Not only did I get to start the day with the first time slot, I got to end it with the last one. This session, though, took place in one of the largest individual rooms being used for the various sessions (and yet it was just a part of the vast ballroom that was the site of the various all-hands sessions, including the closing Q&A session). It's intimidating to walk into a room and see not just two screens, but three or four. I was even more intimidated as the attendees starting pouring in. It was a very good-sized crowd, and the people were pretty responsive; I'd been afraid that having the only session after lunch would hurt me.
I want to thank the wonderful audience for this session; they were very responsive to my initial chatter and lent a great deal of energy to me, so I felt that I was able to finish the day with a strong talk and a solid, entertaining performance. My wife has pointed out that I assume a separate persona when I do presentations, a fact that I attribute to my years of theater in high school. As nervous as I was about the large crowd, having that many people definitely helped me focus. I didn't once feel my aching feet, even though I was pacing back and forth during pretty much the entire session.
I got a lot of good questions, and I hope that everyone who didn't get an immediate answer will follow through on emailing me to remind me!
Shoutout to Tom Shinder, who not only sat in on my Sender ID session on Wednesday, but came to this session as well. Thank you for the support; it was deeply appreciated. Also thanks to the Symantec and Mimosa reps who took time to attend the session and introduce themselves to any attendees who wanted to find out more about their archival and PST managemetn solutions.
I want to specially thank Exchange MVP Ed Crowley; his oft-repeated mantra of "There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems" proved to be the core inspiration for this session. Getting rid of PSTs is hard because users see them as useful tools to get their work done. If we want them to cooperate with us, we have to give them a better way to get their work done. Thus was born Devin's Theory of PST Removal:
Any successful attempt to remove PSTs will require the deployment of an email archival solution.
Here is the final version of the slide deck: Getting Rid of PSTs (Powerpoint 2003 format).