See you in New Zealand in July!
It looks like they know how to throw a conference in Australia’s ‘other’ state (just kidding, Kiwis).
I will be speaking at the New Zealand Community SharePoint Conference in July 2009 and I’m really looking forward to it. This will be the New Zealand conference to learn about SharePoint 2007 with a whole bunch of expert local and international speakers. Some big international names are joining in the fun, including Joel “Governance Man” Oleson himself so we can continue our buzzword battles in the flesh! But to whet your appetite, we have Ben Curry, Erica Toelle, Michael Sampson, Paul Stork, Steve Smith and Adam Cogan, to name a few.
There are a wide variety of topics that are on offer, and the session that I am most looking forward to is Erica Toelle’s session entitled “SharePoint User Adoption: Fostering Shared Understanding throughout your Company”. Unfortunately, with the current schedule, it clashes with mine, but I hope that it gets rearranged as I know there are some great synergies there. Here is her synopsis
SharePoint projects usually involve some kind of organizational change related to culture, process, or structure. The change process is something that must be carefully managed, approached methodically and tailored to your organization’s culture.
In this session you will learn how to ensure your SharePoint project’s success by using frameworks to manage the change process, resulting in higher user adoption of the end solution. This is done by gaining leadership and stakeholder commitment, creating a strategic communication plan and planning a learning strategy. You will walk away with templates and checklists to help you with your SharePoint project.
I am also especially looking forward to Pete Sayers’ talk on South Taranaki District Council as an EDRMS solution as I work with local government here in Perth myself and sometimes have to grapple with the conflicting requirements of the state records act, the web team hating the records management team, and the IT team hating them both :-).
Also looking tempting is Lulu Pachuau’s Information Architecture session, and Patrick van Rinsvelt’s session on organisational cultural considerations for SharePoint deployments. I think I’ll also go deep (level 300), and listen to Chandima Kulathilake dive into the depths of SQL Server administration for SharePoint as well as sit in on Joel’s Infrastructure and Administration Fundamentals just to heckle 😉 .
It all happens in Wellington, 2nd and 3rd July, 2009. I’ve never been to New Zealand before, but have heard that it’s picturesque, so I am really looking forward to it.
See you there!
Paul Culmsee
p.s I could make some Lord of the Rings inspired comment, but for me the pinnacle of New Zealand film making was Peter Jackson’s Brain Dead!
Nice one Paul, the lineup sounds great. You’re going to have a blast, Wellingtonians know how to have a good time.
To help you and other international visitors I’ve quickly assembled a short list of local colloquialisms that may pop up in presentations and conversations whilst you are there:
Brassed off:
Disappointed, annoyed – ‘The system admin was brassed off when his SQL backups kept failing’
Carked it:
Died, kicked the bucket – ‘MOSS went down when the Server with central admin carked it’ ,
also similar is ‘Knackered’ with it’s origins in farming where surplus farm animals go to the “Knackers Yard”! , ‘The Timer Service is knackered’
Chocolate fish:
A chocolate covered marshmallow fish. Also frequently given (literally or figuratively) as a reward for a job well done; as in – “Good on ya, mate, perfect installation, you deserve a chocolate fish”.
Chuffed:
Pleased; as in ”The Solutions Consultant was chuffed that the client thought the requirements gathering process went great’
hard case:
joker; comedian – ‘Training was fun , the SharePoint trainer was a hard case’
heaps:
General expression to mean a lot ‘That implementation had heaps of custom workflow and infopath forms’, or to try hard; “give it heaps”
Kia Ora
Pronounced (Key-or-ah) kia ora is a Māori language greeting which is a part of New Zealand English. It means literally “be well/healthy” and is translated as an informal “hi” – ‘Kia Ora and Welcome to the New Zealand Community SharePoint Conference’
No 8 Wire
Kiwis are famous for their ingenuity and self-sufficiency. It is said that Kiwis can create amazing things — all they need is ‘a piece of Number 8 wire’. No 8 wire is a certain gauge of wire that was incredibly popular for use as fencing wire around New Zealand’s many farms. Because No. 8 wire was widely available, it was used for a all manner of tasks, and it has become a symbol of kiwi adaptability.
Pack a sad:
Become morose, ill-humoured, moody. ‘The Client packed a sad when they found out that infopath forms server came with a more expensive licence’
Also can be used like ‘Carked it or Knackered as meaning “broken or died” i.e. the Server “packed a sad”
She’ll be right:
Not a problem, it’ll be O.K. – ‘ If load becomes a problem we’ll help you add another front end server and she’ll be right’
Strewth:
Honestly, expletive showing frustration. “Strewth is an expletive and also slang for honestly. But may have been derived from the old phrase ‘God’s Truth’. Which, when run together, is … s’truth!” – ‘Strewth! The customer want’s it all delivered in 3 weeks.’
Sweet-as:
A term people say instead of “cool” or “awesome”. “That custom branding job was sweet-as”
ta: Thanks
Wet blanket:
Someone who spoils the fun of others; someone who doesn’t get into the “swing” of things, particularly at a social occasion.
“The security guy was a wet blanket, he kicked us out of the conference venue at midnight’
What about “bro” and “fush and chups”? 🙂
How could I forget!
Bro – Usually used be NZ men to describe a close friend – ‘Hey bro can you help me with a feature receiver i’m working on’
Fish and Chips – Phonetically ‘Fush and Chups’, due to the New Zealand accent’s clipped pronunciation of vowels. – ‘Hey Bro after the project kick off meeting do you wanna head down to road for some fush and chups?’
This explains it all: Beached
I personally consider that the best city in New Zealand is Nelson, not only that, it is the sunniest. Plus, for business, commerce and living standards it is in the top 3.