A nice and informative conversation with our MVP, Simon Skotheimsvik recorded during the Cloud Tech Tallinn event in 2025.
Full Transcript
Introduction and Catching Up (00:00:03 – 00:00:49)
Dan:
So here I’m with Simon Skotheimsvik from CloudWay. Good to see you again.
Simon Skotheimsvik:
Good to see you, Dan.
Dan:
How are you doing?
Simon Skotheimsvik:
I’m fine. I’m really good. I like meeting you at conferences like this around the world.
Dan:
Yeah, exactly. What do you do at CloudWay?
Simon Skotheimsvik:
Well, I’m a Senior Cloud Consultant. A lot of people think we are just running around the world speaking at conferences. But what we actually do, we are consulting. I’m doing stuff, endpoint management, focusing around Microsoft Cloud, Intune, stuff like that.
I’ve been in the industry for a while, but funny enough, I have never been doing system center, config management stuff.
Intune vs Config Manager for Small Customers (00:00:49 – 00:02:27)
Dan:
Oh, so you’re just Intune?
Simon Skotheimsvik:
I’m just Intune. I’m the Intune guy. Well, I know how to navigate it, but I don’t tell that to anybody because I’m trying to be the Intune guy.
Dan:
Very very good.
Simon Skotheimsvik:
That’s a secret, though.
Dan:
You know a little bit about config manager, but not enough for me to quiz you, so I won’t. No, please don’t do it. That’s fine.
I started life with config manager, so that’s where I grew up. But I don’t think I was very good at it. I think I knew enough to get by. Then when Intune came along, it was so much easier to do.
Simon Skotheimsvik:
Yeah, that’s true. Also with Intune, where I’m coming from Norway, West Coast of Norway, there’s a lot of small customers.
With Intune, we suddenly could use a proper tool for them because it’s based on license per user. But with config manager, they really didn’t do it.
Dan:
It was a lot of effort to set up for a small customer, wasn’t it?
Simon Skotheimsvik:
It was.
Dan:
I guess what did we do before Intune for those small customers?
Simon Skotheimsvik:
We had customers around that size, but they really didn’t take the bullet. But it’s just using group policies and doing it. Of course, just GPO. Yeah, they did.
Back in the really old days, we used Ghost to get them up and running and stuff like that. MDT. Yeah. But now it’s all Intune for me and the cloud.
Conference Setting and Event Context (00:02:27 – 00:03:18)
Dan:
Well, we’re at Cloud Technology Town Hall Tallinn 2025. Nicolas earlier on called it a beautiful building, and then he backtracked and said, it’s not beautiful at all. It’s rustic.
Simon Skotheimsvik:
It’s rustic. I really like Tallinn because there are a lot of rustic buildings, and they are combined with modern steel and lighting and stuff like that, glass. It’s really a nice place to be here in Tallinn.
Dan:
You’re right with the combination because this is a very old-looking building. It has rust everywhere, but the technology is fantastic.
All the rooms are very well-lit with all of the good sound and the video. It’s fantastic.
Why are we here? Why are you here? Well, yeah, I have a session or I had a session.
Session Topic and Delivery Format (00:03:18 – 00:05:31)
Simon Skotheimsvik:
I just finished it. I was talking about the 10 Intune mistakes to avoid in 2025.
Dan:
Right. And 10 in an hour?
Simon Skotheimsvik:
Yeah, I also thought 10 in an hour. I did this session with Sandy at MMS in 90 minutes, and I thought, well, I can do it in an hour. But last week, I realized, well, it’s only 45 minutes. That was our challenge, though.
Dan:
Was it a co-speaking session this time?
Simon Skotheimsvik:
No, it was just me.
Dan:
Did you get all 10 in?
Simon Skotheimsvik:
Yeah, I was doing all 10. I had to skip some slides along the route there. But yeah, I got to…
Dan:
Were there demos?
