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This past weekend I had the privilege of attending my first SharePoint Saturday near our nations capital and it did not disappoint.  When I was younger my class was not able to attend the normal Washington D.C. trip as most others have due to a terrorist threat.  At the time it was disappointing but one of those things that you get over and move on.  However, through the years it has been one of those haunting things in my head as I travel here and there and everywhere but still never to our nations capital.  Well now I can say “mission accomplished” and I owe it all to the amazing team that put together the amazing SPS Chevy Chase event in more ways than one so I thank you!!

The event was held at the Microsoft building in Chevy Chase and I had the pleasure of introducing my 8 year old niece Cynthia to SharePoint and the SharePoint Community.  She hears me and her mother talk about SharePoint all the time and has become quite curious.  So curious and interested that one evening she made the comment to my sister-in-law Staci “Mom I’m ready” and when asked ready for what she stated “Ready to do what you do”.  Ever since I get random questions and I can just see the wheels spinning in that beautiful head of hers.  Cynthia’s very first introduction was kicked off by attending Seb Matthews session on SQL server.  She was pretty attentive throughout the session until the very end and asked great questions.  I have to say I was very proud :).  Cynthia also thinks Seb is amazing and love talking to him and being goofy because he makes her giggle.  Lord Seb what have you done?  🙂  Big thank you to my brother Travis for allowing Staci and Cynthia to join me on this trip as it was some quality time I really needed.

My session was amazing!!  I had a nice size crowd full of individuals eager to learn as much as possible about User Adoption.  How can you blame them!  User adoption is the key to all projects as it is something that can be measured to determine if your project was a success and in what areas it was most and least successful.  Knowing is half the battle right?  Now that I have armed my attendees with guidance and some cool tips to increase user adoption they are ready to breathe life into some SharePoint projects!!  Below you will find a link to the presentation and if you have any questions please feel free to reach out.

Link to Presentation:  BuildItandTheyWillCome_SharePoint2013

I also wan to give a BIG shout out to Fabian Williams for doing what most speakers would call unthinkable and out right crazy!  Fabian was able to present at 2 SharePoint Saturday events in 1 day without having to cross zones to do it.  He started his day at SharePoint Saturday Boston and finished up at SharePoint Saturday Chevy Chase.  Both presentations were top notch as always and we all were pretty impressed with his feat.  It was an amazing example of  with proper planning and dedication anything can be achieved.  Kudos to you Fabian!

Again great job SPS Chevy Chase team I had an amazing time and I can’t wait to come back next year!