It’s almost time for SharePoint Fest DC 2018! I’m excited to head back to Washington DC for this year’s conference, where I’ll be presenting a full-day user adoption and innovation games workshop along with sessions on requirements gathering/consensus building, user adoption and reclaiming overgrown SharePoint implementations.

SharePoint Fest DC is always a great event, particularly if you’re able to attend the 2 days of pre-conference workshops early in the week. There’s a mix of technical how-to sessions for SharePoint/Office 365 information workers, IT Pros and Developers and conceptual sessions on user adoption, governance, business valuation, search, content management, etc. And with the new 5-day conference format (2 days of workshops and 3 days of sessions), you’ll be able to learn more and engage with speakers to get your SharePoint/Office 365 questions answered. For more information, check out the conference agenda.

When you register, use discount code HaaseDC100 to save $100.

Abstracts for my SharePoint Fest DC workshop and sessions:

Cowboys versus Ninjas: A user adoption and innovation games workshop
Driving effective user adoption for collaborative platforms like SharePoint and Office 365 is incredibly difficult. Most companies veer off-course, missing the opportunity to engage users, build internal communities and drive business engagement and value. The result: a muddle of unused SharePoint sites, negligible business buy-in and a maze of nested file repositories.

This full-day workshop explores common user adoption myths and explains the role social epidemics play in driving adoption of collaborative toolsets. You’ll learn practical tips and tricks for engaging key user constituencies in your organization, learn key motivational techniques to drive technology adoption and explore how innovation games can help you drive shared understanding and build a unified vision.

By the time you complete this workshop, you’ll know how to inspire your SharePoint ninjas, channel your enthusiasts, wrangle your cowboys and work with (or around) your naysayers.

Gathering requirements and building user consensus

If you’re struggling with a revolving set of changes to your user’s requirements or are having difficulty getting users excited about what SharePoint/Office 365 can do for them, know that IT CAN GET BETTER! This session explores user engagement, outlining practical methodologies for effectively gathering requirements and getting users excited about SharePoint/Office 365. We’ll review proven methodologies for engaging users in requirements gathering sessions and teach you how to facilitate innovation games to document user challenges and build consensus.

When cookie-cutter user adoption doesn’t cut it

Most of us learn from others. We look for leaders in a given field, learn how they do things and try to replicate their formula for success. This approach seems logical, doesn’t it? Identify, learn and replicate. Unfortunately, user adoption isn’t a cookie-cutter exercise. Attempts to take good Collaboration ideas (ideas that drive effective governance and successful user adoption) and re-use them often fail.

In this session, we’ll examine why reused ideas and solutions often fail and offer practical ideas for overcoming this re-use barrier. We’ll also discuss our real-life experience integrating innovative governance and user adoption strategies across companies. You’ll learn how to examine your users, your culture and your Collaboration goals so you can tailor others’ solutions to meet your needs.

Reclaiming SharePoint: How to reel in an overgrown implementation

SharePoint is organic. File-based SharePoint sites grow exponentially, consuming more and more storage space and making it difficult for users to find what they need. Governance plans designed to steer SharePoint’s utilization tarnish over time, discouraging users from adopting the platform.

This session outlines the reasons why SharePoint environments become overgrown and under-utilized and provides practical guidance on how you can assess your implementation and create a revitalization plan. We’ll also review several real-world SharePoint turnaround stories, highlighting the challenges faced and the methods taken to revive user adoption. Whether you have a “green-field” implementation with no formal governance in place or have a faded governance model that is no longer working, you’ll leave this session with proven techniques for engaging your key constituents and driving change.