Although I’ve not been able to blog as frequently as I liked I've managed to be part of the ever growing NZ SharePoint community and the wider overseas SharePoint communities. The Wellington SharePoint user group is still going strong after all these years. Somewhat up and down in the experienced vs newbies recently but there is still interest and regular attendance by regular users of SharePoint. One of the main things that I have experienced is that there are more and more “new” users who are getting introduced to SharePoint and who are looking to learn the basics. Some of the feedback we’ve had also indicates that people are looking for beginning SharePoint content more and more! Anyways what I wanted to write about is the fact that I have been a MVP for the last five years! Today I received  a special ‘token’ for being a Microsoft ...[Read More]

Well where to start.. I’ve got a few questions from a few people on why I have totally abandoned the blog. To be quite honest I’d had way too much work and although I wanted to write some follow up posts with regards to SharePoint upgrading and also some general guidance for SharePoint 2010 with my full time job and everything else it just didn't happen. So I am going to try and make a fresh start on the blog front. To start this off here are some important local SharePoint announcements which I have been meaning to make for some time. Wellington – SharePoint User Group There are some great events lined up for Wellington in the coming months. As some of you may know fellow SharePoint MVP Mark Orange who was the co-leader of the group stepped down and  made way for Chaks Chandran to become the co-leader. Chaks has been involved in the ...[Read More]

The biggest SharePoint event to hit New Zealand is only weeks away! If you are still humming and arrhing about getting registered here is my sales pitch to get you registered. I’m a .Net developer/Web Developer I don’t really care about SharePoint.. Well if you are  then you have that attitude you are probably wrong! (Now I don’t want to have a fight on this) but here me out. Over the last two years if you happen to look at Job adverts you will have noticed that one in eight “Developer” positions advertised will have “SharePoint Skills Preferred” or at least a preference given to candidates who are “SharePoint Savvy”. Bottom line is if you are looking to advance your career you will have to learn SharePoint sooner or later. So what’s better than coming to a New Zealand focused SharePoint event so you can talk with these mysterious fol ...[Read More]

The New Zealand SharePoint event of the year is just around the corner and I wanted to highlight the “A” list speaker line up we have this year! Tood Bleeker Todd is the author of numerous SharePoint books and he has been writing about SharePoint since the first version of SharePoint. If you have ever been to one of Todd’s talks on development practices for SharePoint then you definitely don’t want to miss the chance of meeting him and seeing him present! His most famous and widely read books include Developers guide to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and the upcoming Developers Guide to SharePoint Foundation 2010. Todd Bleeker, Ph.D. and MVP, is an industry leader in Microsoft-centric software development, specializing in SharePoint products and technologies. Todd is an innovative, resourceful, and competitive technologist with a ...[Read More]

As some of you maybe aware SharePoint 2010 is now already released and available for download on MSDN. To celebrate the launch the New Zealand SharePoint user groups are organising an unique event to be held simultaneously across three cities of Auckland, Christchurch and of course Wellington. You can now sign up to be part of this unique event by registering on the following URL The event will be hosted online if you can't physically be there. Once you have signed up you will receive instructions via email or you can contact wlgspug@sharepointservices.net.nz for more info. The event will start at 6PM in Wellington on May 13th (Thursday) to coincide with the global SP2010 launch and will be held at Gen-i "North Tower" 68 Jervois Quay, Wellington, New Zealand. If you are attending the event please meet around 5.45pm at the ...[Read More]

WOW! What a conference! Despite ash clouds and travel disruptions the Combined Knowledge team led by Steve Smith put on one of the best conferences that I have attended. I was one of the lucky few to get on a Eurostar train from Paris to London on Friday 16th just before the major travel disruptions started. Our original flight was not due to fly till Friday evening from Paris but I was not about to take any chances so we got next available Train tickets straightaway from Paris to London. That was lucky since some of the other speakers were unfortunately left stranded in parts of Europe. AC @andrewconnell) was in Norway trying to get out. Joel, Paul Swider and Michael Noel was stranded in Dubrovnik. Bob Fox’s plane was turned away half way through from US to London. It was chaos. Steve called a “War Room” session on Saturday (17th) aft ...[Read More]

It’s been a while since my last post and some of you may have thought that I’ve given up on the blog. No I haven’t and I really should not be making any excuses. On reflection last year 2009 has been a blast with some great events that occurred in my personal life and also my professional life (obviously SharePoint related) Looking ahead at 2010 there are many events that will make 2010 a fantastic year. Just on reflection working on our company Knowledge Cue since 2008 has taught me a lot about work life balance and have provided opportunities which I never thought possible. You can follow Knowledge Cue happenings on our company blog. I use this (my personal) blog to engage with the wider local and international SharePoint community to share my knowledge. This year I will be attending and in some cases presenting about SharePoint i ...[Read More]

TechED NZ is officially kicks off today. This is my Seventh year attending and my fourth year speaking! If you are looking for SharePoint content you will not be disappointed. Here is a list of all the SharePoint Sessions that’s on at TechED! Watch Darryl Burling’s blog for some great news for SharePoint training. OFC201 SharePoint and Business Intelligence Presenter: Steve Letford (MSFT NZ) Mon 9/14 | 12:05-13:20 | Ballroom 2 The front end of Business Intelligence - Office 2007. Excel, Excel Services, PerformancePoint Services, SharePoint and accessing SQL data in Office OFC202 The Value of SharePoint and Office in your Enterprise Presenter: Ian Morrish (MSFT NZ) Mon 9/14 | 10:40-11:55 | Ballroom 2 Are you getting the most out of your SharePoint investment? SharePoint products and Technologies is more than just a web server, ...[Read More]