“A Day in the Life of SharePoint” Explaining SharePoint to End Users and Management

1. “A Day in the Life of SharePoint”Explaining SharePoint to End Users and Management Scott Shearer SharePoint Evangelist/Developer FlexPoint Technology sshearer@flexpointtech.com

2. Thank You! For Sponsoring the Information Worker Track

3. Who is Scott? • SharePoint Evangelist and Consultant for FlexPoint Technology in Reston, VA • Done everything from System Administration to C# development to helpdesk • CPA and Former Stock Broker • Past Certifications Held: MCSE, MCSD, MCDBA, MCT, CNE • sshearer@flexpointtech.com • @ScottJShearer • http://spconcierge.wordpress.com/

4. FlexPoint Technology(They paid for me to be here) • IT Consulting firm based in Reston, VA • Cloud Technologies • SharePoint consulting and development • SharePoint Training • US Government and commercial customers

5. Agenda • “A Day in the Life of SharePoint” briefing • How do you answer the question “What is SharePoint?” • SharePoint has very broad feature set, making it hard to explain

6. How the Demo was Developed • I became expert on how to explain and demo SharePoint the “wrong way” • Through trial and error, I finally figured out what worked • Along the way, I made a few observations….

7. Scott’s Observation #1 • People don’t care about SharePoint – they care about solutions

8. Scott’s Observation #2 • When attending an IT briefing, a non-technical user wants to know: • “What’s in it for me?”

9. Scott’s Observation #3 • PEOPLE HATE CHANGE AND YOU REPRESENT CHANGE

10. Scott’s Observation #4 • ENTHUSIASTISM IS COMMUNICABLE!

11. “So, what do I do?” • Give your End Users a reason to be interested • Simple, concrete examples of how SharePoint can: • Save time • Reduce hassles • Automate manual processes • Do not use technical terms unless absolutely necessary • Use terminology that they understand • “Action Item Tracker” vs task list

12. Demo what you want them to understand • Don’t try to explain versioning with PowerPoint alone • SLOW DOWN in your demo • SharePoint is new to you audience • Quickly clicking all around the screen serves to confuse rather than inform • You don’t need to show every SharePoint feature • Don’t talk about SharePoint Features • Talk about solutions

13. Demo

14. SharePoint Overview Scott Shearer SharePoint Evangelist/Developer/Trainer FlexPoint Technology

15. What is SharePoint? Lets take a look…. (SharePoint Team Site Demo)

16. Team Sites • Used in demo • Used for general office collaboration • Audience for the site is usually an office, team, etc. • Much of the functionality is quick and easy to configure • Common Team Site uses • Document repositories • Discussion Boards • Surveys • Meeting minutes and agendas • Tracking just about anything • Leave scheduling • Conference room scheduling • Process automation

17. Public Facing Sites • “Traditional” web sites • Push information out • Intended to allow people to consume information • Audience for you public facing site is everyone except the people on your team • May require the skills of a graphic designer • Content can be updated by non-technical staff

18. Sample SharePoint “Public Facing” sites • Ferrari • Bank of England • Boy Scouts • Micro Strategies • BA Insight

19. What do you say when someone asks you “What is SharePoint?”