Events at a Glance (Events)
Sep 6 - Microsoft
Sep 10 - TechWizards - Oct 8 - TechWizards - TBA Nov 12 - TechWizards - TBA
Dec 10 - TechWizards - TBA |
Previous Meetings |
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Our first meeting was Wednesday, September 10th, 2003 at 3pm at the Microsoft Office. We celebrated our 2nd Anniversary in September, 2005. August 13, 2008 - Technology WizardsRound Table Discussion
Our August meeting featured a round-table discussion on a number of business and technical topics including: July 9, 2008 - Technology Wizards
SBS2008 Our July meeting was about SBS2008. Ken Shafer presented an overview of SBS2008. Some of the material had already been available to us, some was based on new information released in the last few days, including information on projected release dates, licensing, migration, new features, etc. This will be the first new release of SBS since Technology Wizards was formed and there was naturally a lot of interest. There was also good discussion related to SBS2008 and what it will mean for our futures, including backup issues and concerns. July is also our annual membership meeting. Renewals are still being processed, but we got a very high percentage of existing members renewing, and serveral new members joining. June 17, 2008 - Technology WizardsConsidering Vista Adoption or Deployment? - Get The Facts! Our June meeting was held on Tuesday, June 17th from 11:00am – 2:00pm at the Microsoft PacWest Office. This was a community-wide educational event targeted at IT Pros, Resellers/Consultants and IT Business Decision Makers considering whether or not to deploy or recommend deploying Windows Vista for business use, or trying to figure out how to recommend to technical or business decisions makers whether to upgrade or not, and why. This event focused on providing real facts regarding adoption or deployment of Windows Vista in businesses. It was not an opinion-based or sales/marketing event, but an educational event. We covered many of the features and benefits of Windows Vista with a real-world approach. We also heard about some of the challenges and solutions, including deployment and features of Service Pack 1. In addition, a panel discussion will gave an opportunity to get questions answered that were lingering. May 14, 2008 - Technology WizardsGroove for Technology Wizards Members Launch, SBS 2008 Preview, Harry's call about SMB Nation The vast majority of our May meeting was devoted to the formal launch and member training on our latest membership benefit, a Groove workspace where members can participate in threaded discussions on any topic, share resources such as files, presentations, white papers, links, etc. It's been a long time in coming and generated a lot of discussion and questions. Ken Shafer gave a very brief introduction to SBS 2008 and a slide deck he has with far more information on SBS that he will be posting to the Groove site. There is going to be much more information on SBS 2008 in upcoming months. We had a short roundtable discussion, most of which was on the upcoming June meeting which will be a community event on Windows Vista. We have a lot of work to do, including planning for presentation content, as well as various issues such as event venue and all the other logistics that will be necessary to pull this off. More discussion to come on Groove. At the beginning of the meeting Harry Brelsford called in and briefly talked about upcoming things, including SMB Nation in September. April 9, 2008 - Technology WizardsHeroes Community Launch Event Our April Technology Wizards Meeting was a “Heroes Community Launch” event focused on Windows Server 2008. This was a great opportunity to get a jump-start on Windows Server 2008, and a preview of the Launch Event planned for May 6th. We covered a lot of content in a short time, giving us a good introduction to Server 2008 and whetting our appetites for more. We had some great giveaways for all in attendance and some terrific stuff in the drawing just for Technology Wizards Members at the end of the event. March 12, 2008 - Technology WizardsBusiness Round Table Discussion Our meeting featured Round Table discussions on a variety of Business Topics. No Tech talk this time, just business topics. In the past our round table discussions have focused on technical topics, with business consideration becoming involved when they impacted the technology. We turned things around this time and focused on business topics, with the technical considerations becoming involved only when they impacted the business.
