The SharePoint Fantasy League
I’ve been wracking my brain for a week now and I need your help. If I were to put together a SharePoint Conference and you could see ANYONE in the world talk at the conference, who would it be? No geographic boundries or limitations on travel.
It is a difficult question for me. Do you choose by topic or personality? Does “famous” necessarily mean “desired” when it comes to presenters? Should they know a broad spectrum, 2003 through 2010, or be experts in a very specific area of expertise? Power users? Heavy duty geeks? Security specialist? Monster server admin? Kick-ass developer/programmer?
I want to use the theory behind “The Wisdom of Crowds” to help put together an all-star, Sharepoint Fantasy League Conference line up. I’m not sure where this is going to go, but give it your best shot.
If you could choose any five people in the SharePoint world, who would be on your fantasy team and why?
1. SharePoint Fairy
2. SharePoint Fairy
3. SharePoint Fairy
4. SharePoint Fairy
5. SharePoint Fairy
SharePoint Joel……….at any time
Also Asif Rehmani for End user SharePoint Designer stuff
and Arpan Shah for SharePoint General capabilities
I’ll get the ball rolling here.
Jan Tielens
Christophe Humbert
I like what these guys have been doing with jQuery and enhancing the SharePoint interface.
Steve Ballmer
I’d love a clear roadmap for the next 5 years
I’m saving my next two picks until I see other people building their teams.
Update: I’m adding Asif Rehmani to my team. His knowledge of SharePoint Designer, along with workflows is worth the addition. I’m benching Steve Ballmer to retain another slot for real world customer use cases.
Here’s my list now:
Jan Tielens
Christophe Humbert
Asif Rehmani
Jason – Interesting pick(s). Since this is a “Fantasy” league, you might be on to something. — Mark
I would hope to have the following on my fantasy team for executing on a project and then providing lessons learned based on the contextual environment they were working wtihin:
Eric Harlan
Eric Shupps
Mark Rackley
Lori Gowin
Cathy Dew
Mike Watson
Joel Oleson
Rob Foster
Laura Rogers
Jennifer Mason
Todd Klindt
Shane Young
This team would have all the components of greatness in my opinion and if needed provide extra power hitting in extra innings :-)
Its difficult to identify 5 only, but i love to have in Fantasy league,
Joel olsen
Michael Gannoti
Asif Rahmani
Heather Solomon
and
Mark Miller
+1 for akram’s list!
Asif Rehmani
Dan Holme (for his Sharepoint 2010 Olympics experience)
Michael Gannoti
Laura Rogers
Heather Solomon
Yup, Akram’s list pretty much reflects my own. I would like to extend it one more though to include AC.
All the above plus Marc Anderson.
Todd Klindt
Ted Patisson
Michael Gannoti
I vote for:
Heather Solomon
Mark Miller
Joel Olsen
My vote:
Joel Oleson
Todd Klindt
Shane Young
Michael Noel
Mike Watson
Dux!
Laura Rogers
Marc Anderson
Laura Rogers
Christophe Humbert
Heather Solomon
Marcy Kellar
Mark Miller
Paul Galvin
Paul Grenier
Dessie Lunsford
Eric Alexander
Tom Resing
Oh, and Natalya Voskresenskaya
I owe my Sharepoint success to every single person listed here so to any of you reading THANKS!
But I’d also add Micheal Hinckley, his articles are always right on topic for me – thanks Micheal!
Christophe, Mark Miller, Michael Gannoti, from a ‘true’ end-user, your passion and dedication to educating the masses about Sharepoint is inspiring, I always look forward to anything you extend to us out here just waiting for more education!
Thanks again to everyone who contributes to the Sharepoint community!
I would pick the same list as Jim Bob and add Jim Bob to my list. I would like to add any one that has experience using SharePoint in a military hospital with all the ‘restrictions’ we have. Sounds like good workshop ideas :)
Eric E. Schmidt from Google; would love to hear strategy and how we could integrate G Apps and Social efforts!
Hmmmm…. There are so many awesome SharePoint people who each have something to contribute. If I were to try and name someone I would undoubtedly be slighting somone just as talented but wasn’t on my mind at the moment.
I already have my dream team… every SharePoint friend I have does something to make my life in SharePoint (and outside) a little better.
