Migrating SharePoint from On-Premises to Office 365 – Lessons Learned by Microsoft IT

Moving from SharePoint on-premises to Office 365 can seem like a Herculean task to complete. With all of the differences between on-premises and Office 365, understanding the proper method to move, and all possible iterations of moves, it can get overwhelming in a hurry.
In this session, we will go over the methods that Microsoft IT used to move from SharePoint on-premises to Office 365. We will cover how we built and executed the projects to migrate/move our SharePoint portals. But most of all, you will learn all of the pitfalls we ran into and how to avoid them yourself.
Bring your questions about migrating to Office 365 and get some direct answers.

Running SharePoint on Azure – Tips and Tricks

So you still run SharePoint on-prem but you need hosting options for SharePoint Farms. Need some Dev/Test environments? Have some Archive document farms? Do not want to purchase new hardware in your hosting environment for SharePoint but still need to host it? Look at Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) as an option to host SharePoint for your needs. In this session, we will go over the tips and tricks on how to host SharePoint on Azure. We will focus on an understanding of Compute, Networking and Storage. We will not only focus on the technical aspects but also how you can keep costs down using Azure instead of your own datacenter and servers.

Don’t fear if the forecast is Cloudy!

Many folks hear "Cloud" and get scared. IT Pros and Developers can get scared because they don't know how Cloud Services work. Business Users hear Cloud and don't understand what it means to their capabilities to run the business. Compliance and Security Teams make assumptions about how they can do their job ensuring the business data is secure and meeting compliance.

Come hear about the move to the Cloud from the perspective of a person who transitioned from traditional IT Operations and Server Hugger to Service and Site Reliability Engineer running Enterprise solutions in the Cloud on Office 365 and Azure. I had to embrace the Cloud and DevOps mindset and I can help you understand how to start down this path for yourself.

The presentation will be brief so you can bring all of your questions to get answered.

This session is meant to be primarily question and answer after hearing my story about my own career.

The Power is in Everyone’s Hands – Practical use of the Power Platform

Power and Business Users used to make SharePoint “Apps” with SharePoint Designer. As we move forward using Office 365 more than on-prem installations, what are Power Users supposed to do? Thanks to new systems like the Power Platform with Power BI, Power Automate, and Power Apps, many systems that users relied on developers to create are now can be built by the users themselves. We will actually go through some simple apps, workflows and reporting examples using the Power Platform to show users what can be possible.

Managing Success in Microsoft Teams

How can everyone from the CEO on down leverage Office 365 in day-to-day operations? In this session, we will focus on using Microsoft Teams as the center for managing success. We will demonstrate how to create channels as custom avenues; display data from SharePoint, OneDrive, and external sources; and collaborate in real time through chat, calls, and co-authoring. We will also interact with Power BI—without leaving the Microsoft Teams application.

The SRE role: An unexpected journey

As the world of information technology advances, the correlating roles and responsibilities also continue to evolve. Examining the progress from IT operations through service engineering and into site reliability engineering, IT pros will need a strategic development plan that builds on current skill sets.

In this session, we discuss the mindset required for effective site reliability engineering, including how to most efficiently grow career skills, utilize specific tools and processes, and incorporate lessons learned from inherent failures. We also analyze the results of platform moves to modern engineering practices and systems.