September 2024 Content Wrap-Up

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May be an image of 10 people and textAnother month of online and in-person events, content published, and client meetings. I’ve always said that I prefer a full inbox, and I’m definitely in my happy place as of late. While I’m doing fewer in-person events these days as things are so busy at the home office, I was able to travel to Minneapolis for one of my favorite community events – M365 Twin Cities – where I once again took the stage with Tom Duff (@duffbert) to share 20 of our favorite M365 productivity tips, earning a 5/5 on attendee feedback! Additionally, I was able to support Rencore in Las Vegas for another Power Platform Community Conference (PPCC) and lend my expertise in all things governance and see many friends from the community. Not a fan of the strip, but I always love seeing friends and community members in-person.

As for online activities, aside from the content detailed in the sections below, I helped to organize and moderate a Smarter Consulting panel discussion around the M365 Maturity Model, along with Sharon Weaver (@sharoneweaver), Galen Keene (@sdkeene), and Antares Leask (@antaresleask), I also presented to the Microsoft User Group Utah (#MUGUT) where I shared best practices for content creation using Copilot and other AI tools (not recorded, sorry). I presented a variation of this session to the Boston UG the month prior, and will be presenting again on this topic at ESPC in Stockholm in December.

May be an image of 1 person, baby, hospital and textWhile this was all fun, the real highlight of the month was staying with my daughter while in Minneapolis and hanging out with my grandkids Israel and Lily for a couple of days before flying home. A week later, it was my wife flying out to stay for 2 weeks with my daughter going into labor early, with my newest granddaughter, Olive, born on the 16th. As the photo on the right indicates, I was definitely missing out – but glad my wife was able to be there. That makes 4 grandkids, for those keeping count.

For October, there are no travel plans. My next two in-person events will be TechCon365 Dallas in November, and then ESPC in Stockholm in December, followed by visits to Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and possibly Munich with my son Nicholas. Finalizing flights this weekend.

As for content, here is what was published in the month of September:

The CollabTalk Podcast

The weekly podcast continues to roll forth, with new episodes every Thursday focused on collaboration, AI, and organizational management topics. If you’d like to get a better picture of the series, you can, of course, find all of the blog posts by filtering on ‘Podcast,’ or, if you prefer the other formats, you can check out the series on audio or video.

#MVPMondays

Another weekly activity is the #MVPbuzzChat interview series where I get to know MVPs from around the world, including both brand new to the program and “vintage” community members. Sometimes we talk about the MVP program itself, but mostly we dive into their technology passions, exploring their latest community contributions and new features, products, and solutions that they are most excited to discuss with the community.

  • #MVPbuzzChat 279 with Máté Tóth [blog | YouTube]
  • #MVPbuzzChat 280 with Betim Beja [blog | YouTube]
  • #MVPbuzzChat 281 with Clément Sérafin [blog | YouTube]
  • #MVPbuzzChat 282 with Fabio Bonolo [blog | YouTube]
  • #MVPbuzzChat 283 with Purav Desai [blog | YouTube]

Always Talking About Governance

Between the monthly Guardians show with Ragnar Heil (@ragnarh) and Joy Apple (JoyOfSharePoint) – this month with friend and Head of Collaboration at Dyson, Melinda Morales – I’ve also been contributing to the Smarter Consulting blog with content around governance readiness across M365 and Copilot. Much more coming on this topic later this year…

What CAN Go Wrong in Projects Usually DOES Go Wrong

Sharon and I are just getting started with this weekly series on project management best practices. We cover a wide range of management and cultural issues, sharing many of our own personal stories and guidance on how to mitigate project risks. We are live every Monday morning at 9am Pacific across LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, and X, so please follow me for updates and join us on the next episode!

  • Project Failure Files: Building a Resilient Framework [blog | YouTube]
  • Project Failure Files: The Tool Trap, Part 2 [blog | YouTube]
  • Project Failure Files: The Pitfalls of Over-Regulation [blog | YouTube]
  • Project Failure Files: The Perils of Boiling the Ocean [blog | YouTube]

Content Strategy

Still plugging away on the book, with one more entry this past month — and plans for the next episode of the CollabTalk Podcast.

  • Content Strategy: Creating a Simple Nurturing Campaign [blog]

May be an image of 1 person, baby and smilingQuestions from the M365 Community

In September, I published 10 more community questions with answers from the expert panel. If you’re new to the #M365AMA series (btw, I now have stickers!) these are NOT detailed walkthroughs of how to resolve these issues, though we sometimes do outline the steps. The point of these videos is to discuss the reasons why people may experience the problem as defined, and deconstruct the problem to discuss several ways that people might have this issue. Within the blog post (and YouTube description) we do try to provide links to relevant conversations or posts that walk the user through the problem and resolution. With our plans to launch a standalone website for the series, we are going to start providing walkthroughs, so keep watching this space for updates!

  • Can I ditch our MSP and go directly to Microsoft? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
  • Does Planner allow me to embed a plan into a different Team? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
  • Can one profile enter a Teams Meeting on two devices? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
  • How can external clients upload files to MS Forms? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
  • Does the new SP List Form button allow Edit Item? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
  • What file type violated the transport rule in Exchange? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
  • Why did Microsoft change the way links open in Teams? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
  • Why do Teams Meeting invites only go to guest users? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
  • How do I recover Admin access without access to the Admin email #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]
  • Can I remove chat history for one person in a group chat? #M365AMA [blog | YouTube]

Blue Plate Special

Four more music posts this past month, published every Saturday.

  • Blue Plate Special: Spoon [blog]
  • Blue Plate Special: The Bolshoi [blog]
  • Blue Plate Special: South [blog]
  • Excellent Cocteau Twins Covers [blog]

Blatant Self-Promotion

Only one blatant self-promotion this past month, just like the one you’re reading THIS month. Enjoy.

  • August 2024 Content Wrap-Up [blog]
  • Completed certificate program for Generative AI Leadership & Strategy from Vanderbilt University [Coursera]

And that’s it for this wrap-up. I’m already in the thick of things with content plans and client projects for October, and also preparing for my workshop + 5 sessions for events in November and December. Lots to do, not enough hours in the day. But I should also point out that I have now been blogging daily for 3 years and 1 month. The self-flogging will continue until morale improves…

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Christian Buckley

Christian is a Microsoft Regional Director and M365 Apps & Services MVP, and an award-winning product marketer and technology evangelist, based in Silicon Slopes (Lehi), Utah. He is a startup advisor and investor, and an independent consultant providing fractional marketing and channel development services for Microsoft partners. He hosts the weekly #CollabTalk Podcast, weekly #ProjectFailureFiles series, monthly Guardians of M365 Governance (#GoM365gov) series, and the Microsoft 365 Ask-Me-Anything (#M365AMA) series.