I would not trade one for the other. :)
Ok… getting off my high horse… :P
5 People I want to see talk at a SharePoint Conference (cheating because it’s not really ‘SharePoint People’ but I would love to see what all of these people say when in one place about their products/goals/ambitions:
Steve Ballmer – CEO of Microsoft
Lawrence J. Ellison – CEO of Oracle
Samuel J. Palmisano – Chairman and CEO of IBM
John Shackleton – CEO of OpenText
Dries Buytaert – Creator of Drupal and President of Drupal Association
On a seperate yet potentially related topic:
There are so many great contributors to our SharePoint community and it has grown a ton in the past few years. I would love to have a conference for people who HAVEN’T yet presented at a SharePoint conference. I would love to see/meet more passionate people in the community and while I absolutely love the ‘all stars’ and our community speakers a conference specifically focused on less known/unknown people in the SharePoint community seems like a really fun idea. (We have these all the time in local situations, but with EUSP’s reach and voice perhaps it could really help catipult a bunch of new people into the ranks of ‘famous’ SharePoint people.
Just a thought and love the conversations that are flowing here :)
Thanks JB!
If I were going to do a ground up SP install and deployment, my team would be:
Hardware and Architecture:
Spence Harbar – Certified SP master, knows his stuff
Todd Klindt – knows his hardware configs
Development:
Andrew Connell – Knows WCM and development
Design:
Heather Solomon – Design queen, the WCM has to look good right?
Heather Waterman – Design queen, the WCM has to look good right?
Training:
Mark Miller – pretty obvious here
There are so many people I’m leaving out which is not a detriment to those folks, there is a lot of great SP talent out there. Could easliy go 6 deep in all areas.
Todd Carter is not well known in the community however when most of the people listed here have questions they might go to Todd. He is more than a master, more like a ranger. Microsoft PFE at its best. Todd is an amazing teacher and presenter and teaches the best around the world. If we are naming names I vote Todd in. @toddca
That said I like what Richard Harbridge had to say and would be more interested in hearing from folks that HAVEN’T presented. There seems to be a lot of repeated content and sessions with SP2010 and product hasn’t been released. New ideas please!
Ie; branding… Who has ideas on stepping up social and UX? Who will build the next true UX now that we have the tools with 2010? Think Nike+ Chip in sneaker, sync to web, virtual coach, then sync to Facebook with a mini me. Who can present how we build these rich social UX applications contemporary web users expect? Please add THAT person to your list
The new Olympic site is GREAT and achieves this experience. Let’s add the PM from that one. Can we get some of the Ferrari team as well? Would love to hear how the team created the external WCM site.
Who will create the first app store? Will it integrate with Win 7 Mobile? Any ideas? Can it be a session at this all star conference?
I vote for NO more “same ole” or “backslapping”… New ideas please…
PS I would like to vote for the SharePoint Fairy as well :)
Famous does definitely NOT mean desired as far as I’m concerned. It baffles me how some people get the “famous” status they do when they do nothing to earn it, (not referring to anyone mentioned above).
But you know, I’d really like to see some clients speaking. Where are the people managing the big projects out there, in the trenches every day? It’s very different in real life. I really think it would be refreshing to hear from people like the following :
Rob Kronick, has 40 000+ users on their platform in the Canadian Govt and he’s been managing it for over 3 years. (http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=35602351&authToken=0fA7&authType=name&goback=.mid_1579220678)
Then there is Marcus Portmann at Absa in South Africa. He’s the Microsoft Technologies Architect who was responsible for the SharePoint implementation at a bank of 43 000 users. Leanne Wilkinson from Standard Bank South Africa, Brett Kinmont from Nedbank South Africa. Both huge projects with huge challenges and more than 25 000 users each.
Wouldn’t it be cool to get it from the horses mouth what the real world challenges are and how they are solving them?
Just a thought.
First three in random order:
- Mike Fitzmaurice: he was there in the beginning
- Ted Pattison: it’s lots of fun to present with him
- Joel Oleson: he’s the IT-Pro superstar, and I envy his skills as a poor developer :-)
Nr 4: YOU, yeah you who’re reading this. I love the networking, chatting, laughing during events. Without an interesting audience there is no event!
Nr 5: my U2U pal and buddy Patrick Tisseghem who passed away almost 2 years ago, because nobody can ever replace him.
Lots of great feedback on this post!!
I second Paul Swider’s comments regarding Todd Carter. For whatever reason, his name is not the most popular.
