Conference Program
The SharePoint Symposium is something very different, a conference on the topic of Microsoft SharePoint that does not proselytize. Whether you already have SharePoint in your organization or are looking to acquire it, you will encounter no sales pitches here.
What you will experience are sessions led by true industry experts who lead you through the pros and cons and strengths and weaknesses of SharePoint in practice. From managing (and avoiding) the threat of sprawl and viral growth, to considering cloud alternatives and add-on technologies, all the conference sessions draw from real-life experience and best practices from leading practitioners.
SharePoint Symposium is co-located with KMWorld 2016, Enterprise Search & Discovery, and Taxonomy Boot Camp. Register for just the Symposium or take advantage of additional conference program with a Platinum or Gold Pass.
Monday, November 14, 2016
Pre-Conference Workshops
9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Your choice of two half-day pre-conference workshops is included when you register for a
Platinum Pass with Workshops. You can view the full list of workshops offered
here. Learn more about our Platinum Pass option
here.
Enterprise Solutions Grand Opening Reception
5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Join us for the Enterprise Solutions Showcase Grand Opening reception. Explore the latest products and services from the top companies in the marketplace while enjoying flavorful fare and drink. Open to all conference attendees, speakers, and sponsors.
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Networking Reception
5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Register for a Platinum OR Gold Pass and get access to a full day of conference sessions through our co-located events — KMWorld, Enterprise Search & Discovery, and Taxonomy Boot Camp on Tuesday, November 14.
Can't attend sessions during the day? We still have something to offer ... stop by the Enterprise Solutions Showcase to mix and mingle with other conference attendees and speakers as well as our conference sponsors during our Networking Reception on Tuesday evening.
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Continental Breakfast
8:00 a.m. - 8:45 a.m.
Keynote Panel: Hacking KM
8:45 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.
How would you change your process, technologies, and culture to increase organizational performance, effectiveness, innovation, and the bottom line? We asked each of our KM thought leaders this question. Their responses provide tips, strategies, and models for the audience to use to hack KM in their organizations!
Keynote: Search & Big Data Is Evolving— Are You?
9:45 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
The search and Big Data market is rapidly evolving. Enterprises are relying on these tools now more than ever to gain a competitive advantage. Khan talks about these latest developments and cites real-world use cases of how search, Big Data, and analytics applications are playing a vital role in the success of businesses across the globe.
Coffee Break in the Enterprise Solutions Showcase
10:00 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
OPENING KEYNOTE: Have We Reached Peak SharePoint?
10:45 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
With the advent of a somewhat lackluster release in SharePoint 2016 and Redmond’s rapid shift in attention toward Office 365, it’s time to ask: Have we reached the era of “Peak SharePoint”? If not, where is the platform headed, and what does it mean for the investment you’ve already made in your SharePoint estates? On the other hand, if we have indeed reached Peak SharePoint and the platform plays an increasingly smaller role in Microsoft’s approach to the digital enterprise, then how should you, the customer, respond? Join Byrne for a strategic tour of how SharePoint’s footprint in the digital workplace is evolving, including some advice on what you should be thinking about when planning for 2017.
Practical Techniques for Ensuring SharePoint Success
11:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Despite SharePoint’s maturity, organizations continue to struggle with successful implementations. Whether it’s knowing what features to use natively, what to custom-build, or just putting the right project management controls in place, SharePoint projects can be complex. With the introduction of SharePoint 2016 and the ongoing improvements in Office 365, the situation can become more complex. Join a candid conversation with Shawn Shell on ensuring SharePoint project success. During the session, Shell discuss several practical techniques any organization can use to evaluate specific project approaches and manage risk over the course of the engagement.
Attendee Luncheon in the Enterprise Solutions Showcase
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
“We Built It, But Why Won’t They Come?” Practical Advice to Overcome Common User Adoption and Change Hurdles for SharePoint
1:30 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.
One of the biggest struggles with the introduction of new technologies— especially collaboration technologies—is getting people to use them. This presentation is designed to showcase proven examples and strategies to unlock the secrets of user adoption success for SharePoint. Learn what works, what doesn’t work, and how you can build up your toolkit of approaches to address and overcome common adoption challenges.
SharePoint User Experience: Best Practices Used to Inform Better Design
2:30 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.
