I aspire to be the Bob Ross of SharePoint

I can hear Darren’s eyes rolling from here…

Egad, what now Sean?

I always liked how Apollo Creed of the Rocky Movie franchise had a bunch of cool nicknames, like The King of Sting, the Master of Disaster, the Count of Monte Cristo.  I’ve been searching for my own (I needed/wanted something to make what I do fun, particularly when I teach). Over the years, I’ve used (and own the domain names for) SharePoint Jedi (There are no experts, just those of us always learning this growing force) and SharePoint Tour Guide.

But I’ve got a new one. Call me crazy, sappy, cheesy, or plain nuts but I have always loved Bob Ross. If you don’t remember him or don’t know much about him, have a quick read of Bob Ross’ Wikipedia Article.

You know Bob. He was always using Van Dyke Brown, painting happy trees, making love to mountains and slapping the devil out of his brush on the easel.  He’d paint an incredible landscape in 30 minutes or less and without fail, at least once per episode he’d slap some big thick colour in the middle using a putty knife or something and I’d think “Oh Bob, you’ve done it now.  Ruined…”.  But sure enough within a few minutes, you’d find out that it was absolutely part of the painting as it came to life. So much fun.

Try this one on for size: Mountain Waterfall – Full Episode

So what about Bob?

• Bob taught you how to paint
  • I want to teach/empower you to use SharePoint
• Bob taught you to love painting
  • I would like to inspire you to use SharePoint
• Bob got results quickly
  • SharePoint can get you and your team results and time saved, quickly
• Bob taught you that the painting was yours. Make your own “happy little trees”, etc.
  • Ownership of a SharePoint Team site by a “SharePoint Champion” is the same thing, making “Happy Teams”
• Bob started with a blank canvas, a bunch of brushes and putty knives and different colours of paint
  • We typically start with a Team Site as the canvas and splash on a little OneNote, Wikis, Blogs, Content Types, PowerPivot and InfoPath goodness

What Next?

Well, I bought an afro (yes, really). I haven’t decided if I’m going to use it on occasion (it itches…). I don’t currently own any (blue) jeans, nor do I have a light blue buttoned shirt. But these are problems I can fix. I have the chest hair for the job but alas Wendy doesn’t want me to grow out a beard (again).

Anyways, I’m off to make some Happy Team Sites and make love to some document libraries. Wish me luck.