OK ... so there's lots of us talking about Sharepoint these days ... pros, cons, etc. Check this out!!
As mentioned last Thursday in the Church IT Podcast -
What if you could attend a 5 day SharePoint training course taught by a well known and respected Microsoft Certified SharePoint Trainer, author and MVP ... for ... FREE!!??
NOTE: This same training goes for $2995 + $200 for training materials!
Interested? Good grief you should be!!
Bill English has offered us church IT folks an incredible opportunity! Who is this Bill character?
An author and educator specializing in SharePoint Products and Technologies, Bill English (MCSE, MCSA, MVP, MCT) is an industry leader on this exciting product set from Microsoft. Since 2000, Bill has authored 11 books on Exchange and SharePoint products and is currently working on another book with Microsoft Press.
Bill is the co-owner of Mindsharp (www.mindsharp.com), a company that offers top-notch educational opportunities on the SharePoint platform.
He has presented at Comdex, The Microsoft Exchange Conference, TechMentor, TechEd, Advisor Live, TechEd Europe and Networld Interop. You can find his blog at his AdminCompanion book site.
Bill lives in Minnesota with his wife and two children where he enjoys boating, photography and summer.
I'd say that qualifies Bill as an uber expert on SharePoint :-)
Details are still solidifying, but here's what's known at this point ...
- This training will happen the week of Jan 7th ... Monday through Friday 9am-5pm. Put that on your calendar like right now!
- Slots available for up to 40 folks who are directly employed by a church/ministry ... sorry, no outsourced staff
- Each person would have to bring their own laptop. The requirements are 2GB Ram and 20GB free Disk space ... 1.5GB of the RAM will be completely used by the image that will be provided to you.
- Cost will be kept as low as possible ... whatever it takes to cover lunch and maybe facilities usage during the day.
- Training will be focused around the free SharePoint Services product, but will also touch on the benefits that the full blown SharePoint Server can offer. We'll also have a day or so on SharePoint Designer.
Presently we're looking to host this here at Granger Community Church ... but location could still change. We're trying to nail down this piece ASAP. Mega props to Fady over at Willow Creek for getting the ball rolling on this!
What we need to know - DOES THIS INTEREST YOU? What other questions do you have? Please comment below and give us feedback. Your feedback will help customize this training opportunity.
Also ... please help spread the word about this opportunity via your blogs, email, etc. More to follow...
Jason, I'm very interested in either attending myself or sending another part of our team.
Posted by: Jeff Wilson | October 22, 2007 at 11:48 PM
Yes very very definitely interested!
Posted by: Mark Burleson | October 22, 2007 at 11:59 PM
Oh question, on the laptop, must that be a pc I assume?
Posted by: Mark Burleson | October 23, 2007 at 12:04 AM
Count me in. Indiana in January... where else would I want to be!
kdl
Posted by: Kirk Longhofer | October 23, 2007 at 01:16 AM
Count us in...
Posted by: Jason Lee | October 23, 2007 at 09:11 AM
Yes, interested would probably qualify as an understatement.
Posted by: Derek Berg | October 23, 2007 at 09:36 AM
While I am not eligible, that is a great offer- Bill does a very good job, I heard him present at DevConnections a year ago. I will pass the word on.
Posted by: Christopher Bermingham | October 23, 2007 at 10:38 AM
I am interested since I've been hearing a lot about Sharepoint lately. How does it compare to Basecamp?
Posted by: Nancy Graham | October 23, 2007 at 10:41 AM
I can definitely vouch for this training - I took MindSharp's SharePoint Admin course last July, and it was excellent (although Bill wasn't the one teaching it) - The regular classes focus a little more on the full MOSS07 product rather than WSS3.
In response to the previous question, yes, you need a Windows laptop - the training environment is done inside Microsoft Virtual Server, and requires a goodly amount of RAM to run both the SQL and IIS servers. Normally, Mindsharp brings a set of preconfigured Dell D520s for an insta-lab, but the insta-lab is only set up for about a dozen people. Bringing their lab for 40 would significantly impact their ability to provide paid-for training elsewhere that week, and the revenues from those courses are what allow Bill & co. to provide this training to us for cheap/free.
Are they including the posters with the class? I just got my set the other day and need to find wall space for them :)
Posted by: Ian Beyer | October 23, 2007 at 11:28 AM
Definitely Interested
Posted by: Rich Kowalske | October 23, 2007 at 12:14 PM
I'm interested, but I can't make it to Indiana. Maybe a webinar/live stream?
Posted by: David Hudson | October 23, 2007 at 03:18 PM
yes, please!
Posted by: Jeremy Hoff | October 23, 2007 at 03:20 PM
yes, interested!
Posted by: Austin Spooner | October 24, 2007 at 01:14 AM
I'm definitely interested in the Sharepoint training. What do I need to do to sign up?
Posted by: Pam Matthews | October 24, 2007 at 09:05 AM
Yes, 99% likely to come if it were offered!
Posted by: Jim Michael | October 24, 2007 at 10:06 AM
Wow! Thank you to everyone involved for making this happen. I would love to be a part of it. Let me know what I can do. Thank you!
Posted by: Cody Bettis | October 24, 2007 at 01:57 PM
yes, interested
Posted by: Randy Smith | October 24, 2007 at 06:08 PM
To clarify the offer, is only for folks that are full-time, paid staff of a church? For example, I'm the Media & Technology Director, but I'm not paid to do that...
Posted by: Brian Baker | October 25, 2007 at 02:12 AM
I am very interested and will definitely attend. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn about what may well be a great technology solution for our ministry.
Posted by: Doug Alvis | October 25, 2007 at 07:37 AM
I am very interested. How do we "register?" We are looking to deploy Sharepoint next year so this will definitely get me going on the right foot. Thanks for providing the opportunity.
Posted by: Chris Ockerman | October 26, 2007 at 05:25 PM
We are very interested as well. count us in.
Posted by: Lynn Owens | October 29, 2007 at 07:28 PM
We are very interested as well. count us in.
Posted by: Lynn Owens | October 29, 2007 at 07:30 PM
I am equally interested. Where can we get information on how to register and attend?
Posted by: Rush Callahan | October 31, 2007 at 09:26 AM
I am interested, along with my manager, Mark.
Posted by: Mike Henry | November 02, 2007 at 10:52 AM
I am very interested at this point.
Posted by: Larry Stehr | November 06, 2007 at 11:20 PM