Wow, it has been awhile since I posted on my blog. This is an update on the past, the present and the future. Thanks to everyone for your support, comments and care.
2009 was a challenging year for me and I went through several personal changes and challenges. I stayed super busy between being a Mom and helping to run a business. Any leftover time I came across I generally used to catch up on sleep! Many people reached out to me to see if I was OK and sent me very caring sentiments and just really nice comments. I appreciate that and it means a great deal to me. Thanks for being such a cool and tight-knit community!
Moving forward I will be posting about SharePoint 2010, and I am excited to do so in a completely new space! This blog has served me well, but honestly, it’s dated. My blog is also running on an older version of SubText and I don’t have the time and resources to properly upgrade and maintain the blog itself. Very soon I will be moving to Word Press (don’t get me wrong, SubText is great!) AND changing URLs. Fresh year, fresh product, fresh blog! All of my existing posts will stay intact and I will definitely keep my CSS chart and base master pages posted for your use. In addition to SharePoint, I am going to focus on CSS as well. Now more than ever it is important to know CSS to successfully brand SharePoint.
I am currently writing a new SharePoint Branding Bootcamp for 2010 course and the first delivery will be in Anaheim, March 29 – April 2nd. A lot of people ask me about writing a book. My class is my book. The cool and different thing about it though is that my course is living and continually growing. Every new thing I come across, every trick I create and new even brand new content is constantly being added to my course materials. And as Bootcamp alumi, you will get all of those updates moving forward. Paperback books can’t deliver new materials to your inbox ;-).
This year I am also going to be supporting the new Virtual SharePoint User Group. I have kids. I work. I have a house to keep up. I don’t have the energy to go to a user group meeting every month, especially in the evenings when my kiddos are home. How many of you feel like me?
Matt Passannante is heading up a new solution that will provide presentations, forums and a lot of great resources to our growing virtual community. The Virtual SharePoint User Group will function a lot like user groups located in cities, except it will offer more resources and doesn’t require chugging through rush hour traffic! Plus it is available to anyone, regardless of geographic location.
One last thing… you gotta check out our new site! Dustin Miller and I collaborated on creating a new SharePoint Bootcamp site that uses WordPress as a content management solution (what, no SharePoint? Yes… we don’t use SharePoint for the sake of using it. I believe in honest assessment of which tool is the best for your needs). The design and CMS system is one thing, but the bigger thing is the ease of access to information. Subscribe to our RSS feed or iCal for the course schedule, and check out our courses by track, product and audience.
One last, last thing… I am on Twitter now. @speheather Thanks to everyone out there who bugged me about it. ;-)