“A Day in the Life of SharePoint”Explaining SharePoint to End Users and Management

Scott ShearerSharePoint Evangelist/DeveloperFlexPoint Technologysshearer@flexpointtech.com

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Who is Scott?

SharePoint consultant for FlexPoint Technology Done everything from System Administration

to C# development to helpdesk CPA Former Stock Broker Past Certifications Held: MCSE, MCSD, MCDBA,

MCT, CNE sshearer@flexpointtech.com http://spconcierge.wordpress.com @ScottJShearer on Twitter

FlexPoint Technology(They paid for me to be here)

IT Consulting firm based in Reston, VA Cloud Technologies SharePoint consulting, development, training US Government and commercial customers

Agenda “A Day in the Life of SharePoint” briefing

How do you answer the question “What is SharePoint?” SharePoint has very broad feature set, making it hard to

explain

How the Demo was Developed I became expert on how to explain and demo SharePoint

the “wrong way” Through trial and error, I finally figured out what worked

Scott’s Observation #1People don’t care about SharePoint –

they care about solutions

Scott’s Observation #2

When attending an IT briefing, a non-technical user wants to know:

“What’s in it for me?”

Scott’s Observation #3

PEOPLE HATE CHANGE AND YOU REPRESENT CHANGE

Scott’s Observation #4

ENTHUSIASTISM IS COMMUNICABLE!

“So, what do I do?”

Give your End Users a reason to be interested Simple, concrete examples of how SharePoint

can: Save time Reduce hassles Automate manual processes

Do not use technical terms unless absolutely necessary Use terminology that they understand

“Action Item Tracker” vs task list

Demo what you want them to understand Don’t try to explain versioning with PowerPoint

alone SLOW DOWN in your demo

SharePoint is new to you audience Quickly clicking all around the screen serves to

confuse rather than inform Don’t talk about SharePoint Features

Talk about solutions

Demo

SharePoint Overview

Scott ShearerSharePoint Evangelist/Developer/Trainer

FlexPoint Technology

What is SharePoint?

Lets take a look….

(SharePoint Team Site Demo)

Team Sites

Used in demo Used for general office collaboration Audience for the site is usually an office, team, etc. Much of the functionality is quick and easy to configure Common Team Site uses

Document repositories Discussion Boards Surveys Meeting minutes and agendas Tracking just about anything Leave scheduling Conference room scheduling Process automation

Public Facing Sites

“Traditional” web sites Push information out Intended to allow people to consume information

Audience for you public facing site is everyone except the people on your team

May require the skills of a graphic designer Content can be updated by non-technical staff

Sample SharePoint “Public Facing” sites Ferrari Bank of England Boy Scouts Micro Strategies BA Insight

What do you say when someone asks you “What is SharePoint?”