Simon Skotheimsvik:
Well, that’s the challenge. I didn’t do any live demos, but when I’m doing a session, I typically like to give the audience something to bring back.
First of all, the whys and then the hows. The why is, I can talk about the whys and then the hows.
What I do, I do it in PowerPoint. I morph the slides. I can bring in the Intune portal, then I can spot things out, and then I can morph it to the next section.
That way, I can actually do a demo at my own pace. I don’t have to sign in, wait for MFA, zoom in and out. I prepare everything.
My slide deck was 245-ish slides. That sounds brutal, but for every click in a demo, I have a new slide.
Dan:
Yeah, exactly.
Simon Skotheimsvik:
That makes it possible to run it in the speed I need and talk through it. The audience can download it later and go through all the demos at their own pace.
Presentation Technique and Preparation (00:05:31 – 00:07:50)
Dan:
That’s very clever.
Simon Skotheimsvik:
It is. It takes a lot of work because the portal is changing.
If I did the session half a year ago, I need to update it. That’s the nature of it. The presentation should be state of the art.
That’s why I do it like that. Why and how. That’s important.
Dan:
Do you think that’s better than doing a live recording?
Simon Skotheimsvik:
I have also done video recordings in PowerPoint, but I always talk through it. I learned some tricks from a UK guy.
But it’s harder for the audience to download the slides as PDF and see the steps.
Dan:
Is there animation in PowerShell or PowerPoint?
Simon Skotheimsvik:
No animation, only morphing.
Dan:
Nice.
Simon Skotheimsvik:
I can run it from my cell phone, even.
Dan:
Very clever.
Simon Skotheimsvik:
It makes me more relaxed. I’m confident that everything is working.
Dan:
Yeah, you don’t have the risk that it might not work.
Simon Skotheimsvik:
It will always work.
Music, Stage Experience, and Public Speaking (00:08:07 – 00:09:52)
Dan:
Let’s double click on the musician thing.
Simon Skotheimsvik:
Yeah, we have a band. It’s actually a really cool band. We have my neighbor. He’s living three houses next to me. He’s European in Elvis Tribute. He’s full wig and suits and everything.
We have a 15 people band doing Elvis shows, trying to be as accurate and true to the original stuff.
The funny thing is, James Burton, which is the lead guitar player of Elvis and band leader and the guy making the music, he has been playing with our band five times.
Dan:
Does that help when you’re public speaking?
Simon Skotheimsvik:
Yeah, definitely. Being prepared helps. I’m used to having lights in my eyes and standing in front of an audience.
It’s different here, speaking a foreign language, but still, I love it.
Conference Community and Wrapping Up (00:09:52 – 00:11:55)
Dan:
Someone said this feels like a high school reunion.
Simon Skotheimsvik :
Definitely. We’re becoming friends, but not friends like it. Yeah, just high school. Introverted friends.
Dan:
What have you got for the rest of this week then in town?
Simon Skotheimsvik:
Normally, we have more than one session when I travel out, but this time I’m finished, so I’ll enjoy other sessions.
There are a lot of great speakers here, so I will just find something new, something familiar. I’ve attended a lot already, so I’ve learned a lot of stuff.
Dan:
Will you be going to the Old Town in Tallinn?
Simon Skotheimsvik:
I heard a lot of nice stuff about it, but I’m not sure if I will prioritize it this time.
Dan:
Same here. I had a session just before yours, and now I’m completely free.
Simon Skotheimsvik:
I’m too bad at traveling to nice places and not taking the time to see the scenery.
Dan:
It would be a shame in Tallinn. It’s such a lovely place.
Simon Skotheimsvik:
Yeah, cool.
Dan:
Same venue every year?
Simon Skotheimsvik:
It is. I was last year as well.
Dan:
Thanks for talking to me. It’s been lovely.
Simon Skotheimsvik:
Let’s go downtown. Let’s go to the Old Town. Indeed. Yeah, let’s move.