Summary: Microsoft PowerShell MVP, Teresa Wilson, talks about the Windows PowerShell Summit speakers.

Microsoft Scripting Guy, Ed Wilson, is here. The Scripting Wife, Teresa Wilson, is my guest blogger all week. She is bringing you information about the speakers for the North America PowerShell Summit 2015 and their sessions. Don’t worry if you cannot attend the Summit. The sessions will be recorded and shared on You Tube.

Happy Wednesday everyone! I am back to share with you again. Today, I am starting with Windows PowerShell MVP, Jason Helmick. Jason is the CFO for PowerShell.org and the person I work closest with in my role of treasurer. Jason will present two sessions at the Summit.

• Deploying PowerShell Web Access and IIS using DSC. Dive deeper into creating a service portal with domain- and non-domain-joined Windows PowerShell Web Access. Let Windows PowerShell and IIS expert, Jason Helmick, help you discover the best custom configuration, which is easy and quick to adopt. Learn how to secure and deploy with Desired State Configuration (DSC) by using the latest resources.

• The Top DSC Gotchas and Best Practices. Accelerate your ability to effectively use DSC in your environment by avoiding the pitfalls! Whether you're new to managing deployments and drift with DSC, or you are an experienced ol' hand, let Windows PowerShell MVP, Jason Helmick, take you through the most common stumbling blocks. Learn best practices to improve your configuration mastery.

Here is one of my favorite photos. Jason has such a wonderful smile. I should have cropped myself out, but I didn’t.

For more from Jason, see:

• Jason Hemlick's Blog: Knowledge is PowerShell
• Updating Group Policy on a Dark and Stormy Night

Trevor Sullivan, is a Windows PowerShell MVP and Honorary Scripting Guy. His session is:

• Extending the PowerShell ISE using Custom WPF Controls. Have you ever felt like the ISE is a bit sparse? Have you ever wanted to add extra functionality to the ISE? Let's dive together into the deep sea of custom add-ons for the Windows PowerShell Integrated Scripting Editor (ISE)! Learn to develop powerful enhancements that will help you become a more productive Windows PowerShell developer and user. As an added bonus, we'll explore how to use the .NET Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR) to build rich, data-driven ISE add-ons.

Here is a photo of Trevor:

For more from Trevor, see:

• Trevor Sullivan's Tech Room: Minding the gap between administration and development
• Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog posts by Trevor Sullivan

Kirk Munro is also a Windows PowerShell MVP, and has been known to be a guest blogger here. Kirk has two sessions at the Summit.

• Get More PowerShell Out of Service Manager (and SMA)! In this session, you will learn how to get more value from your Service Manager (SCSM) platform by using a little "magic" with Windows PowerShell and Service Management Automation (SMA). Service Manager is a rich, extensible platform that can be customized to adapt to your organization's IT service management needs. However, creating even the simplest customizations can be a lot of work—so much so that many companies feel they cannot do it themselves.

  Fortunately, there have been many technology improvements in the Microsoft stack that haven't fully been realized in Service Manager yet that can help! Windows PowerShell, Windows PowerShell Workflow, and SMA are three technologies that can help remove a lot of the tedious work that is usually required when working with SCSM extensions. Come to this session to discover how you can leverage these technologies together to get more value from your Service Manager deployments today.

• Debugging PowerShell, Defensive Scripting Techniques, and How to Cope With Red Error Text. Have you ever downloaded a Windows PowerShell script or module to solve some problem you were having, and it just wouldn't work, but you couldn't understand why? Or have you written (or attempted to write) a script, and it wouldn't work—or it worked fine on your machine, but one of your colleagues couldn't get it to run? Or perhaps you have written scripts or modules and you simply want to design them properly to take advantage of everything that the Windows PowerShell debugger and error handling engine have to offer.

  Windows PowerShell has definitely hit the mainstream, and being able to create and debug Windows PowerShell scripts is a very valuable skill to have in your toolbelt today. Come to this session to learn more about debugging Windows PowerShell scripts, defensive scripting techniques that can reduce the amount of debugging that you might otherwise have to do, tips and tricks you can use to get more value from your own scripts or modules as you troubleshoot and debug them, and how to best deal with the intimidating red error text.

Here is a photo of Kirk:

For more from Kirk, see:

• Kirk's Blog: Poshoholic: Totally addicted to PowerShell and automation
• Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog posts by Kirk Munro

That’s it for today. Come back tomorrow to meet more Windows PowerShell greats!

~Teresa

I invite you to follow me on Twitter and Facebook. If you have any questions, send email to me at scripter@microsoft.com, or post your questions on the Official Scripting Guys Forum. See you tomorrow. Until then, peace.

Ed Wilson, Microsoft Scripting Guy