Collaborpedia

The Baltimore SharePoint User’s Group welcomed a special guest speaker to the meeting held on February 18th, 2010.
Tom Miller of Bluethread stopped by to discuss BLOB storage within SQL Databases and what his company’s product StoragePoint can do to alleviate under-performing database management leveraging the tool.

StoragePoint is deployed to the Web Front End server as a solution package and provides a list of options within the SharePoint Central Administration site to manage and configure the tool.

StoragePoint is available as a 30 day trial installation for evaluation and testing purposes with full support for SharePoint 2010 at this time.

For more information on StoragePoint, log into www.storagepoint.com

Written by: Shadeed Eleazer

Written by: Shadeed Eleazer

The UMBC Tech Center was the backdrop as the Baltimore SharePoint User’s Group gathered for a great evening of discussion of SharePoint and its unique iterations that it becomes when applied to each member’s unique environment.

The evening’s guest was Juan Santiago, Project Manager and Business Analyst for VA based i3 Solutions. His topic was Building Business Processes in SharePoint. After a round of announcements which recapped SharePoint Saturday NYC, which both BSPUG co-founders Eric Harlan and I attended and delivered two sessions each, to the explosion of SharePoint Saturday events throughout the calendar month of November 2009.

I recently prepared a slide that I delivered that touched upon the business value of SharePoint Saturday and why companies should take part in the events throughout the region.

Juan’s session was videotaped in HD for future viewing on the Baltimore SharePoint User’s Group site.

All-in-all a great session. Feedback was excellent from attendees.

Next month, BSPUG will welcome Solutions Architect Fabian Williams.

SharePoint Saturday Baltimore Twitter Directory:
Written by Shadeed Eleazer

SharePoint Saturday events are great in my opinion due to the amount of content being generated by the participants which include speakers, sponsors, and attendees.

For those of you not on Twitter or unable to make the event on 7/25,  here is a quick reference guide to access news and notes regarding Saturday’s event without needing Twitter access.
You don’t have to be a Twitter Evangelist to enjoy the benefits of real-time updates concerning your favorite event or trending news item.

Where to Search for Real Time Updates
Hashtag search for all SP Saturday Baltimore content, news, pics - #spsbmore
Where to Search http://search.twitter.com

Event Details - Change in Schedule, Lineup, Cancellations
@SPSBaltimore

Baltimore SharePoint User Group
@baltsharepoint

#SPSBMORE Organizers/Volunteers on Twitter
@ericharlan
@budweber
@deannie
@alduns
@mrshadeed
@don_zielke

Speakers/Ask The Experts
@meetdux
@usher
@SharePointPhily
@danlewisnet
@AvePoint_Inc
@joeloleson
@fabianwilliams
@EUSP
@cdonlan
@klopmp
@aemacaulay
@deannie
@susanlennon
@catpaint1
@DocPointMark
@errinoconnor
@johngerl
@michaeltnoel
@snahta
mikewat
@paulschaeflein

* If I left out anyone, all apologies in advance.
See you guys at SharePoint Saturday!

From an Idea to a FoundationÂ
by:
Shadeed Eleazer - BSPUG Co-Founder

As co-founder of the Baltimore SharePoint User Group, I must say that we’ve come a long way during this journey of two years. We’ve opened the doors with the goal of building a SharePoint community within the greater Baltimore area.

The exciting thing is that we’ve achieved a level of consistency that very few groups attain, but there’s still a lot more that we can do and we’re just scratching the surface. 

Year 3 will launch us forward to new heights as we will leverage new methods to introduce ourselves to the greater Baltimore community and surrounding areas. More importantly, several members of our group have grown into community leaders as individuals, which helps the public profile of the group in attracting new members. 

As training dollars dwindle for companies, there has to be a new approach to keeping our information workers trained and prepared for the looming release of Office SharePoint 2010 beta. BSPUG will continue to rise to the challenge and address those needs and pain points. 

To provide some transparency, I’ll list what we (somehow) managed to do well in our first 2 years: 

Consistency - BSPUG operates on time, everytime. We’ve never canceled any of our 23 meetings and 1 Code Camp. Having a predictable model ensures familiarity and smooth introduction to unique visitors.

