I am thinking of doing a short presentation at work about using Stack Overflow as a resource for your day job.What is your experience doing this?Would you deem it a valid resource to tell your colleagues about it or is it similar to telling them about Google as a resource?Is there a better way of doing it?I was leaning toward asking questions side of Stack Overflow rather than answering them to avoid you-shouldn't-be-doing-this-on-work-time argument.Just as a follow up.Originally I didn't want to make the question too specific to my own case. My presentation will only be a quick four minute talk, which I will repeat over an hour to different groups.I may ask a question before the talk on Stack Overflow and refer to it during the presentation. Hopefully I will get some activity during the hour.I am also going to talk briefly about some of the other Stack Exchange sites that would fit the audience as they are not all developers. I think Super User, Server Fault and Programmers should work well.I will not be doing the presentation for another couple of months as it has been rescheduled, but I will update on how I got on.
How to advocate Stack Overflow at work
productivity;communication
Key points:Registration is easy.It's freeQuality answers.I would suggest your group create a question during the presentation (do a search first.). If you don't get a response before the presentation/meeting is over, keep everyone posted via email and follow-up if necessary. They'll be impressed with the quality and speed of the responses. