For Episode 71 of the CollabTalk Podcast, the conversation focused on community news and event calendar, and then explored the new free version of Microsoft Teams (Communities in Teams) and the future impact of Microsoft investments in ChatGPT and Open AI. This is a continuation of a monthly feature on the podcast (with Christian Buckley and Sean McDonough) where we’ll cover the latest product announcements, major Message Center updates that you need to know about, and community news from around the world. You can listen to the podcast above and follow me using your favorite app, such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or the iHeartRadio app. Be sure to subscribe!

For Episode 62 of the CollabTalk Podcast, the conversation focused on announcements and interesting new technology features shown during Microsoft Ignite 2022, and other community news. This is a continuation of a monthly feature on the podcast with Geoff (along with Sean McDonough) where we’ll cover the latest product announcements, major Message Center updates that you need to know about, and community news from around the world. You can listen to the podcast above and follow me using your favorite app, such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or the iHeartRadio app. Be sure to subscribe!

“On a monthly basis, I will be joined by MVP Sean McDonough (@spmcdonough) and Geoff Varosky (@gvaro) to talk about the various Microsoft announcements, Message Center updates, community events and news, and the occasional pop culture story…whether or not it is relevant to whatever we’re discussing. I always enjoy hanging out with these two and cracking jokes, making this a fun and informative segment each month.“

See below for Christian’s post for more information, where to get it, and more. Also, be sure to check out his blog.

But I hope to change that going forward. Within the past two years I have started up a YoueTube channel for some of my many hobbies (woodworking, metalworking, leatherworking, and just about ever other maker-thing you can think of, and some you have not) here at The New Janky Workshop. So, check that out (and subscribe!) if you’re into that sort of thing!

With that personal endeavour, I’ve also REALLY gotten into video editing and publishing (because yes, I need MOAR hobbies). So, I am going to try to semi-regularly post to my new channel, for things Microsoft, SharePointy, and other M365 topics (and also Azure, PowerShell, and other goodness). So, if you’re interested in that stuff (which, by the sake of you being on this post at all, likely means that you are). Please check it out: The SharePoint Yankee (and also subscribe there too!).

It’s brand new (so new, in fact, I just posted a quick short video today on it as my first one…). So, follow along, leave comments there or here on how you like the videos, what you’d like to see, and more, and I’ll get cracking on it.

Cheers!

Resize your images to 1980 x 1020 and drop them into:

%AppData%\Roaming\Microsoft\Teams\Backgrounds\Uploads

The great thing about all of this is, Star Wars released official backgrounds just for video conferencing this past week! Now, go grab a few, and follow along below.

Then, in your video settings for the meeting, click the ellipses on the control bar in teams, and select Show background effects

Then select one of your newly acquired Star Wars backgrounds, and hit Apply.

So now, you can unleash the power of the dark side in your teams meetings

In my previous post (and subsequent presentations on the subject of Azure Runbooks), I often gloss over the use of an Azure Run As Account, as for the purposes of those presentations, this was not required. Azure Run As Accounts provide a means for authentication in Azure, so that your Azure Runbooks can manage Azure resources. Otherwise, you would need to authenticate to Azure in your Runbook scripts as you would from your own computer remotely. For more in-depth information, here’s a link to the documentation on it.

To create an Azure Run As Account in an existing Azure Automation account, perform the following actions.

First, go into your Automation Account

Then, scroll down to Account Settings, and choose Run as accounts

Then click on Create under Azure Run As Account (not the Classic one… unless you need a classic run as account)

Then click on Create, and Azure will handle the rest…

Then, in your code, you can easily authenticate to Azure using the following code in your scripts:

#region ConnectToAzure
try {
    $ServicePrincipalConnection=Get-AutomationConnection -Name "AzureRunAsConnection"

    "Logging in to Azure…"
    $AzureRmAccount = Add-AzureRmAccount `
         -ServicePrincipal `
        -TenantId $ServicePrincipalConnection.TenantId `
        -ApplicationId $ServicePrincipalConnection.ApplicationId `
        -CertificateThumbprint $ServicePrincipalConnection.CertificateThumbprint
} catch {
    if (!$ServicePrincipalConnection)
    {
        $ErrorMessage = "Connection $connectionName not found."
        throw $ErrorMessage
    } else{
        Write-Error -Message $_.Exception
         throw $_.Exception
    }
}
#endregion ConnectToAzure

I am pleased to announce I will be speaking at SharePoint Saturday San Juan on November 3rd.

Register today at http://www.spsevents.org/city/sanjuan/sanjuan2018

The Microsoft Office 365 and Cloud community invites you to the second 365 & SharePoint office on Saturday to be held in San Juan.

It is a totally free event in which you will find technical and development sessions focused on Microsoft Collaboration tools such as SharePoint, Office 365, Integration with Azure, Power Apps, Flow, Project, Planner, OneDrive, Delve, SharePoint Framework, Power BI, Dynamics CRM, Blockchain among others. We will have the company of MVPs and specialized technical leaders in each of the different types of talks.

I will be presenting Using Azure Runbooks and Microsoft Flow to Automate SharePoint Tasks

Session Abstract

Runbooks are a feature of Azure Automation that allow you to execute workflows from within Azure or remotely to automate processes. Microsoft Flow allows you to attach to certain activities in SharePoint and across other platforms, to perform a task when a certain condition is met. In this session, you will learn how to link SharePoint Online, Microsoft Flow, and Azure Runbooks in order to execute scripts automatically against your SharePoint tenant, or really, perform or automate any task.

Hope to see you there!

I am pleased to announce I will be speaking at SharePoint Saturday New England. Taking place on Saturday, October 20th, at the Microsoft office in Burlington, MA.

Register today at https://spsnewengland.org/

Carrying on the great tradition of SharePoint Saturday started by Michael Lotter, Susan Lennon, and Kevin Israel on January 10th, 2009 in Virginia Beach, we hope to welcome you to SharePoint Saturday New England.

Join New England area SharePoint architects, developers, and information workers for SharePoint Saturday: an educational, informative and lively day filled with sessions from other SharePoint professionals, MVPs, and Microsoft employees. SharePoint Saturday is FREE, open to the public and is your chance to immerse yourself in SharePoint right here in New England!

I will be presenting Using Azure Runbooks and Microsoft Flow to Automate SharePoint Tasks

Session Abstract

Runbooks are a feature of Azure Automation that allow you to execute workflows from within Azure or remotely to automate processes. Microsoft Flow allows you to attach to certain activities in SharePoint and across other platforms, to perform a task when a certain condition is met. In this session, you will learn how to link SharePoint Online, Microsoft Flow, and Azure Runbooks in order to execute scripts automatically against your SharePoint tenant, or really, perform or automate any task.

Hope to see you there!