted my time to governance and lifecycle management of Office 365 Groups and Teams in a presentation titled: “What Options do You Have to Govern the Lifecycle of Office 365 Groups and Teams?”

Why have I switched from talking about the wonders of search capabilities in Office 365, over to boring admin stuff? It’s not that far a leap as you might expect, and certainly not boring. Search is all about findability and weeding out the bad content in order to surface the good content. Which plays right into managing content in Office 365 Groups and Teams. You need to focus on what’s valuable, and rid yourself of the rest.

Office 365 Groups and Teams introduce many workloads such as document management, tasks management, and chat logs. Built into the Office 365 platform your organization has many tools and functions available to help control how information is governed and to help you control the lifecycle of the information stored within the groups and teams.

The goal of my presentation is to show what tools are available in the Office 365 suite to help with lifecycle management and to show how you can use them to ensure a healthy environment with reduced information bloat while still maintaining information control and integrity. Some of the functions are available in different administration UI’s, but for the IT Pro’s loving PowerShell out there, most of it today is available via PowerShell and the Microsoft Graph.

Using admin UI’s and PowerShell I will dig into some of those capabilities and show how you can get hold of the information you need in order to implement your business rules and requirements for lifecycle management of Office 365 Groups and Teams.

I will also touch on what end-user licenses are needed for being license compliant when using the different features available to you. And who knows, working in an evergreen platform, things might very well change between now and May, which lets me adapt this session as well as time closes in on May 21^st.

There is more!

Even though you might find my session good enough reason to travel to SPC19, there is more.

Sunday and Monday before the conference has been reserved for full day workshops covering topics such as SharePoint Framework development, governance of Microsoft 365, security of Office 365 using Enterprise Mobility and Security settings, and how to get started with PowerApps and Flow.

Once you have filled your brain with hands-on training from the workshops, it’s time to dig into all of the 200+ sessions which are to be presented by an awesome speaker lineup with experts from Microsoft Engineering as well as well-renowned experts from all around the world – all passionate and eager to share their knowledge and experience with you. Also being present in Las Vegas gives you the possibility to talk to these experts about your problems, experiences and concerns in person.

With all the other attendees at SPC19, make sure you strike up a conversation during early morning breakfast, during energy re-filling lunches and during after-dinner drinks, and you will see that you can learn so much from fellow peers in the space of Microsoft 365 and Office 365. Even though your organization is unique, you’d be surprised to see how much it has in common with other organizations using the same platform. And if you didn’t know, the Office 365 and SharePoint community is one big sharing community. What it all boils down to is how to use the platform as smart as possible, and to get the job done in an efficient, smart and compliant manner.

Register and Save $50 on the ticket

If Las Vegas in May seems like your thing, register via https://pzl.no/SPC19 to use my discount code SVENSON (all caps) to save $50 on the ticket, which you instead could turn into millions in the casino. Register before January 15^th, and you may also receive an XBOX One, Surface Go or other cool stuff depending on your package.

Register now, register early, see you there!

Presentation and files from my ESPC18 session on Groups/Teams governance

I had an awesome time presenting “What Options do You Have to Govern the Lifecycle of Office 365 Groups / Teams?” at the European SharePoint Conference this week. The audience seemed very interested and I got a few questions at the end for every one to hear, and 20 minutes 1 on 1 after that.

The demo scripts can be found at https://github.com/wobba/espc18

Get Hygge with it – Your 5 Step Guide to ESPC18

1. PLAN Your Sessions

Explore the ESPC18 SCHEDULE to identify what sessions you’d like to attend. Create your own schedule suited to you. If you are travelling with colleagues, divide and conquer by  attending different sessions. Afterwards swap notes to increase your learning.
Don’t have time to delve through our 120+ conference schedule? We have created dedicated pages to save you time. Check out the ESPC conference schedule based on IT PRO, DEV, BDM, AZURE or MICROSOFT SESSIONS.

2. CONNECT with Your Peers

Join the ESPC18 App (Login details announced in the coming weeks) & follow the hashtag #ESPC18 to find out whose attending. Why not make your presence known by sending out a tweet introducing yourself. Arrange to meet new individuals at ESPC – you never know what you might discover! Helpful tip: Carry some business cards with you to share with the new people you meet.

3. LEARN, Learn, Learn

Before arriving at ESPC, take some time to identify what questions you want answered. Prepare them advance to ask during a session Q&A. Why not take a break from sessions and advance your skills at the ESPC labs or check out the Ask the Experts session. Remember, it’s good practice to note three important key takeaways from each session.

4. Have Fun

With 2,000 delegates expected to attend, ESPC offers a host of exciting day and night experiences. Check out the WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY LUNCH, a jam packed EXPO HALL or challenge other delegates and the ESPC team to some fun games in the Community Area.
Not enough? Be sure to join the EXPO drinks on Tuesday evening or enjoy a magical night at the sell-out ESPC18 PARTY: A NIGHT AT THE CIRCUS.

5. SHARE with your Team

Schedule a meeting post conference to share your key learnings with your fellow co-workers. Impress colleagues with your advanced knowledge while maximizing value for your company. Share your inspiration and make plans to implement what you learned.

