Category Archives: Presentations

03.22.18
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Branding and Re-Branding

On user community day here at IBM Think I was asked to fill in for a presentation that was originally going to be presented by a social marketeer who would talk about how to brand yourself.  Unfortunately I’m not a social marketeer or any kind of marketeer however I have recently been putting a lot of work into changing both Turtle’s brand image and my own personal brand.  With that in mind I thought it would be useful to talk through how I ended up with a brand at all and my thought processes that took me through the recent changes.

I hope you find it interesting.  A big “thank you” to Chris Miller of “idonotes” fame who read through and sanity checked this with me with only 1 days’ notice.  He’s far more of a marketeer and I am and can speak to how to use those social tools to promote yourself, which I really can’t and so didn’t try 🙂

03.17.18
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Think Week – With More Than A Little Help From My Friends

IBM Think starts tomorrow for me in Las Vegas.  So obviously here I am in a LV hotel room drinking lots of water, trying to plan the sessions I want to see, when I’m going to be free and and then sign up for several of the labs.  This year as well as my technical sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday,  I will be moderating and contributing to several “soft skills” sessions that are not about technology but about how we work.

Thank you in advance to all the people shown below for joining the panels.  Here’s where I’ll be this week.

Technical Sessions

Monday 19th @ 1.30pm
A Guide To Single Sign-On for IBM Collaboration Solutions
Mandalay Bay South, Level 2 Surf B
Single sign-on, single identity and even password synchronization—in this session, we will take you through all the options available to minimize or eradicate logins across IBM’s Collaboration Solutions (ICS); whether it is a Domino web server, IHS, Notes client, Traveler, Sametime, Connections or Verse, on-premises or cloud. The discussion will cover security certificates, password synchronization, IWA, SPNEGO and SAML Federation. I will explain what you can (and can’t) do, and how to do it.

Tuesday 20th @ 2.30pm
Deep Dive: What’s New in Notes, Sametime and Verse On-Premises for Users and Administrators
Mandalay Bay South, Level 2 Surf B
with Ram Krishamurthy of HCL
Join this session to understand the recent advancements in capabilities for mail users and administrators. Learn about what to expect with Notes, Verse and Sametime Chat V10 on the server, on the desktop and on mobile devices.

Soft Skills Sessions

Sunday 18th
User Community Day including IBM Champion Day @ MGM Conference Centre

10.35 (#9219)
How to create, maintain and change a personal brand

11.15  (#9268)
How to become a different kind of Champion – reaching across the aisle
with Wannes Rams of Ramsit and Social Connections

11.35 (#9241)
Roundtable on managing the noise and home working
with Florian Vogler of Panagenda
Sandra Buehler and Andreas Ponte of Belsoft AG
Rob Novak of Snapps

Monday 19th @ Mandalay Bay Conference Centre

9am
Think Academy Soft Skills Pop Up – Remote/Home Working: Creating a Balance
with Adam Brown of ISW
Sandra Buehler of Belsoft AG
Julian Robichaux of Panagenda
In this presentation the panel will share ideas around how to best manage remote working (if you miss working directly with a team), home working (over committing and temptations) and working for customers on different timezones. There are many approaches we all use and we can learn from each other which ones would work best. There are also many tools available to both manage tasks and time and stay engaged with others but which ones prove the most useful for different types of work.

Tuesday 20th @ Mandalay Bay Conference Centre

11am
Think Academy Soft Skills Pop Up – Managing the Noise
with Theo Heselmans of XCeed & Engage UG
Francie Tanner and Tony Holder of Panagenda
Maria Nordin of Infoware Solutions & Social Connections
Many of us are in multiple real time chats in Watson Workspace in Slack in Skype in Sametime i addition to all the online forums we need to at least monitor if not participate in. How can we best manage all the noise generated around us whilst we work and how can we contribute effectively. Also aimed at owners of those communities, what is it reasonable to expect of participants and how do you stop people from failing to join in just because they blinked at the wrong time and missed a discussion.

Wednesday 21st @ Mandalay Bay Conference Centre

9am
Think Academy Soft Skills Pop Up – The Imposter Syndrome
with Maria Nordin of Infoware Solutions & Social Connections
Jon Schultz of Prominic
Tony Holder of Panagenda
Impostor syndrome affects nearly everyone in one way or another and results in feeling intermittently underqualified or even out of place in our work. No matter how successful you are there are multiple ways it can sneak up on you. In this session hear and learn from our panelists about how they each deal with different with their own aspects of it. 

I will also be joining some of the round table discussioms taking place at the IBM Champion desk @ Mandalay Bay Conference Centre Bayside D including one on GDPR on Tuesday @ 1.30pm

 

02.21.18
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Champions Expertise – Security

The topic for this month’s Champions Expertise presentations is “Security” so I thought it would be a nice idea to share a few highlights from the presentation I will be giving at Think 2018 in Las Vegas in a few weeks on that subject.  This is “A Guide To Single Sign-On for IBM Collaboration Solutions” and hopefully even this shortened version (6 minutes instead of 40) is of interest.

