Sessions Chairs
 Shelley Watson, Wheelwrights LLCSince 1997, Shelley has run her own Apple consulting firm. Currently she is the Managing Partner at Wheelwrights, an Apple-focused technology consulting company. Shelley has worked on curriculum development teams for Apple, been an Apple Certified Trainer, and is an Apple Certified Technical Coordinator for 10.7. She is a long time member of the Apple Consultants Network, previously serving on the Advisory Council. Shelley also participates in Northwest Mac Pros, an organization of consultants, trainers and developers specializing in Apple Mac OS X and iOS systems. |
 Rick Hermanson, BrightstoneRick is owner of Brightstone Macintosh Consulting in the Portland, Oregon area. With specialties including general office consulting, server support, and workstation support, Rick focuses on Apple technologies and is an active member of Apple’s Consultant Network. |
Speakers
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 Craig Swanson, CreativeLive
Building Your Brand: Marketing and Business ConcernsYou are new in business, or you’ve been doing this for years; in either case you can’t apply your skills as a technology consultant until you have customers to apply them to! Marketing is one of the most important, but most overlooked skills in our business. We will teach you how to market yourself using your social skills, and contacts, as well as people and organizations you may not have considered. You will learn to market your skills to specific communities where word of mouth can catch fire to set your business above the rest. |
 Gordon Davisson, Crywolf
Best practices: Hardware, Software and Network DeploymentWhat are best practices for installing new computers? What about Windows partitions, how to install an OS, software updates, and more? What do you need to know about password strength, printer setup, and more? How do you handle serial numbers? What are the basic choices your clients need to know for wired and wireless networks, and VPNs? What are the benefits of master images and deployment methods? We’ll discuss these and other items. |
 Aaron Booker, Varvid
The New World of Apple IDs, iTunes, and Mac App StoreApple has changed the rules for Apple IDs, iTunes accounts, and more. Learn the new rules, how devices are treated, migrating to new hardware, dealing with multiple IDs, and iCloud. Find out how iTunes Match works, how Mac App Store differs from iTunes, and the right way for doing deployment and imaging. Learn the restrictions for merging Apple IDs and how to combine them. |
Gordon Davisson, Crywolf
Troubleshooting Hardware, Software, and Network ProblemsYou’ve worked your magic on the problems you’ve encountered and nothing is working. It must be hardware, but how can you be sure? What are the tests and tricks you should try, and in what order? How do you know when a problem is software based or hardware based, and how will that determination change your plan of action to get the problem solved for your customer? We walk you through the best tests and utilities, along with a best practice methodology for troubleshooting, and what to do when you are sure hardware is the problem. |
 Zack Smith, 318
Business Technologies: Mobility, Virtualization and WindowsBusinesses of all sizes need business technology. Find out your options for integrating mobility, virtualization and Windows into your clients’ networks. With everything you’ve done for your customer so far, they think the world of you. It would be horrible to lose that trust just because they ask you to put Windows on their Mac. You may not be a Windows person, but you can absolutely handle Windows on your customers Mac, and we’re going to show you how. We will cover VMware Fusion, and Parallels Desktop, CodeWeavers’ CrossOver as well as Apple’s Boot Camp solution and why you may want to avoid other options. What options should you avoid? You’ll have to attend if you want to find out! |
 Luis Giraldo, Fully Managed
An Experts Guide to Working with ClientsSo your marketing paid off! You have clients. Now, can you talk to them? Can you translate those often misspoken needs and wants into tangible technical deliverables? Can you help your hard won customers to understand your ongoing value and keep coming back for more? We’ll guide you through some of the most important steps to help you lead your customers; guide them to the right solutions, and convert their unfocused dreams into fully understood needs. Learn how to best protect yourself from scope creep, incorrect needs assessment, miscommunicated rate structures and other communications faux pas’ that can lead to unpaid invoices, or worse. Your customer now knows what they want, and what you can deliver and you have agreed to do it for a mutually understood price. You are well on your way to a positive customer experience, and repeat business. Now, how are you going to document all of this? In fact, once you get started, how will you document your work, the customers serial numbers, inventory, and other important data they surely assume you will gather, keep and protect on their behalf? We will show you how to safely and securely document information for your customers, and we will expose you to some of the pitfalls of failing to do so properly. |
 Scott Neal, Acme Foo
Scripting, Storage and Protecting Oneself: Backing up, Archiving and Restoring DataWell, you’ve learned your lesson, the hard way. Before making a major change to a system, get a clean backup. But what about backups? There are so many options, some free, some very expensive, and some require you to roll your own. We expose you to the software available to perform backups, and we give you best practices for backup strategies related to backup rotation, media types, online, offline and nearline storage solutions, as well as over-the-net solutions. We talk about the pro’s and con’s so you can make an informed decision that is right for your specific customers needs. There is no “one size fits all” solution, so we prepare you to make an informed decision. One of the things that is the most fun about computers is making them do things for you automatically, so you can focus your time and effort on more important things in your life. We will talk about how to use tools like Automator, and AppleScript, and even shell scripting to help you to make your computer or your customers computers, do the types of things people expect computers to do. |
Luis Giraldo, Fully Managed
How to Make Remote Consulting Work for YouYou have setup the perfect small office for your customer. Every best practice followed, no expense spared, everything is right. Still, customers love to call with questions, and when they do, you need to deal with their needs in a way that meets their expectations, is fair to you and the loved ones who have to deal with you answering your phone at all hours of the day and night. We will give you solid guidance on how to handle support calls from your customers so you can keep them happy, and keep your sanity all at the same time. If you can’t fix it over the phone, you’ll probably have to actually work on the customers’ computers to fix the problem. But how wonderful would it be to do so without driving across town? If you plan ahead, and setup the proper systems like ARD, VNC, VPN and a host of other possible technologies, you can solve many support problems for your customers remotely. We show you the currently available options, talk about proper configuration, and costs to you and the customer, and ways you can track your remote support to be sure you make money for your efforts. |
 Gerard Hickey, eBay
You Can’t Know Everything: Getting the Support You NeedYour job is off to a fantastic start. You are fantastically prepared, yet as so frequently happens, you run into a snag right in the middle of the job. Something you’ve never seen before and have no idea how to solve. You feel that knot in your throat that sinking sensation in the pit of your stomach. Where do you turn for help? Where can you find answers to those last minute, on site, make or break questions that can be the difference between success or failure? We show you our favorite places to find those answers, and how to express your searches in the most search engine efficient language. |
MacTech Boot Camp, March 7 at Bell-Harbor, is a one-day event for consultants that support small-to-medium sized businesses, home office, and consumers. MacTech has put together this single-track seminar specifically geared to serve the needs of consultants and techs wanting to serve their base better, and build their consulting business. The curriculum is set by MacTech nationally and delivered by a combination of speakers from around the country, and from the region.