The relationship between SharePoint and UX has grown as a result of enriched technology advancements, as well as real-life lessons learned and patience. A knowledgeable understanding paired with a balance of both UX design and UI design are needed to create a portal/website platform suited to appropriately meet user and organization needs. Making a great SharePoint site that also embodies a great user experience involves acknowledging and appreciating the fact that technology alone is not the sole path to success.
Coffee Break in the Enterprise Solutions Showcase
3:15 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
KEYNOTE: Stump the SharePoint Guru
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
For those of you unfamiliar with this format, the concept is simple: Bring your toughest, thorniest, most intractable SharePoint conundrum or challenge and a team of experienced SharePoint gurus compete to offer you the best advice in 2 minutes or less. But there’s a twist: We use noise-canceling headphones to make sure the gurus can’t hear the answers the other panelists give. Come and get insightful, likely controversial, and sometimes entertaining answers to your most pressing questions. The person deemed to have stumped the consultants the most will go home with their own noise-canceling headphones!
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Continental Breakfast
8:00 a.m. - 8:45 a.m.
Keynote: Future-Proofing Organizations
8:45 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.
As our world continues to change at a rapid pace and take unexpected turns, our organizations have to be prepared to deal with what’s coming next, even if it is unanticipated. Our popular speaker shares his strategies for future-proofing your organization.
Keynote: Creating the Intelligent Workplace: Think Proficiency, Not Efficiency
9:45 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Hear how to employ intelligent search, analytics and machine learning technology to securely reach all systems, recommend the most relevant information, and even predict what and who will be most helpful—everywhere people work and interact. Using real-world examples, Tetu discusses why proficiency should be the key goal of digital transformation; how to reach the long tail of enterprise knowledge, much beyond SharePoint; when and where to apply intelligent insight technologies for proactive and predictive knowledge sharing; and what best practices and capabilities generate the most results in the intelligent, digital workplace.
Coffee Break
10:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.
SharePoint Health Check
10:15 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Join us for a fast-paced, hands-on session where you can assess your existing SharePoint environment in a series of structured Q&A exercises. Then find out how your situation stacks up against your peers’.
Effective IA Strategies for SharePoint and O365
11:15 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
The way you organize your content can dramatically impact your SharePoint project’s success. In this session, an experienced SharePoint IA consultant reveals real-life tips to improve your SharePoint implementation’s usability.
Attendee Luncheon Keynote - Adoption of SharePoint Technology: Key to Success
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
An intranet is not just a place to put “stuff,” it’s a central hub of the digital workplace. By incorporating the best of collaboration functionality such as Microsoft’s SharePoint, Office 365, Yammer, and other products, an intranet that is dynamic, personalized, relevant, and social, supporting employees in their everyday tasks, can be created. It’s not just a place to view documents and find policies, it’s a platform to connect the vital tools employees use on a day-to-day basis in a single digital experience. BrightStarr client, The Hershey Company, will be telling their success story after implementing a Unily intranet-as-a-service solution, highlighting how it has increased productivity and internal communications.
Spotlight on Solutions
1:00 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.
Top SharePoint solution providers and their customers share successful deployments built on what is arguably the industry’s most versatile platform.
Strategies for Transitioning From SP On-Prem to O365
2:00 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.
With Office 365 constantly releasing new functionality, it is becoming difficult to deny the value Office 365 delivers over your current SharePoint on-prem environment. Whether you are completely transitioning to the cloud or are looking to set up a hybrid environment, attend this session to learn practical strategies for transitioning to Office 365. Join Kanwal Khipple as he explores strategies and how Microsoft and many customers are planning to take advantage of Office 365.
Leveraging SharePoint to Succeed With Your Digital Workplace Strategy
3:00 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
This session will share five ways to get the most out of Share- Point. Wellard shares tips and tricks, lessons learned, and practical applications of tools available out of the box and how her enterprise used SharePoint to build an award-winning intranet. Attendees walk away with a new perspective on SharePoint and how they can use it to accomplish their knowledge management, collaboration, and enterprise search strategies.
7 Deadly Sins of SharePoint
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
This session takes off the gloves and delivers an open discussion of why SharePoint and collaboration projects fail—and how to successfully recover. Better yet, you learn how to set yourself up for success from the start! Join this session if your organization is contemplating a new project leveraging SharePoint, migrating to a new version of SharePoint, or needs to recover from a problematic implementation. You will hear three specific, real-world cases of failed projects—and how those projects were successfully turned around to deliver a successful project with broad user adoption.