Still undecided about attending The leading European SharePoint, Office 365 & Azure Conference? Visit 10 REASONS TO ATTEND ESPC18 to see why you need to be there.

BOOK YOUR TICKET today and use coupon code ESPC18SPK to receive a €100 discount.

Making ESPC as easy as 1.2.3 – get 10% discount on checkout

Europe’s Largest SharePoint, Office 365 & Azure Conference is approaching fast. I’ll be presenting How to Take Control of Your Office 365 Groups – Using Technology to Solve Business Processes, a developer centric session on how you can control Groups creation and configuration using PowerApps, Flow, Azure Functions and PnP.

Here’s a few handy tips on how to make the most of your time at the conference.

Find out who’s going

Check out Twitter #ESPC17 to find out who’s going or visit the ESPC17 delegates page. If you would like to be added to this page, email your image and details to sarah@sharepointeurope.com There’s no better time to network with your peers, connect with new prospects, or touch base with customers than ESPC17. Don’t bank on running into them at the conference, reach out to them before and arrange a meeting.

Plan Ahead

Take a look at the conference schedule and decide the sessions and tutorials you would like to attend. Take note of their time so you can plan your meetings accordingly. If you are travelling with co-workers, split up and attend different sessions. You can swap notes after, allowing your company to get the most out of the conference.

Learn

Before the session, think of some questions you would like the answers to. Don’t be afraid to ask them during the Q&A, or alternatively go up and have a chat with the speaker afterwards. It is also important to take notes. A good practice is to write down the 3 most important takeaways from each session.

Socialize

With 2,000 people from the SharePoint, Office 365 & Azure community estimated to attend ESPC17, it is worth going to the after parties (The Black & White Party at the Guinness Storehouse on Wednesday 15th) and the many other great side-line and networking sessions, you never know who you’ll meet. Swap ideas, get advice and make those all-important contacts. Don’t be afraid to go up to a speaker or blogger and introduce yourself – they expect this at a conference.

Share what you learn

To capture maximum value for you and your company, schedule time to share what you’ve learned and even better, to go ahead and implement, as soon as you get back to the office. Organise an informal meeting with your colleagues and managers and share important takeaways from the conference.

Still haven’t made up your mind? Then visit 10 reasons to attend ESPC17 to see why you should be there. Then book your ticket today. Use coupon code ESPC17Speak on checkout to avail of a further 10% discount.

My presentation from #SPSMUC

Here’s my presentation from SharePoint Saturday Münich

SharePoint Search Queries Explained SPSMUC—Mikael Svenson

And I have to say, this is probably one of the best events I have ever attended. As a speaker we were well taken care of with dinner on both Friday and Saturday, as well as breakfast on Sunday for those who were still in town. The venue at the Sofitel was awesome with good rooms, excellent food and service. And the speaker line-up, wow!! So many amazingly good speakers and I managed to attend 3 sessions myself.

Check out the cool speaker shirt and nametag and the inflatable pretzel we got!

Speaking at SharePoint Connect 2014

At the upcoming SharePoint Connect 2014 in Amsterdam (November 18th-19th) I will do a deep dive into the fun stuff surrounding search – Query Rules, Query Variables and Search Orchestration.



The session will be built around my SharePoint Search Queries Explained series and I will present some good patterns and practises around wiring up content search. When you leave you should have some ideas about how you can optimize and utilize the capabilities in SharePoint 2013 and SharePoint Online.

The line-up for the conference is pretty good and I’m proud to have the only IT Pro/Dev session. Home in on the single green square on the agenda and you’ve got my slot!

Register now and hope to see you there! Use the discount code SA244 on the last page of registration and get a 10% discount!

I'm Speaking at the European SharePoint Conference 2014

The European SharePoint Conference is less than three weeks away and I’m super excited to be part of such an exceptional line up. The conference will take place in Barcelona, Spain from the 5-8^th May 2014 and is Europe’s largest SharePoint event bringing you great sessions and the latest innovations from Vegas. This will be my first trip ever to Barcelona, so it better be good!

Browse through the superb conference program including 110 sessions, keynotes, and tutorials, including topics covering the latest news from SPC14 including what's new with SharePoint 2013 SP1 - Office Graph/Oslo - new Office 365 REST APIs - Access Apps - Cloud Business Apps.

I will be conducting a session on “Rock Your Office 365 (SharePoint Online) Search with 13 Easy Tune-Ups”, so much more end-user oriented compared to my SPC14 talk on relevance tuning.

 

FastForward’09

This year was my first visit to the FastForward conference. The theme of the conference was “Engage your user”, something which has been on my mind for the last couple of years.

The conference was held at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, a place where they certainly try their best engaging their users. A well chosen spot indeed (I lost but $40 bucks, slot machine sounds is not what makes me fuzzy and warm).

Travelling 17 hours each way is a strain, but it was worth it. Talking to FAST customers and others working with search technology was very inspiring, and we all agree that things are moving in the right direction. More and more information is accessible for search, and people are going at great lengths to create search driven applications and interfaces which are intuitive for the end-user. Seems like Enterprise 2.0 might finally be around the corner.

2009 might just be the best year for search yet!