Topics discussed included: February 13, 2008 - Technology Wizards
Busines Contact Manager with Technical Services Template Our meeting featured Larry Betz from Gateway Solutions (a current Technology Wizard member), showing us how to take advantage of Microsoft Outlook with Business Contact Manager using the Technical Services template for BCM included in the Action Pack. Larry also gave us a short introduction to CRM 4.0. January 9, 2008 - Technology Wizards
Microsoft Software Licensing This month’s meeting was focused on Microsoft Software Volume Licensing Programs. Eric Ligman, Senior Manager Community Engagement, Microsoft was our featured presenter. Many of our members had questions regarding Volume Licensing options, configurations, and benefits including why should they sell Volume Licenses to their small businesses customers. Volume Licensing programs. OPEN Business. OPEN Value. Software Assurance. Benefits. Downgrade Rights. Upgrade Rights. Home Use Rights. Employee Purchase. E-Training. How to sell. These and many more topics were covered including a brief introduction to the new OPEN Value Subscription introduced January 2nd. Eric Ligman is the community lead for the Partner Community Manager Team. His role is to be the liaison between Microsoft Headquarters and the Partner Community Managers in the field. This includes: setting strategy and initiatives, providing resources and information, and communicating promotions and offers for the team to deliver out to the Microsoft Partner Community. Eric is also the person who funnels information from the Partner Community Managers back to Microsoft, and he runs the Microsoft Small Business Channel Community (Web Site, Blog, and User Group). (NOTE: Be sure to visit the OPEN Value Subscription announcement link and register for one of the upcoming webcast training sessions conducted by Eric, the first will be this Thursday, January 10th at 9:00am). December 12, 2007 - Technology WizardsSBS Troubleshooting Best Practices, Tips, Tricks and Solutions Our meeting was focused on SBS Troubleshooting Best Practices, Tips, Tricks and Solutions. This was in the form of a moderated “Community Sharing” opportunity. This was a great time to share and learn from each other, and had been highly requested. We kicked off the session with what Ken Shafer has learned about troubleshooting memory leaks. Mark Hicks contributed some ideas from his wealth of Enterprise and Small Business experiences. In addition to our regular meeting topic we held Board elections. Once current board member, Tom Rich did not seek another term on the Board, while the remaining four members, Ken Shafer, Matt Wilson, Walt Belt, and Ray Belt chose to run for another term. A fifth member, Brian Williams wanted to run for the board, and as the full board is composed of five members, all five were voted for as one slate. The slate was elected to be 2008's Board by unamious voice vote.
Please note the following regarding our TW Board and elections: Please note: The BCM presentation originally scheduled has been postponed due to a scheduling conflict. November 14, 2007 - Technology Wizards
Microsoft Windows Home Server Microsoft's Keven Beares talked to us about Microsoft Windows Home Server. Kevin is from the Windows Server Solutions Group and his title is: SBS, Centro, and Windows Home Server Community Lead.
Some of the questions answered included: October 10, 2007 - Technology WizardsHighlights from SMB Nation 2007 At this month's meeting we continued our tradition of sharing the knowledge gained at the annual SMB Nation event. Some of our members shared what they learned and observed at this amazing event. It generated some interesting discussion in addition to the new information we be heard about.
Topics included the following: September 12, 2007 - Technology WizardsBusiness Best Practices
This meeting focused on Business Best Practices and was conducted in a Round Table Discussion format. Some of the topics we covered included: Please bring examples and/or stories to share with the group. Don’t be late as you may miss a topic that you want to get in on! August 8, 2007 - Technology Wizards
SharePoint Our own Tom Rich presented an open discussion about using SharePoint in business for real business purposes, including demonstrations of InfoPath. Tom discussed installing SharePoint v3 in an SBS environment, basic document library function and document library with InfoPath. July 11, 2007 - Technology WizardsJosh Epstein, Symantec July also marked the beginning of our new membership year and was our annual "member renewal meeting". Josh Epstein from Symantec was our featured presenter.
Josh did not come to show off any products, he came to work at rebuilding a good relationship between Symantec and its Partners / VARs / Resellers. Josh covered a few topics, including: Mostly, Josh came to LISTEN TO US. This was a great opportunity, as through TW member feedback, Josh requested this opportunity to learn how he can be a better advocate for each of us as he has done for at least 2 of our members. Josh has really stepped up the efforts to restore and rebuild relationships and customer needs. June 13, 2007 - Technology Wizards
Microsoft Office 2007 – Community Launch Ken gave us a very good presentation on Office 2007 Technology Wizards style. He gave us a very good look at deployment and deployment strategies, as well as use of Office 2007. He also gave us some very good ideas and suggestions for using Office 2007 not only for our clients, but in our own businesses as well. One added bonus was a look at Business Contact Manager 2007 and he could make use of it. May 9, 2007 - Technology WizardsSara Speirs, Channel Manager-North America, Freedom9 Our featured presenter was Sara Speirs, Channel Manager-North America, Freedom9. Freedom9 provides network security, storage and other fine products. Sara has worked in the Networking Industry for 5 years. She started at D-Link on their corporate sales team building reseller and end user relationships. From there she moved into managing the Retail and DMR channel at D-Link networks and then just recently moved to Freedom9 to manage the North American Channel.
