Well, it's official-- I am going to TechEd 2008. And, in order to be able to get in touch with my readers (both blog and book), I entered a proposal for a Birds of a Feather discussion session concerning WSS 3.0. The title is "The less costly path, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0." and the content is essentially:
"Are you supporting a small business or non-profit company that is interested in SharePoint? Considering installing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0? Join the author of "Mastering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0" to discuss the best practices, tips, tricks, and gotchas before you deploy WSS in your environment. Topics of discussion can include everything from what kind of installation to use (including Active Directory Account Creation Mode); to user management, tips on security, Directory Management Services, cost effectiveness, and more. Feel free to join us as we explore why, when, and how to implement Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 in a small/non-profit business environment."
Mind you, this is going to be an open discussion, so as long as your questions are general enough to be useful to everyone (I don't intend to do free consulting), you can ask things outside of the proposed topics. So that means if you are managing or considering a deployment of WSS 3.0 in a medium or large business environment, you are more than welcome to stop by.
There is a catch though-- I entered my proposal for the session, but that does not guarantee that the session will happen. Once sessions are approved to be proposed, they have to be voted on. That's right. If you are considering going to TechEd (you don't even have to be registered yet), and would like to join me in a discussion about Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, you need to vote for my BOF session. No votes, no session.
To vote for my session, go to: https://www.msteched.com/itpro/voting.aspx. Scroll through the list to the title of my session"The less costly path, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0", and click the checkbox next to it. That will put it in the selection box on the right of the list. Then (and this is important) scroll to the bottom of the page and click the "Save Selections" button. Only then will you have voted for my session.
The reason I wrote the proposal the way I did was, after reading all the others, it seemed that there was no love for the little guy-- the guy who doesn't have a 2 million dollar budget. I wanted to have at least one Birds of a Feather session that addressed saving money openly. That invited the little guy, the less than a million users guy. Also, I wanted to have a session out there presented by someone who wasn't actually selling their own product. I am there to talk about Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (service pack 1), I am not selling anything.
But remember, if no one votes for my BOF, it won't happen. So if you do go to TechEd, and see that I am not on the schedule, that's why. ; )
