Free Microsoft Events - March 2010

[SYNACK]

Every year Microsoft holds several 'Unplugged' events which are usually two free half day presentations on their new software. I have been to several of these events and they are quite good with presentations given by knowledgeable people within Microsoft and it is a great opertunity to ask questions and make contacts along with getting a heads up on the latest developments. They are free to attend, you just have to register your name with an email address.

This march the events are focused on Office 2010 and Sharepoint 2010 held the first and second half of the day respectivly.

Session 1: What's new for IT Professionals in Office 2010 8:45am - 10:30am
Morning Tea Break 10:30am - 11:00am
Session 2: SharePoint 2010 Overview 11:00am - 12:30pm

Wellington: 2 March - Intercontinental Hotel Wellington
Christchurch: 3 March - Christchurch Convention Centre
Dunedin: 4 March - Scenic Circle Southern Cross
Auckland: 9 March - SkyCity Convention Centre
Hamilton: 10 March - SkyCity Hamilton

Full details and links to register can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/nz/events/u...net-mar10.mspx

I will probably be attending the Auckland one if I can make it and hope to see some other schools represented there too.

Session 1: What's new for IT Professionals in Office 2010





Office 2010 is launching soon in New Zealand, come along to this session to find out what's new for IT professionals in Office 2010. Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 empowers people to do their best work from more places – whether they’re using a PC, phone or web browser. In this session we will cover:

• Office 2010 System Requirements including how to maximise performance on new and existing hardware
• Deployment considerations including 64 bit deployment and Application Virtualisation
• Planning for Security in Office 2010, including how to reduce risk and deploy layered security
• Deployment tools for Office 2010, including customising Setup and creating a network installation point
• Application compatibility in Office 2010, including the Office 2010 Code Compatibility Inspector and Office Environment Assessment Tool (OEAT)
• Planning for Volume Activation in Office 2010

Session 2: SharePoint 2010 Overview



SharePoint 2010 is the business collaboration platform that enables you to connect and empower people through formal and informal business communities, within the enterprise and beyond, and to manage content throughout the information lifecycle. Whether deployed on-premises or as hosted services, SharePoint’s integrated capabilities are enhanced by search technologies and enable you to rapidly respond to changing business needs by making data-driven decisions and by deploying customised solutions quickly and securely. The consolidation of collaboration solutions onto SharePoint 2010 makes it possible to cut costs by lowering training and maintenance expenses and increasing IT productivity, all within a governable and compliant platform.

In this session you will get an overview of SharePoint 2010 and the improvements that have been made with the new release. You will also hear where investments have been made for IT Professionals and Developers in the following areas:

• Upgrade improvements
• Architectural changes
• Management of SharePoint installations
• Development improvements

[SYNACK]

Just a quick reminder to anyone in Auckland that the Unplugged event here is on Tuesday, still time to register if you are able to attend.

[RabbieBurns]

Do you know if they happen to do a AU version ?

[SYNACK]

Not sure about the Office one but they doo seem to do lots of events:
WWE ? Search Results - In-Person Events

[SYNACK]

Due to a couple of unavoidable messups and a large traffic jam I was unable to make the Auckland one but did catch the Hamilton one today. It was as usual a very informative event and the food was better than the last one too , I will be writing up an overview of it shortly and posting it to this thread.

[SYNACK]

Here is the writeup on the first session, I am far less familiar with Sharepoint (the second session) so may or may not post up a shorter summary of that session later.

UNPLUGGED Office 2010 Event Writeup - Hamilton, NZ