In addition to having an engineer conduct live demonstrations and answer technical questions, Sara covered the following topics: This was a terrific opportunity to see what looks to be a terrific competitor to SonicWALL! as well as other products that can be a great addition to an SBS environment. April 11, 2007 - Technology Wizards
Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 – Introduction and Technical Overview The focus of this meeting was our own community launch of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, presented by Raymond Belt (MCSE), President of The ProComp Group (and a member of Technology Wizards). This was a terrific opportunity to see Exchange Server 2007 (Technology Wizards style) and gain insight into Microsoft’s newest version and vision for Exchange, Collaboration and Convergence. March 14, 2007 - Technology Wizards
System Center Essentials, Longhorn Server and Forefront We had a presentation on the new System Center Essentials by Tom Ford. Tom conducted a detailed review of System Center Essentials as a managed services solution for partners. He also updated us on Longhorn Server and Forefront Products. Tom Ford, Server Specialist, Microsoft works in the Bellevue office and is dedicated to helping Microsoft Partners with technical and presales readiness of all of Microsoft’s Windows Server, System Center, Forefront Security and enterprise database and application servers including SQL, Biztalk and Commerce Server. Tom’s been with the Pacwest field team for 1.5 years and with Microsoft for over 7 years in various services, support and product management roles including a stint in the Windows Server product group where he helped launch Windows Server 2003 and SBS 2003. February 14, 2007 - Technology WizardsBill Jowlett, Exclaimer Exclaimer provides a variety of solutions, including, but not limited to, antispam software, antivirus protection, email disclaimers and signatures, auto blocking and mail archiving. Mail archiving is becoming more and more important as businesses need to comply with regulations for email retention.
Windows Virtualization Systems - Windows Virtual Server 2005 R2 - Advantages to Small Business System Integrators. An overview and drill down into Windows Virtualization technologies and strategies. Understanding and creating a Virtual Server with 2005 R2 from scratch (hardware requirements, best practices). Discussion about how a virtual server can be very important to a Small Business System Integrator’s capabilities and how this technology may be useful in a small business environment. January 24, 2007 - Technology WizardsModerated Discussion NOTE: This meeting was rescheduled from our regular meeting date of January 10, which was cancelled due to weather.
The core topics for the January meeting were:
Topics included: December 13, 2006 - Technology WizardsBoard Elections, Round Table Discussion
The core topics for the December meeting were:
Some of the topics for the discussions were: December 6 - 7, 2006 - ITECOnce more Technology Wizards had a a booth at ITEC. Portland ITEC gaves IT and business professionals convenient access to the most current and compelling technology solutions. The ITEC Exhibit Floor featured leading manufacturers, VARs, systems integrators and solution providers displaying the business technology solutions you need to expand, transform and upgrade your business. ITEC's Insight Sessions were delivered by local experts familiar with the challenges and opportunities of Portland's business marketplace. This year's program focused on "Top 2007 Information Technology Trends for Your Business" and "2007 Security Threatscape - How to Stay Ahead of the Curve." The Insight Sessions were complemented by scheduled vendor presentations in special on-floor theaters that provide information of the latest technology solutions straight from the national and local suppliers who provide them. As a special feature this year, one of our members was be a featured speaker for two sessions at ITEC on Wednesday, December 6th! Don Crawford of Don Crawford & Associates conducted two presentations on VoIP, VoIP: Build It or Buy It, Part 1 - How to Cut Costs by Deploying Your Own System, and VoIP: Build It or Buy It, Part 2 - When You Don't Want to Do it Yourself. November 8, 2006 - Technology Wizards
