Tech Talk Live! 2011 was a great success. Districts from all over Pennsylvania attended the two-day conference on April 26 & 27, 2011, at The Conference and Training Center at IU 13. Greg Schwem, corporate comedian, delivered a laugh-out-loud keynote presentation “Comedy with a Byte.” Sessions like "Preparing Your School for Student-Owned Mobile Devices," "Active Directory-Best Practices," and "Desktop Virtualization" were among some of the high-quality, informative presentations scheduled during the conference. Roundtable discussions were the perfect conclusion to each day.

This year we added dinner at the Cork & Cap Restaurant, and it was a great time for all. Districts had the opportunity to network while enjoying a delicious dinner and fun entertainment, which included gaming stations and The Game Truck.

Click here to watch Keynote Presentation "Comedy with a Byte".

Here are some of the things that our attendees had to say about the conference: “I usually feel a conference is successful if 50% of the sessions I attend meet my expectations. Tech Talk Live! blows the 50% away.” --Vince Humes, Director of Technology Solutions and Services, Northwest Tri-County Intermediate Unit “Comedy, Colleagues, Computers, and Crab cakes, the recipe for a successful conference.” --John Bear, Director of Technology, Donegal School District “Big conference sessions and small conference prices.” --Stephen Corcoran, Director of Technology, Tulpehocken Area School District "I enjoyed hearing about other districts and how they deploy technology. I always pick up new information every year that benefits me. I really like talking to other technology experts to find out how they solved problems." --Scott Stoltzfoos, Technology Sepcialist, Eastern Lebanon County School District “I enjoy the roundtable discussions and the sessions. You have once again succeeded in having a great keynote speaker. The troubleshooting games were also a great idea.” --Sue Stiffler, Technology Specialist, Cocalico School District

2011 Tech Talk Live! Conference Schedule

• Systems Administration Sessions
• Network Administration Sessions
• Desktop Support Sessions
• Technology Leadership Sessions
• Applications Development & Support Sessions
• Round Table Discussions

***Sessions are updated on an ongoing basis! Please check back frequently for updates.***

Active Directory Best Practices - Lessons Learned
Presenter: Mike Shellenberger, IU 13

Are you getting the most out of your Active Directory deployment? Unfortunately, many organizations roll out Active Directory and never have the time or resources to revisit what needs to be done to secure and manage the directory service in an enterprise environment. Learn best practices for:

• Role-Based Management
• Group Management
• Delegating Systems Administration (Yes, you can give up control!)
• Computer Management
• User Accounts
• Schema Updates
• Site Topology

Along the way we will explore tips and tricks to save you time in your daily management duties within Active Directory.

Preparing Your School for Student-Owned Mobile Devices
Presenter: Mike Graham, Hempfield School District

In the fall of 2010, Hempfield High School began allowing students to bring their own personal electronic devices to school and use these devices during the school day. Personal electronic devices is a broad category, including cell phones, laptops, and other Internet-enabled devices. During this presentation we will review the steps we took to prepare Hempfield High School for this implementation. We will cover network configurations and security precautions, policies that were written or modified, and staff and student education and communication efforts. After reviewing our implementation, we will have time at the end for a question-and-answer as well as best-practice discussion with the audience.

Shared Storage Options (iSCSI vs. Fibre Channel)
Presenter: Brian Steigauf, IU 13

Shared storage is now becoming part of many educational IT environments. The flexibility and redundancy of most shared storage environments, along with falling prices, are much more attractive than direct attached storage. Now the decision needs to be made for a storage solution -- do you go with Fibre Channel or iSCSI? The decision may seem to be easy, but there are pros and cons to each technology. Learn some of the pitfalls the sales guys do not want to tell you about the technologies from an end user of both technologies.

Monitor, Manage, and Maintain Your Server Infrastructure with Microsoft System Center Operations Manager
Presenter: Mike Shellenberger, IU 13

Do you know what's happening on your servers every day? Unless you peruse the event viewer logs on every server on a daily basis, chances are you may be missing critical warning and error messages that could lead to downtime in the future. Learn how to leverage Microsoft System Center Operations Manager to provide you with critical information on the status of your servers and applications from one easy-to-use console. We will cover items such as:

• SCOM Deployment/Installation
• Management Packs (Microsoft, Third-party, and authoring your own)
• Alerting
• Performance Monitoring
• Reporting
• Executive Dashboards
• Automated Recoveries & Tasks

Deploying iPad and iOS in Education
Presenter: Steve Zalot, Apple Inc.; James Garringer, Apple Inc.

With new and exciting mobile education technology like iPad coming to school, comes a need to have tools to setup, configure, and deploy these devices. Take a look at the latest management and configuration tools to make iOS devices such as iPad and iPod Touch come to life in your digital learning environment. You'll see some of the best ways to make deployments from small to large work in your technology plan using simple, modern tools that can make your institution digitally competitive!

Infrastructure in Support of the Digital Learning Environment
Presenter: James Garringer, Apple Inc. 

Learn about the infrastructure technologies and refinements within Mac OS X Server and how they directly support 21st century classroom skills. The academic value of services such as Wiki and Blog, iCal, eMail will be discussed. Realize the lower cost in deployment with services like Software Update, System Imaging Utility, and Virtualization on your network, and how they can positively affect the classroom.