For those that don’t want to wait for the ‘Fantasy’ league, you can always grab SharePoint 2010 Ignite Training. (the sessions that I went to had Todd Carter and Andrew Connell)
If anyone wants to do a ‘real’ SharePoint Talking Heads Fantasy League ala Tony Kornheiser (see talking heads description here: http://espnradio.espn.go.com/espnradio/story?storyId=1659126), I’m sure that I can think up a scoring system.
Another thought: I’d say that such a Fantasy League should include at least one person that creates a real connection between the Microsoft core SharePoint team and the SharePoint community. And today I have no name to put here.
The names mentioned are, of course, the best in the biz. Well deserved and would be a rito to see them all speak.
I would love to hear more about the ‘Softer’ side of SharePoint however:
What does it take to promote end user adoption, because, seriously they DO NOT get it?
How do we successfully gather requirements for a SharePoint project, when your client can’t spell SharePoint let alone successfully check out a document?
How can I appease both IT and the business without killing myself in the process?
My Org is new to SharePoint. How do we ensure success without creating 5497 unconnected sites?
Why do I need SharePoint if I have E-Mail?
With my latest implementation of SharePoint, do I require 35 new hires to manage it? And where in the hell am I going to find 35 SharePoint experts?!?!?
I can hear the snickering, but the fact remains that these are the questions that keep me up at night (and the ones my clients face daily).
And really, I’d be open to any of these fine, folks… or others speaking about them! :)
@jayincalgary
I totally agree with Jay’s comment, we need to concentrate more on the ENDUSER (This is where the success of SharePoint depends). I had seen many endusers complaining (as Jays says THEY DO NOT GET IT)…..
It is the ENDUSER community which needs more attention and resources(Simple HO TO’s…).
I wish to see SharePoint as simple as using PowerPoint…..(My own Fantasy).
I don’t think you can limit it to 5, just about impossible to do given the depth and the breadth of the product.
Additionally I really like Jans #4. I don’t go to a lot of conferences but the few i have been to I have gotten almost as much through discussions and knowledge sharing with other attendees as I have from the presenters that were there.
The other Jay and Akram make a good point but I think what you would be looking at there would be a conference that focues on the End User. Hmmmmmmmmm an EndUserSharePoint Conference perhaps?
Now for my choices:
Mike Watson – gotta have a SQL guy
Ben Curry – Infrastructure, Givernance, Information Architecture
Heather Solomon – design and branding
Robert Bogue – End Users
Those are the areas that are important for me because of what I do on a daily basis and that’s where it gets tricky. Who do you name as your “5″ person?
Darvresh Shadravan because you need InfoPath knowledge?
Bill English because you need search and information architecture?
Gary LaPoint beacuse you need some admin automation skills?
Todd Bleeker because you need some dev knowledge?
Laura Rogers because you’re an admin with no coding skills and need her expertise?
Dux because at some point you need a highly energized, entertaining yet informative session on project management?
And the list could go on forever.
My solution………get everyone you can to speak and add one afternoon for a set of attendee roundtables moderated by a “name” that has expertise in that particular arena.
Just my .02 Great question Mark!
SHAMELESS ADVERTISING!! Jay, Akra – check out http://www.letscollaborate.co.za – it’s the only site I know of besides EUSP that address end users, mine is just aimed at beginners though. Hope it helps.
All of the names mentioned so far are definately those on my list as well, but for me its more of who would I forget to include :) …there’s just too many folks that’d be awesome to have speak (and yes Mark, you know I’d love to present a session as well…if I can just figure out how to make it to a conference).
I like the idea of sessions geared towards end-users…tech is great, but there are so many more “users” than there are admins and devs, and the users need their own conference…no one does it, and it needs to be.
One thing I’d like to (eventually) see is to have a full-on conference (5-day) that has many sessions, but also includes a 2-3 day workshop led by each of the presenters in a sort of competition-style bootcamp with attendees, to identify a common problem, work out the solution, implement it as a test case, then present the outcome back to the entire conference audience on the final day (prizes?).
Based on the number of names mentioned so far in these comments, I could see maybe 20 (give or take) presenters that each could run a 20 (or more) person team for the workshop…imagine what could come out of this? Everything from developing a simple roll-out plan for a small mom-and-pop shop to a full training regimen for a 50k employee corporation. Advanced jQuery techniques no one has ever thought of or something as simple as a custom list that meets a given requirement long unanswered…anything could be possible.
