Last chance to register for the roadshow:

The UK partner team are going on the road with their roadshow.

• You’ll learn about:

  • Windows Vista

  • 2007 Microsoft Office System

  • Microsoft Windows Server

  • The new Microsoft ‘Centro’ product and Microsoft Small Business Server

• Market overview and business update

• Programme and benefits

So why am I blogging about this?  Well the events next Wednesday and Thursday have a few spaces left if you jump in quickly.  one event is at our London office, and the other is at our main campus in Reading.

So if you want to squeeze in to the day just follow the appropriate links from the home page…

And I might see you there…

Mobile Connections

Do you want to go to Las Vegas and get your hands on some cool mobile devices?  Yup – so do I.  Loke Uei has arranged a discount code for people who read about the event via blogs to get a $100 discount.  You can then put the discount towards your new cool funky mobile device.  Here’s the information on the conference

 

Mobile Connections is a great opportunity for developers and IT Professionals to connect with Microsoft and experts in the Mobile industry. Attendees can expect to learn about the tools and techniques to building rich and effective applications on Windows Mobile.

Attendees this year will be able to attend an exclusive invite-only feedback session where they can sit down together with members of the Microsoft product groups to provide honest and direct feedback for a chance to make a difference with Windows Mobile or its platform and tools.

On top of the Harley Davidson contest, there will also be a ton of exciting activities that will happen during Mobile Connections from device giveaways to being able to play with cool new devices. So don’t miss out on the action.

Sign up now here  and use this special coupon code (MSBLOG) to get an immediate $100 discount.

 

Shame I’ll be scuba diving off the Turks and Caicos Islands then.  I love Vegas, and the Mandalay Bay Hotel is so over the top it’s wonderful.  Never mind, next year perhaps…

Microsoft Executives and a pair of high heels…

I spent the morning with Gordon Frazer at our company All hands meeting which we hold every quarter.  We all get together, Gordon is MC and the executives all have a session to talk about progress and innovation so far this year.  I’d been asked to talk about Web 2.0 and how our internal communications have moved from their current delivery mechanism to a Windows Gadget for your Vista Sidebar.  A huge honour to be asked – especially for this opportunity to present to all of my peers.  My peers?  Aargh!

As an evangelist, I’m not fazed by talking to big crowds, not worried about talking about something outside of my comfort area, but sitting amongst most of the Microsoft UK executive team was initially a terrifying thought.  Why was I scared?  Heck, our exec team in the UK are the most approachable set of people I’ve ever met, all of them will stop and say hello in the corridor, have a chat, will respond to mails, Instant Messages, and are always helpful.

So I spent all morning in hell of a panic, not really understanding why until it was time for my segment.  I stood up – and realised why.

Along the whole row of executives, I was easily the shortest.  By about 30cms (1ft).  Even the women on the exec team in the UK are incredibly tall.

Thank god for my high heels, they gave me confidence alongside the tall guys and helped me see over the table for my demo.  Subconsciously I must have known this when I was getting ready for work this morning and chose my favourite killer heels.

But what a different feeling after my session today.  Instead of feeling elated and excited, rushed with the adrenaline, all I could think of was taking my shoes off and going back to my loafers.

And going back to being short…

Groove towards the OCS 2007 launch

Mark is trialling a new way of getting people to our events and has decided to use Groove to organise everything for the Office Communications Server launch to save the load on his mailbox.  I did exactly the same when I was trying to co-ordinate internal and external presenters, with the video files, templates and logistics information for the EVO launch in December last year.  Instead of the documents languishing in a repository for ever, taking up server space, once the launch “project” is over, then the whole workspace can be deleted if required.  A great idea…

Well, if you’d like an invite to the launch, here’s what you need to do:

If you want to hear more about Office Communications Server 2007,  the associated Unified Communications products and how they can help you better communicate within your business,  why not get yourself an invite to the launch.  If you are a Business Decision Maker then I recommend signing up here,  if you consider yourself to be a IT Decision Maker then I recommend signing up here instead.

 

And if you’d like to try out Groove for yourself why don’t you sign up for a trial here and use it to work on a little project of your own.  You will be pleasantly pleased with the results I think…

ITForum: The virtual side

Daniel and Tony have interviewed me for the Virtual side at ITForum and they showed me their great video that they did as an introduction to ITForum this year. 

The geeks are out.

Great job guys, see you in Barcelona…

Daylight Savings Time around the world: Updating your system.

Oh heck.  It’s getting round to that time again, I’ve seen a few mails flying around.  It’s time to change the clocks again as we’re heading into winter in the Northern Hemisphere (don’t gloat if you’re heading into summer in the southern part of the world).

Well we’re a little bit more prepared this time after learning our lesson last time.  I’ve noticed quite a few helps and how to’s out there.  Have a look as Steve’s video on Channel 9 which has a great walk through and has all the links you need.

VIDEO: Using the Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook

VIDEO: Using the Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Exchange Server

And if you don’t trust your users enough to let them use these tools on their own desktop, you can always use the VM for Exchange Calendar Update Configuration Tool which allows you to do this on multiple mailboxes and avoid all the hassle of giving this to your users.

Hopefully, this round of Daylight Savings time changes will be much more seamless than the last time…