Of course I also hope to see you at my presentation on Monday 19th March (Mandalay Bay South, Level 2 – Surf B).

 

01.26.18
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Producing A Champions Expertise Presentation (since you asked)

A few people have asked how I created the Champions Expertise presentation on containerisation that I published last week.  There are lots of Champions out there keen to produce their own next month so hopefully this helps someone.

I wanted a structured presentation with my voice overlayed describing each slide. I deliberately didn’t want video / my face on screen alongside the presentation.  That’s good because it’s a pain in the bum to do but mostly I find that having a talking head is distracting people from reading slides. That’s may not be true to everyone but not having video is my personal preference.

Equipment:

Macbook Pro (2014)

Keynote 7.3.1

BeatsX headphones connected via bluetooth.
I find having a good headset ensures there is no bleed or sound in from the surrounding space and these are the best headphones I’ve ever owned, plus they are really fast to charge so rarely run down.

Rehearsing:

I use Keynote on my Mac but Powerpoint does the same thing.  I wrote the presentation including speaker notes for myself , the speaker notes contained the key points I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss when going through each slide.  I try not to write too many speaker notes because I end up reading those instead of presenting so my notes are usually one word prompts.

Once I finished writing I ran through it in presenter mode which shows me a clock countdown as well as the speaker notes. That way I can get comfortable with what I am saying so it flows better when recorded.  I was aiming to run for 10 minutes talking quickly which, in my opinion, is a good length for wanting people to watch online.  I rehearsed 3 times but then I’m a committed over preparer, I suspect most people would rehearse less or not at all.

Recording:

So now I’m ready to record.  Keynote (and Powerpoint) has a feature called “Record Slideshow” when I choose that I go into presenter mode and have a “record button”. The clever thing is that the audio is recording as part of each slide not as a separate file.  I can stop anytime and pick up the recording again or clear a particular part of the recording and do over.  I chose to do it all in one hit.  My secret weapon was to ask someone to sit near me so I could present to them rather than into thin air. I felt that made me sound more natural (hopefully) and it was certainly easier to get into the flow. It did mean I ended up stumbling when he asked me a question part way in but that’s OK, it highlighted where I wasn’t being clear enough so I fixed the slide and started over

Publishing:

Once I was happy with the slides and audio I just saved the file and uploaded it (80MB) to my blog. I could have shrunk it down more and had lower quality, certainly with only audio it wouldn’t have made a lot of difference and I may go back and do that. My blog was also cross posted to twitter and linkedin

And that’s it.  If you have either Keynote or Powerpoint and a decent headset then it’s very easy.  I hope you enjoyed listening and look forward to more expertise presentations next month.

01.23.18
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Champions Expertise – 2018 Technology

IBM Champion Expertise presentations are a new initiave we are starting this month whereby Champions can provide audio presentations on a particular topic.  This month is “2018 Futures and Technology” and here is my presentation on what I think is going to be big for 2018, containerisation vs virtualisation and where it goes next.  This presentation has audio and I tried to keep it short but feel free to double speed me if 14 mins is too long.

I mention in my presentation that I have a more detailed presentation on docker architecture on slideshare and if you want to see that it’s here.  I’d also be grateful for any feedback on the length, style or other aspects of the presentation and what you think of the Champions Expertise idea.

01.19.18
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THINK Adventures

IBM Think is fast approaching in March (19-22) in Las Vegas.   I enjoyed the larger scale and scope of InterConnect and this is going to be even bigger so here we go….

Speaking:

I currently have one confirmed session on the Think site, I will be presenting on single sign-on both the technical aspects and the behavioural ones focusing on working across hybrid systems and with external solutions.

I am also confirmed to do another session on Domino that i’m very excited about but more on that later when I can share..(VERY excited)

Finally I will be at Champions day which is taking place on Sunday 18th and hope to be speaking there too.  This is open to all IBM Champions.

Show Floor:

At InterConnect I spent one entire day walking the showfloor (or whatever it’s called) visiting booths and really learning what is new, what is interesting, and what I had no clue about in sectors I don’t usually work in.  I plan to spend a day doing that again. I was very interested in the security products for instance and I particularly enjoy walking up to a booth and watching them look surprised when my response to their “we are out of giveaways” is “I’m not here for those, I want to know what you’re selling”

Make sure you give yourself enough time,  at InterConnect last year there were lots of labs dotted around the show floor between the booths as well.  I’d say you want at least 4 hrs.

Sessions:

So. Many. Sessions.  Make sure you download the app.  Previously I tried to plan sessions in advance but the day and my interests move too fast and there is simply too much choice so my plan this year is to wing it slot by slot “OK what are my options for this morning? – that’ll do”.   Don’t miss out on some of the talks either, there are many theatres doing short and longer talks which have a broad subject matter. Last year my favourites included a talk on Robotics Engineering from Dr Sabine Hauert of Bristol University, a talk on new media from the editor of Buzzfeed, and Linden Tibbetts CEO of IFTTT discussing how they work with large amounts of data.  None of those theatre talks are recorded or come with shareable presentations so you have one shot to see them.