Location - We’ve managed to lock in long term agreements with our location sponsors. This area is the aspect that cripples the majority of start-up User Groups. Many begin at the library, coffee shops, etc which is fine to some degree but very unpredictable in most cases. We stayed with our first location sponsor for 1 year and moved to the UMBC Tech Center, which offered us a scalable model attendance wise and access to labs for hands-on sessions such as Code Camps etc. 

Web Presence - My personal opinion is the one aspect that makes us unique in comparison to other user groups is that we use the web/social networking more effectively than any other group. Our website is very slick in design and functionality, and that was something we pushed for since the first month or so in operation. We didn’t start out on a SharePoint site, but our design communicated the idea that we should be taken seriously. We also have a keen understanding that a User Group consists of two types of memberships which I’ll outline below.

Types of Memberships: 

• In-person Attendee - Regular attends meetings and special events.  
• Enthusiastic but Unavailable Attendee - Loves SharePoint but the a.) commute b.) family commitments c.) timing just doesn’t allow them to join us every month. This group will attend special sessions such as our Joel Oleson or Bill English sessions and participate in our Knowledge Base. 

BSPUG is celebrating our 2 Year Anniversary!

Thanks to all the attended our May session with Dan Usher. You can find his presentation in the resource section, and the photos in the videos located in the videos section.

Our next session will be on June 18th at UMBC training center. We will update this newsletter on the exact room number shortly.

Our special guest speaker is none other than Dux Sy.
With over 15 years of experience in Information Technology and Project Management, Dux (you’re right, it’s pronounced as “ducks”) has earned a reputation as among the leading experts in leveraging technology to enhance project management. A certified Project Management Professional (PMP), he is currently a managing partner and the chief evangelist of Innovative-e, Inc., a Microsoft-certified, business technology consulting and services company that serves startups to Global 50 clients.

We’re going in a unique direction for June. We are allowing YOU to select what topic you want to have delivered by Dux.

1. 7 Ways to Leverage SharePoint for Project Management

2. Best-Practices in Gathering Requirements for SharePoint Projects

3. Effectively Managing SharePoint Projects

In the RSVP survey this month, you will have another option to vote on the topic you would like to hear. The night of the event we will announce the winning topic and proceed to give it.
Voting closes on June 12th, 2009.

Please jump over to the RSVP survey on the events page and RSVP for this session.

Please go over to the events page and RSVP for this as well. Thanks all, see you then!

TELL A COLLEAGUE! This is sure to be a great presentation, please tell a co-worker.

For more information on BSPUG, please log-on to www.baltimoresug.org.

For our new members, we will be meeting at UMBC Tech Center, 1450 Rolling Road, Halethorpe, MD 21228. Doors open at 6pm for food and refreshments.
As always please go to www.baltimoresug.org/events and respond to the RSVP survey to RSVP your spot.

Thanks to everyone that made it out to the DC SharePoint Saturday there were something to the effect of 230 + people in attendance, and I saw a lot of BSPUG faces! Sorry if we didn’t get a chance to catch up or if it was very quick, it was a crazy day! Remember July 25th will be the Baltimore SharePoint Saturday. The BSPUG will have first notice for sign ups!

For the May 21st session, we will be welcoming Dan Usher to come and talk to us about “Designing Effective Logical Architectures and Site Taxonomies”. Dan has spoke at numerous SharePoint Saturday events and will be speaking in Boston at SPTechCon. Anyone who has or will need to create sites, web zones, web applications, multiple authentication methods, and more will want to see this session.

…Stepping into contextual thinking, the design, the functional requirements, the technical requirements and limitations of the environment in which your working within. Defining the basis and working on it, occasionally climbing out of it for the whiz bang capability…..

So again, Thursday May 21st at UMBC training centers (directions available here). Room 3.013 in the main UMBC building.

We will also be live twittering the event, just follow @baltsharepoint or @ericharlan

Please RSVP on the Events page so we can accurately determine how much food to order! Thanks See you all then!

The Baltimore SharePoint User Group meets every third Thursday of the month unless specifically
noted. If you have any questions about our meeting dates and times, www.baltimoresug.org is the most accurate source of info regarding the group.

For more information on BSPUG, please log-on to www.baltimoresug.org.

For our new members, we will be meeting at UMBC Tech Center, 1450 Rolling Road, Halethorpe, MD 21228. Doors open at 6pm for food and refreshments.
As always please go to www.baltimoresug.org/events and respond to the RSVP survey to RSVP your spot.