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What should we talk about?

Today is the second day of our IT Forum highlights event.  We've been focusing on things that will be coming up later on in the year (E12, Monad, Mobility and Vista today).  At the last roadshow last week we talked a lot about released technology.  Last week, everyone I talked to said that the sessions were really valuable and wanted more of these types of sessions.  Today, I've had exactly the same about future products.  So now I'm in a quandry when it comes to planning for our Technical Roadshow in May / June this year.

What technologies do I choose from?  Present or Future?  I have 5 slots to fill.  So what do you want to hear about?  Office 12, Exchange 12, Vista etc? or Sharepoint V2, Mom 2005, Virtual Server.  Give me a clue how I should shape the roadshow planning session next week.  Or I could always try drawing topic from the hat.  That may be an interesting mix...

Published Thursday, February 09, 2006 3:08 PM by Eileen_Brown
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Comments

Thursday, February 09, 2006 10:52 AM by Blake Handler

# re: What should we talk about?


Not to make this harder on you – but when talking with clients I’ve found I need to discuss BOTH the current & future technologies.

When demonstrating Windows Vista, the average person wants to see new features. But when I demonstrate Vista to an engineer, they simply want to know “what’s new or different” – engineers usually roll their eyes when demonstrating “marketing features”

So when it comes to supporting Exchange 12 – don’t spend too much time on “marketing features” but discuss these new features in the context of: ”Changes to your hardware and operating system (64 bit)?” “How it will impact our Active Directory?”  “How we’ll support our users with their new client software?” “How do I realistically deploy this?”
Thursday, February 09, 2006 12:57 PM by Mark

# re: What should we talk about?

I agree with Blake.  It's very important to look at your audience and gear your talks appropriately.  As a System Administrator, I really don't care what Office 12 offers in UI enhancements.  Convince me why I should put the time and energy into upgrading and fielding all the calls from users who need training to use the new UI.  Tell me what Exchange 12 offers me over Exchange 2003.  What does it do better for my current environment?  Not just marketing hype and not just "Well, Exchange 2003 won't be supported in 2 years."
Friday, February 10, 2006 12:48 AM by Vlad Mazek

# re: What should we talk about?

Focus on the future of the products we already use.
Focus on the present of products we don't use.

Essentially, products that are rarely deployed (MOM, Virtual Server) need the current spotlight, you want to show the people that are not using them why they should be using them, today. Products that have mass adoption (Exchange) has administrators that are planning migration, sales and support options so they will need as much forward-guidance as possible to get a decent head start.

I would add another to your topic list: mobility. Its a big thing right now, covered with a ton of lawsuits, product delivery delays, bugs and lack of decent documentation. Guiding IT Pro crowds in that direction would be a great service to the community, I wrote a proposal to present on that at TechEd USA :) I feel its one of the biggest threats/opportunities for business security / business productivity and IT managers/professionals need to know this well because these devices are treated like cell phones but carry sensitive corporate info on them. When the axe falls because the salesman lost the smartphone but never reported it to anybody but T-Mobile wouldn't you like to tell the company council you did everything in your power to protect the information stored on that device?

Vlad Mazek, MCSE, MVP:Exchange
Friday, February 10, 2006 4:26 AM by Ari Protheroe

# re: What should we talk about?

Future stuff....Live Server, ISA 2006, E12 MONAD, Vista, Longhorn Server, SMS v4, Office12 inc SharePoint, Excel Server, Groove.

Like all good surfers, you need to be in front of the wave rather than behind it
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