With most conferences I attend, I try to submit a presentation proposal hoping that it will pay for part of my attendance costs. And I try to speak on something new when possible just to learn or expand on something that interests me.
Sometimes, I submit a presentation and then submit a “safety” presentation just in case the first one doesn’t get accepted. And sometimes, both get accepted. That’s double the work, but I usually don’t want to have to pick one over the other and so I do both.
This year, I submitted a 1/2-day workshop proposal for “Time Management for the Mac Admin” and then submitted another 1/2-day workshop proposal for “Hands On with the Jamf Pro API” that I’d present with my co-worker Josh. The first one was accepted (yay!) but not the second. Gretchen, one of the conference organizers asked that we re-submit it, though, as two sessions. And that got accepted.
OK, that may have been a bit much, especially since I’m a procrastinator. But they were still both something I wanted to do and didn’t want to have to choose between them. I’m glad I did both and glad they’re both done. Putting together a presentation means a lot of staring at my laptop screen and a lot of staring into space as I’m thinking about what to put on the screen. It’s exhausting and stressful. But I later find it rewarding when everything’s over.
I think now I’ll go read a book. Or just sit and think without looking at my laptop. Or just sit.
Slides and videos (where allowed) from more than 70 presentations and workshops will be posted on the Resources page. You’ll have a few months worth of lunchtimes to fill. 2019’s conference is the same week July 9-12.
Time Management for the Mac Admin
Based loosely on Tom Limoncelli’s 2005 book “Time Management for System Administrators” and more from my own experiences, I take 30 years of life lessons around getting sh*t done and reducing stress and regurgitate it in 2-1/2 hours.
Download PDF | Time Management Scripts | Click below for the Keynote file
Hands On with the Jamf Pro API Part I
Josh and I wanted to give more than just a 10,000-foot overview or “Here’s what the Jamf Pro API can do” presentation. We wanted to give folks the basics for making scripts. Our first presentation focussed almost exclusively on manipulating XML files, which is about 90% of dealing with the API.
Download PDF | Resources | Video | Click below for the Keynote file
Hands On with the Jamf Pro API Part II
The second half of our presentation covers interacting with the Jamf Pro API along with some scripting examples that use many of the commands we covered in Part I.
Download PDF | Resources | Video | Click below for the Keynote file
Remember the Human 