Windows Vista - Part 2 Chris took us deeper into Microsoft's forthcoming Windows Vista. Chris is a part of the official launch team and this was be a great opportunity to see beyond the surface of what we've seen so far and get our technical questions answered. Chris is charged with speaking to anyone who will listen about Microsoft Products and Technologies. His focus is on Small to Enterprise level businesses and the way technology can make the lives of their IT Professionals easier and simpler. When Chris started his career as a contractor customer service representative in 1994 at Microsoft, he did not know who Bill Gates or Microsoft was prior to applying with the company. He had been an Apple user since the late 70's. Chris left Microsoft as a contractor in 1996 only to return 1 year later as a full time employee supporting networking technologies for Windows NT 4.0 Server and client connectivity. Chris was one of the original 10 that supported the Small Business Server products where he stayed for five years. In 2002, Chris took on the challenge of speaking to IT Pros and "evangelizing" the great products and technologies Microsoft delivers. October 11, 2006 - Technology Wizards
The risk of patching, the risks of NOT patching Is the risk of patching less than the risk of vulnerabilities? What's the process to evaluate the risks and threats of your client base? Do you have a process for evaluating Patch Tuesday and reacting to it? Do you have a tool in place to help you patch? Is your antivirus and firewall enough? Susan Bradley, who used to patch her SBS 4.0 servers squinting her eyes and crossing her fingers hoping that the network would reboot joined us for a presentation on the Risks of Small Business. Susan discussed how to read a bulletin, resources for patching, guidelines for how to set up patch testing and information on risks and the evaluation of the right course to take.....Patch? Mitigate? Or unplug the Internet and go back to pencil and paper? Additionally, we got an update on Winternals from Kevin Connell of Endurics. The last word from Kevin is that Winternals will cease to be sold as of 10/18/06. September 13, 2006 - Technology Wizards
CRM 3.0 SBE September 11, 2006 - 2006 SBS User Group Tour2006 SBS User Group Tour The 2006 SBS User Group Tour was back in Portland on Monday, September 11th at the Microsoft Offices. Portland was the second stop on a very limited city tour. This year we again had a terrific opportunity to receive information about the future of SBS and give feedback and suggestions on the roadmap going forward. Topics included:
August 9, 2006 - Technology Wizards
SBS 2003 R2 Tom’s been with Microsoft 6 years and is super passionate about SBS and the small business partner community. He demonstrated some of the new features in SBS R2 and fielded our questions during this session. He also gave us an introduction and overview of the Small Business Technology Assessment Toolkit.
Performing Offline Updates Wynn talked to us about an undocumented procedure for performing an offline update. Now you can protect a system from the internet without first connecting to the internet. Although it's as cumbersome as the old QChain days, it's actually faster than waiting for 50+ MB of downloads. July 12, 2006 - Technology WizardsRound Table, Open Discussion Originally Anne Stanton was scheduled to talk to the group about CRM 3.0 Small Business Edition, unfortunately there were technical difficulties with the Live Meeting discussion that she was going to use and we were not able to get the presentation. We are working to reschedule this presentation. We ended up having a wide-ranging members discussion that amongst other things touched on Microsoft's various Open Licensing programs, including Open Business, Open Value, and Software Assurance; methods and solutions for VPN or remote office needs; various firewall options, including the ongoing debate about "hardware" versus "software" firewalls. The only bad thing about the discussion was that we ran out of time and had to leave before we could explore everything that we could talk about. Anne will be presenting via Live Meeting. This was also our annual membership meeting and we collected many renewals and several new memberships. June 14, 2006 - Technology Wizards
Windows Vista Raphael Davis of Microsoft showed us Windows Vista and brought us up to date on the new OS and it's progress as well as the impact on those of us providing IT and SBS services to Small Businesses. It was a terrific opportunity to see Windows Vista in action and gain some valuable insight. Ken Shafer for Backup Assist Ken covered how Backup Assist can be a great add-on for NTBackup in SBS environments. May 13, 2006 - 2006 Pacific Northwest Regional SBS User Group EventThe 2006 Pacific Northwest Regional SBS User Group Event was held at the Microsoft campus in Redmond. This event gathered the following SBS Groups: The event ran from 10:00am - 7:00pm and Steve Banks (SBS-MVP and PSSBSUG Leader) secured several sponsors making the event FREE to those who attended. Steve did a tremendous amount of work putting this event together! The event was held in Building 43 at the Microsoft Campus in Redmond. This is where SBS Lives!
May 10, 2006 - Technology Wizards
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