I’m really looking forward to going back to Australia and especially to seeing everyone at TechEd Australia on the Gold Coast…well and my folks in Perth 
I have two sessions whilst I’m there, one I’m presenting with Garth Luke…who was the one that “duped” me into joining AvePoint two years ago at TechEd Australia after lots of beer and cigars and the second with Mark Rhodes…fellow MVP and great buddy of mine!
The session with Mark is brand new and we’ve been working hard to make it really info packed with content for IT Pros and Developers to take back to their workplace to help SharePoint environments stay healthy!
OSP223 - Presenting SharePoint as a Service to your Organisation
Thu 13 Sep 11:30-12:45
Garth Luke, Jeremy Thake
This session will discuss how to strike a successful balance between top-down control and trusting users to "do the right thing", resulting in a desired distributed management method that complies to policies agreed upon by the organisation’s governance committees. Topics such as accountability, restrictions, site lifecycle management, adoption, and return on investment of the service will be highlighted, as well as a review of available solutions to support delivery of SharePoint as a service. You’ll leave with a fresh understanding of:
• How organisations are presenting SharePoint as a service
• Several of the key services presented to business users
• Best practices for measuring adoption and return on investment
• Incorporating guidance for optimised information architecture
OSP225 - Real World: SharePoint Customisation – Developer vs. IT Pro
Thu 13 Sep 15:30 – 16:45
Jeremy Thake, Mark Rhodes
Find out what happens when Microsoft SharePoint MVPs stop being polite, and start getting real. Don’t miss Brisbane-based SharePoint MVP Mark Rhodes and New York-based SharePoint MVP & AvePoint Chief Architect Jeremy Thake face off on how to customise SharePoint in an enterprise environment from the perspective of an IT Pro and Developer, respectively. Mark and Jeremy will discuss the main issues that IT Pros and Developers have with regard to customisations, highlighting how the disconnect between the two camps hinders progress and makes daily tasks more difficult. The two SharePoint MVPs will also use real world examples to illustrate their pains and highlight tools and processes that have helped make their lives easier. SharePoint platform upgrade scenarios, patching, updates to developed solutions and much more will be covered in this session. Attendees will leave with a fresh understanding of how customisations typically occur in an enterprise SharePoint environment, as well as how tools and processes can be put in place to make both parties happy and provide a successful platform to the business.