Firming Up Your Image: Using GPO, Registry, and App Locker
Presenter: Dr. David Zerbe, Pocono Mountain School District

Through the use of Group Policies Objects, Registry Changes, and the use of App Locker, participants will be provided with insights and knowledge of how to implement a low-cost, high-security computer image model that not only functions, but supports your district's Acceptable Use Policy and helps reduce your exposure to a data breach or a hack from the inside.  Participants will be presented with the comprehensive steps required to implement the deployment of Microsoft Windows 7 computer image in a Microsoft 2008 domain structure. Additionaly, users will be provided insights on how to get applications that require administrative rights to run (CAD) without requiring users to be power users or administrators of their local computer. 

One Computer, Many Users
Presenter: Carl Kishel, Microsoft

The newest version of Windows MultiPoint Server, 2011, is a cost-effective solution that was designed to help make learning more motivating, relevant, collaborative, and engaging. Give each student a personal computing experience, manage student accounts, and easily share files, videos, and more with MultiPoint Server. This is a great alternative if your district cannot sustain a computer for every student in these challenging economic times.

Office 2010 Tips & Tricks
Presenter: New Horizons Computer Learning Centers

To date, over two million people have downloaded Office 2010, according to Microsoft. The feedback has been encouraging.  Office 2010 is stable, fast, and packed with productivity-enhancing innovations. The only question that remains is whether those innovations are enough to make you want to upgrade. Come get a preview of this product to see if it will benefit your organization. This seminar will show users the best tips and tricks for using Office 2010.

Best Practices for Mac Imaging and Management
Presenter: Tim McCleary, Cheltenham Township School District

This session will review the process used by Cheltenham, starting from unboxing a new Mac to deploying it. Specific topics that will be covered include:

1. Setting up a Mac to be used as a master image, including setting default preferences, and using a build checklist to ensure that each master image is set up consistently. 
2. Configuring a Mac OS X server for NetBoot services. 
3. Installing and configuring DeployStudio for imaging and setting up a NetBoot image to boot Macs into the DeployStudio environment.
4. Booting and imaging Macs with DeployStudio.
5. Binding Macs to Open Directory and Active Directory (Golden Triangle).
6. Managing preferences and locking down applications using Workgroup Manager. 

Systems Management Tools for a Modern IT Shop
Presenter: John DeTroye, Apple Inc.

Keeping up with the growth of so many new tools and devices is a big challenge to IT shops. This session will cover the key systems management tools for managing and supporting school-owned systems, to include Macs, IOS devices, and PCs.  The focus is on solutions that are designed with education's needs, as well as their constraints, in mind. Learn what tools will provide the best ways to track, manage, audit, and deploy all of the varied systems we have to deal with in this 21st century learning environment.

iLife '11 - Digital Multimedia for Education!
Presenter: Dave Marra, Apple Inc.

Rediscover creative new ways to work with digital photos, movies, music, and more with iLife! The brand new iLife '11 suite features exciting new updates to iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand, along with iDVD and iWeb, all with features specifically designed for education. In the classroom, over the Internet, or as part of a dynamic presentation or podcast, iLife offers today's students exciting new digital multimedia content creation tools that are powerful, fun, and easy to use. Explore iLife '11 today! 

Computers & Mobile Devices on the Move: Securing Your Classroom's Mobile Future 
Presenter: Absolute Software

The increased use of laptops, iPads, and mobile phones in the classroom brings new challenges and concerns, especially for school administrators and IT personnel. Laptop theft, data security, unauthorized software installations, and computer drift, as well as management of both PCs and Macs on the same network, are some of the most common problems faced by IT and district administrators. With the Enterprise Desktop Alliance predicting that 40% of schools will be using Mac computers by the year 2011, schools will be further challenged to manage all their mobile assets efficiently.

During this presentation, attendees will learn best practices for safeguarding and securing computers and the information stored on them, as well as how to manage all their assets across a system, regardless of operating system - saving IT staff and associated administrators' valuable resources, time, and money.  

You Virtualized Your Servers - Should You Virtualize Your Desktops? Is Desktop Virtualization Right for Education and Why Is It Such a Hot Technology?
Presenter: Lester Stoltzfus, Lampeter-Strasburg School District

Desktop virtualization separates a personal computer desktop environment from a physical machine using a client-server model of computing. This model allows the use of any capable device, such as a traditional personal computer, notebook computer, smartphone, or thin client, to let multiple network subscribers maintain individualized desktops on a single, centrally located computer or server. Desktop virtualization is the most significant technology ever, but how does it apply in the Local Education Agency environment? This session will explore this question with discussions on both server and desktop virtualization including:

• Why is virtualization so important?
• What does virtualization mean?
• Benefits and risks of virtualization.
• What should you know before you decide to virtualize at your LEA?
• What virtualization options and choices are available?
• The major components of the virtualization environment.  

Microsoft Live@EDU
Presenter: Michael Icore, Microsoft

Preparing Students for the Future Microsoft understands your need to provide students with great communication and collaboration experiences while saving time and money. Live@edu delivers all of this and more while training students on the same software on which employers depend. Provide enterprise-class tools and lower costs: Provide a co-branded hosted Exchange solution at no cost with Outlook Live (10GB inbox/user). Help to keep students’ data private and promote online safety. Excite students with 25GB of free online storage on Windows Live SkyDrive. Simplify online collaboration and document sharing. Give your university a reliable and easy-to-manage solution with enhanced security. Prepare students for their future with the skills employers expect. Teach software skills employers are looking for: Microsoft Office Outlook is the world's leading business e-mail software. Microsoft Live@edu includes access to Office Web Applications built with the same Office interface used by more than 500 million users worldwide. While students are communicating with peers, writing reports, analyzing data, and preparing presentations, they are mastering the tools that will give them a competitive edge as they enter the job market.