Networking:

The size of Las Vegas actually provides great opportunities for smaller networking meet ups (you can’t go 5 steps without coming across a bar)|.  I will be there along with my colleagues in The Penumbra Group as well as my fellow Champions across all IBM sectors and I really hope to see some of you too.  If you see me (even if I look stressed and caught up with work which apparently is my resting face) please say hi, I love to talk to people about what they’ve seen, what they think and I love to talk about what I think. Sharing ideas and feedback is a very big reason to do this stuff in person.

Vegas:

I won’t lie, I’m a fan of Vegas which is odd because I’m not a fan of masses of people or noise.   I do like sun though.  And cheap high quality hotels.  And bars where you can ask for a cocktail and they know how to make it.  And music everywhere.  And really good food.  Vegas is notoriously cheap in the week and expensive at the weekend.  The last I looked the Luxor which is right next to the Mandalay where the conference is had rates as low as 60 USD per night during the week.  Even if you’re not coming to the entire conference (and I do have a 100 USD discount code for those that might want it), consider coming to Vegas to meet everyone.

So that’s it.  I’ve got lots to do beforehand to prepare but I have 1000 ideas of what I want to do and I’m already getting excited.  OK that’s partly because I really want to see what the sun looks like . but only partly.

I really hope to see you there, it’s not the same without you.

 

08.13.17
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An Introduction To Docker From MWLUG 2017

Last week I attended and presented at MWLUG in Alexandria, VA.  This was my third MWLUG event and the biggest so far.    Lots of great and varied content, I even went to a couple of developer sessions, thanks to Richard Moy and the rest of the MWLUG team for putting on another great show.  Next year the conference is getting a new name and a new location in Ann Arbor MI.

This session has been changed from the one I gave previously to reflect changes in Docker storage and networking behaviour.

06.27.17
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MWLUG – Sessions upon Sessions (Some From Me)

What are you doing this August?  If you’re interested in ICS technology then then you want to make your way to Washington, DC and MWLUG.  The Midwest User Group conference has once more moved to a new location for 2017 and will be held at the Hilton Mark Center, Alexandria from August 8-10.

Sessions have started to be announced and as well as the usual popular topics there are new Watson Work and Innovation tracks to play in.  Take a look at the list of announced sessions here .

I’ve attended and spoken at MWLUG for the past 3 years and it’s an event I look forward to thanks the the number and breadth of sessions and a chance to meet customers and spend time with the ICS community.  This year I’m speaking again and I’m very pleased to have three brand new sessions and one new speaking partner(!).

In the Best Practices track I’ll be showing you how to architect and configure a hybrid cloud solution for Domino

Setting Up a Hybrid Domino Environment to Ease your Way to the Cloud

Are you looking at Cloud options and wondering how and if you can get there from where you are? If you have Domino on premises and are considering Cloud then a good option is a hybrid architecture which maintains all your on premises configuration managed by your own administrators but adds Cloud client access managed by IBM. We will look at how simple it is to create this hybrid solution using Domino passthru servers and review how things like user and directory maintenance, client access and mail routing will then work. From Domino Admin to Domino Hybrid Admin in a few simple steps.

In the Innovation track I’ll be discussing IoT in the Enterprise, security implications and opportunities

IoT In The Enterprise Brings You Industry 4.0

IoT brings us to the beginning of Industry 4.0 and with the opportunities for improved delivery, services and customer relationships comes challenges of data management, creative process re-engineering and most of all security. IoT devices are arriving through the door each day, meanwhile the introduction of GDPR compliance next year brings additional responsibility for data ownership and privacy. . In this session we will investigate the opportunities for IoT in different business sectors alongside the risks of the IoT experience. We will discuss how to defend and protect against today’s IoT’s vulnerabilities and review how security offerings such as blockchain are evolving. We wil also offer a checklist for how your enterprise can plan for and benefit from the emergence of enterprise IoT.

Finally , in the System Administration track I’ll be joining Linux expert Bill Malchisky  to discuss Docker on Linux and what you need to know

Running Docker and Linux Together

The introduction of docker within IBM’s product strategy as well as the popularity of containers as a solution means it’s time to learn some new tools. Join Gab & Bill as they offer architectural insight for both Linux and Docker along with storage and network isolation tips. Curious about good and bad devops processes, deployment, upgrades and backups? You will receive technical explanations with examples. If Linux is the path ahead, Docker is the depolyment conduit. Let’s get you ready for the journey.

Thank you in advance to the NH / Maine convoy that will help get me from NY to VA,  I’m looking forward to sharing these new sessions and learning some new stuff myself.