Hot on the heels of Microsoft Ignite, the third SharePoint Saturday Silicon Valley kicks off on Saturday, May 30, in Mountain View, CA. AvePoint is a proud Silver Sponsor of the event, which will gather administrators, end users, architects, developers, and other professionals to discuss the latest announcements and technologies related to SharePoint, Office 365, Azure, and much more.
Additionally, two of AvePoint’s SharePoint experts will be on hand at the event to present sessions on some of the most prominent and compelling topics in the community at 1pm:
- “Delve and the Office Graph – A Crash Course” by Director of Product Innovation and SharePoint MVP Paul Olenick in the Computer Training Room
- “Leveraging the Power and Potential of Azure Services” by Director of AvePoint Client Services Randy Williams in the Mercury Room
To get more details on their sessions and what to expect at the event, we asked Paul Olenick and Randy Williams a few questions. Check out our interview below:
What are your SharePoint Saturday Silicon Valley sessions about, and what can attendees expect to take away from them?
Paul Olenick (PO): My session is about Delve and the Office Graph – two of the hottest topics around Office 365 right now. The session is a crash course with everything you need to know, from the user experience and business impact to the technical underpinnings and developer opportunities. It’s an overview from top to bottom. Attendees will leave with a solid understanding of what Delve and the Office Graph are, how they work, how they could fit in their organizations, as well as potential pitfalls to avoid.
Randy Williams (RW): My session is about how to leverage the power and potential of Azure. The key takeaway is to understand the ease with which applications can be developed, managed, and scaled using Azure Platform as a Service (PaaS) capabilities. If you haven’t worked with Azure yet or are unaware of the major investments Microsoft has made and the value these can bring, join my session to quickly get up to speed.
What type of attendee is your session aimed toward?
PO: It’s a level 200 session. But honestly, this session would appeal to an end user, business decision maker, Office 365 administrator, or even a developer. It’s about new technology, and this gives any of those audience types a chance to get perspective on the whole picture without going very deep into any one area.
RW: My session is geared for a wide variety of technical backgrounds. Both IT Pros and developers will find value in it. System architects that worked with Azure will find it very enlightening, and I expect it will radically change how they think about the future of applications.
How will Microsoft’s announcements at Ignite or what you learned at the show in general factor into your presentation?
PO: Delve and the Office Graph are areas in which Microsoft is innovating very fast! There were plenty of announcements shared at Ignite which have made it into the presentation. So for those who missed the conference, this is your chance to catch up!
RW: The one big announcement is the investment and effort Microsoft is making in Azure stack. When I first heard about this, my first tweet on it was simply, “Whoa!” While it’s too early to share many details, I will discuss what it means and the benefits to those with large on-premises private clouds.
What’s special about the SharePoint community in Silicon Valley?
PO: Silicon Valley is obviously one of the technology epicenters of the world. And while we have a fairly strong SharePoint community with multiple SharePoint user groups, Microsoft is not really the “cool kid on the block” in this area. I’m very hopeful that this is changing with Microsoft’s new cross-platform, open, and transparent posture. The company has been contributing to open source code projects and creating lots of compelling new developer experiences, so I expect some of the brightest minds in Silicon Valley to take note.
RW: I lived in the Bay Area for several years, and so I have nostalgic reasons for wanting to get back there. There is a vibrant SharePoint community there, and I look forward to catching up with those that I haven’t seen since the last event there.
Aside from your own session, what are you looking forward to most at the event?
PO: I’ve been to plenty of SharePoint Saturdays. This one in particular though has a stellar speaker roster including six MVPs and one MVP alumnus. I’m looking forward to catching as many sessions as I can and catching up with old and new friends at the SharePint afterward.
RW: There is a session or two that I’m hoping to catch, but most importantly, I look forward to meeting up with the community there and learning something new about SharePoint that I can apply in some way in my own career or for AvePoint customers. It’s the knowledge sharing at these events that I love the most.
We look forward to seeing everyone at SharePoint Saturday Silicon Valley! While you’re there, be sure to see our team to discuss our latest solutions for enabling enterprise collaboration
