August 2023 Content Wrap-Up

This past month is a great example of why I create these monthly summary blog posts — I have been so busy with work and travel and writing that I was thinking my trip to the Digital Workplace Conference in Melbourne was more than a month ago, not at the beginning of August. My how time flies. From talking about Microsoft Viva in Australia to collaborating with a partner on M365 cost efficiencies to talking governance at our booth in Seattle at the 365 EduCon event. It was all a blur…with more on the way.

While in Melbourne, I was able to also participate in two other community gatherings: first was a gathering of speakers and community members hosted by Cai Kjaer and the SWOOP Analytics team where I met up with long-time friends Steve Knutsen, Kirsty McGrath, John Liu, Darrell Webster, and James Milne. Kirsty and I also slipped away from the event festivities for a couple hours to meet up with Dr. Greg Low and other local MVPs, which is always fun to do when traveling.

Another highlight of the trip was sitting on a panel with moderator Steve Knutsen and the always-overly-dramatic-but-technically-astute Loryan Strant to share our thoughts on governance. I think the photo to the right about summs up the experience.

Toward the end of the month, I was joined by Ragnar Heil in Seattle for another 365 EduCon event where we spent 2 days in the Rencore booth talking to people about…you guessed it, governance! Always great to see so many friends and meet new people at events like these. Looking forward to EduCon Chicago in October, and am planning to also attend events in Amsterdam, Orlando, Minneapolis, Boston, and I think in Knoxville, TN. Hope to finalize travels this week and then focus again on monthly webinars, live streams, and more AMA recordings.

Until then, here’s what I produced this past month:

Blatant Self-Promotion

I usually leave this section until the end, but given the major milestone, I figured I’d add it to the top of this month’s post.

• 730 Posts in 730 Days [blog]
• July 2023 Content Wrap-Up [blog]
• Top 50 B2B Thought Leaders & Influencers You Should Work With In 2023 (North America) [Thinkers360]

Focusing on Business Alignment with Microsoft

Between the Rencore webinar on M365 cost optimization with Ryan Wilson (IN) from our German and Australian partner Pack of 7, and my continuing series on measuring M365 productivity, August was a big month for business content. I have one more article forthcoming in that series and other channel content in September.

• Webinar: Microsoft 365 Cost Optimization: Drive Savings and Enhance Productivity [Rencore]
• A Partner Guide to Optimizing M365 License and Storage Costs [blog]
• What Are the Data Requirements for Copilot? [blog]
• Aligning to Microsoft Sales Metrics [blog]
• Understanding Microsoft Cloud Services & Security [blog | whitepaper download]
• Internal Comms and Microsoft Viva in Melbourne [blog]
• 5 Ways to Track and Measure Productivity in Microsoft 365 [Rencore]
• Measuring Productivity: PowerShell & Power BI [blog]
• Measuring Productivity: Viva Insights [blog]
• Measuring Productivity: Microsoft Copilot [blog]
• Measuring Productivity: Rencore Governance [blog]

Community Interviews

While I’ll continue publishing weekly MVP interviews, there are some changes coming soon to my blog. I’m swapping days for the #MVPbuzzChat interviews, moving them from Monday to Friday, and moving the #CollabTalk Podcasts to Mondays. I had planned to tie this change to a website design upgrade, but we’ll see what happens with the editorial calendar…

• #MVPbuzzChat with Keith Atherton [blog | YouTube | podcast]
• #MVPbuzzChat with Dustin Willard [blog | YouTube | podcast]
• #MVPbuzzChat with Angelo Gulisano [blog | YouTube | podcast]
• #MVPbuzzChat with Cat Schneider [blog | YouTube | podcast]
• CollabTalk Podcast | Episode 89 with Sam Torres [blog | podcast]
• CollabTalk Podcast | Episode 90 with Norm Young [blog | podcast]
• CollabTalk Podcast | Episode 91 with Sean McDonough and Geoff Varosky [blog | podcast]

Ask Me Anything

We added a lucky 13 more community questions to the #M365AMA series, with more recorded and new recordings being scheduled for September. With a heavy October and November travel schedule, we’re going to try and pre-load episodes for the site going into the fall. We’ve also been talking about starting up the 60 or 90-minute live streams once again because they are a lot of fun. Watch for updates!

• Do companies still need a standalone Intranet? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
• When will we be able to test Copilot in M365/D365? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
• What is the difference between Viva Pulse and Glint? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
• Can I use Bookings to create a meeting room scheduler? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
• What are the best practices for setting up a standalone server? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
• Can I change the address of my M365 environment? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
• How often should I backup my M365 environment? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
• What is the best way to share my calendar outside of my organization? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
• Why am I unable to have a customer take over my screen? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
• Can I create a flow that converts Excel files from .XLSM to .XLSX? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
• How do I create an Office 365 calendar for room bookings? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
• Can I view public folder or shared contacts in the new Outlook? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
• How do I convert AD Connect users/groups to cloud in O365? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]

And that’s it for August. I had planned to include a couple of music posts, but never got around to finishing them. I have drafts for Power Station and The Smiths in the queue for those who enjoy these posts. Lots more being planned for September and beyond, so please be sure to keep watching this space!