shawnt's WebLog

Top Microsoft AD Experts online today! (12/17)

2004-12-17T10:35:00Z

We've got several top Microsoft Active Directory Experts online today to help answer your questions about AD in Windows Server 2000 and Windows Server 2003. The experts experience ranges from Product Support (troubleshooting) to Program Managers (product direction) to technology specialists (best practices).

Two LIVE chats will available today, Friday, Dec. 17th, from 9:30-10:30am Pacific Time and 2:30-3:30pm Pacific Time.

To join, simply follow this link during either of the times listed above: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/chats/chatroom.aspx. You may need to log in to your .Net Passport.

See you there!

Active Directory Experts online Friday, 10/29 at 9:30am PST!

2004-10-28T08:16:00Z

Talk with Active Directory Experts Mike Brannigan, Eric Burke, Caroline Johnston, and Chris Avis this Friday October 29th at 9:30am PST! If you have troubleshooting, installation, or administration questions about Windows 2000 or 2003 Active Directory, you won't want to miss this great opportunity to talk with some of the top Product Support Specialists at Microsoft! No need to register, but only the first 150 will be allowed to enter the chat room. To add this chat to your Outlook calendar and get more information, check out http://www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/default.mspx#04_AD_TN_ROMR_Oct29 . Look for the chat entitled, "Active Directory Inside Out (3 of 10): AD Replication and the Operations Master Role". See you there!

Active Directory chat this Friday.

2004-10-19T09:29:00Z

The top AD Product Support Specialists from Microsoft will be available for questions on a live chat this Friday, October 22nd at 9:30am PST (12:30pm Eastern). Join Stephanie Doakes, Kapil Mehra, Jason Opdycke, and others in a deep technical Q&A. If you have ongoing issues or lingering questions about your Active Directory installation, this will be a great chance to get them answered. An hour of your time could save an expensive support call and days of frustration. I worked hard to put together a good balanced panel of experts for this chat, so I encourage you to bring your tough questions on Active Directory in WS2000 and WS2003. For more details or to add this chat to your Outlook calendar, check out http://www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/default.mspx. Look for the chat entitled, "Active Directory Inside Out (2 of 10): Physical Concepts" near the top of the page.

(BTW, as a bonus, there is a corresponding streaming webcast for this chat. If you are less familiar with Active Directory, you may want to watch it ahead of time to build your list of questions. The webcast can be found at Active Directory Inside Out (Part 2 of 11)—Active Directory Physical Concepts—Level 200).

See you there!

FREE training on Microsoft products delivered by Microsoft!

2004-10-08T22:34:00Z

If cost-cutting is preventing you from getting the IT training you need to advance your career, you really should think about attending one of the many FREE Microsoft events: webcasts, chats, and TechNet Briefings. You can find at least one of these events going on every single day at http://www.microsoft.com/community. I personally deliver Live TechNet Briefings across the Central Plains of the United States. In fact, if you've been to an event in St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Indianapolis, Des Moines, Bloomington, Lincoln, Omaha, Memphis, Nashville, Rockford, South Bend, or Joplin recently, you've probably seen me. In addition, I also deliver a number of those live webcasts and chats at Microsoft. Check out http://www.microsoft.com/communities/webcasts/default.mspx to see all the upcoming webcasts, and you can also check out the on-demand webcasts we've done in the recent past. The archived webcasts link from that page will take you back even further to view webcasts we've done over 6 months ago.

But, my pride and joy is chats...this is a program I am working hard to help improve. We have tens of chats coming up where you can talk with real, live Microsoft employees, as well as other customers who might be having similar issues or questions. It's a great way to get quick responses to your most vital questions, especially if you are tired of waiting around for newsgroups to respond. You need to go to http://www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/default.mspx now and join one of the live chat rooms. Now, you may not see a lot of activity until the next chat starts up, but you can still hang out and ask questions if there are peer-to-peer discussions going on. The chat rooms are live 24 hours a day! When a chat moderated chat begins, you'll see a lot of activity and additional people entering the room - people like me! And, when I schedule chats, I try to make sure there are people there from Products Support to ensure you get your troubleshooting questions answered. Hey, what's this? Free Microsoft Support? Yep, other than the fact that we don't stay with you through the resolution of the issue, it pretty much is. You've still gotta pay for that one-on-one full resolution support, but let's face it, us IT Pros don't usually need that. Sometimes, all we want is to talk to that PSS guy who knows where that darn check box is that will solve all our problems. I also frequently invite Program Managers, Technical Writers, and Developers to attend. So, you can get all kinds of questions answered by the experts who know the product best...the experts at Microsoft. Here's a direct link to the next Chat I will be delivering on October 15th, 2004... http://www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/default.mspx#04_AD_TN_LC_Oct15 (This link should put the Active Directory Inside Out (Part 1 of 10) chat right at the top of your page. Click "Add to Calendar" to add it to your Outlook calendar, or click "Enter Chat Room" to enter the TechNet room and check out who's in there right now.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, if you are in any of the Central Plains states (Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Tenessee, Iowa) of the United States and are looking for a Microsoft Presenter for your user group, I'm your man! I've delivered hundreds of presentations on products ranging from Windows 2000/2003 Server, WindowsXP, ISA Server, Exchange, SQL Server, Live Communications Server, Live Meeting, Wireless Security, IIS, Office...the list goes on and on. My specialty, however, is security. PLEASE, PLEASE do not hesitate to contact me at shawnt@microsoft.com to help out with User Groups. I'll also help you start a User Group, provide giveaways, and sometimes even help fund user group activities. Yes! I have $$$! :)

Thanks and until my next entry...
Shawn Travers, MCSE, MCSA, CISSP, CISA
TechNet Presenter
Microsoft Corporation
shawnt@microsoft.com