- Dessie
Love that last idea of Dessie’s: an EUSP “Stump the Panel” Soluions Summit!
Good stuff!
Blessings,
Jim Bob
I think Dessie may be on to something. I love that idea!
I have to agree with Dessie and Jim Bob, an EndUser conference would something I would like to attend. The military is starting to use SharePoint but lacks the EndUser training or ‘real’ world problems. Working in a military hospital has been hard sometimes getting the staff to use SharePoint. I’m always getting the same questions, “What can SharePoint do for me? I’m not using it until I have to. I would rather use Outlook because it is easier. How hard is it to use SharePoint?” I would like to see the military set up a portal so every hospital can send and store larger PowerPoint presentations and other large documents. This would ‘cut’ down e-mail traffic.
Love the idea of a multi day conference. Especially one that has interactive break-outs/sessions. Get a bunch of BAs in a room, or a bunch of PMs, or a bunch of people who work in/around HR who use/manage SharePoint etc.
The advantage would be everyone really getting to A) know more people in their specific area of business/application that provides the most relevance, and B) would allow people to be more engaged and create/come up with some good solutions, guidance, or clarity.
I love presentations, but certainly clear facilitated discussion (headed by ‘experts’ or just smart nice people) has a tremendous value as well.
Still have to admit I would rather hear real stories/specific applications/scenarios and from people I haven’t met/heard of most of the time then the ’same old’ information any of us can find online in MSDN, Technet, or popular blogs/communities.
“… I would rather hear real stories/specific applications/scenarios… than the ’same old’ information any of us can find online in MSDN, Technet, or popular blogs/communities.”
DITTO.
My preferred conference would consist of variations on:
- I have a need- here is my idea. What’s yours? Is there a “best way?”
- How can I accomplish _____ without VS or writing code/only using only SPD?
Note: Not that I am knocking those types of presentations (technically driven ones). Development and Administration focused presentations can really be valuable experiences and save lots of time learning, and building your own knowledge. In the same way that high level overviews of products, or feature sets, or even methodologies can. Especially when the introduce you to something new.
Just wanted to build upon the other thoughts I saw that stood out to me.
Frank depending on what branch of the service you’re supporting that may well be coming down the road.
I like Richard H’s input here – as much as we all love the rockstars “doing the circuit” bringing the up and comings into a conference would bring a fresh and unbiased view that would be beneficial to the very purpose of EUSP.
Perhaps a sprinkling of rockstars amongst new talent and you have SharePoint-a-Palooza opportunity that may set a new benchmark…
My selections are from the presenters I have seen at the Saturday events and would/will sit in on again. No offense to the rock stars and the people omitted.
Two duos to start with. Not only were their presentations excellent, all four sat around and talked long after the spotlights were off. Both duos worked well together and made the session far from dull. I learned enough to keep my head above water.
Jim Hudson and Richard Otmann from Tulsa. Sadly too far from my neck of the woods, but real world examples and valuable tips.
Sean McDonough and John Ferringer. Disaster Recovery made interesting for the whole hour.
Robert Bogue. He fits more words into a hour slot than I thought possible and says taxonomy so fast I don’t have a chance to groan. I’ve picked up important points every time I’ve heard him.
Powershell group
Erick Kraus
Darrin Bishop
Both of taught me new tricks with Powershell and SharePoint which have lead me to getting information on my installation I hadn’t been able to get to before.
And thanks to all the presenters I haven’t mentioned.
I agree with Jay’s comments. We need to help our clients get to a solution that takes into account their (unarticulated) requirements. A well designed infrastructure (as important as that is) will not lead to a successful deployment.
My dream team for this (based on people I’ve actually seen speak):
- Paul Culmsee
- Erica Toelle
- Richard Harbridge
- Dux Sy
- Bob Mixon
P.S. To Paul Swider’s point about “not more of the same old stuff”. Some of us attend many conferences/SPS’s, and so some of the talks may seem ‘old hat’, but for the attendees who have not seen that talk before, what they get is a finely honed presentation, targeted to their needs based on practice, feedback and adjustment.
-Ruven
> for the attendees who have not seen that talk before, what they get is a finely honed presentation, targeted to their needs based on practice, feedback and adjustment.
I’m in agreement with you, Ruven. I found myself at SPTechCon looking around going, “Isn’t this the same set of presenters and presentations I’ve seen for the past year?” The answer was yes, but I realized, as you have, it’s old to us because we ARE the presenters! — Mark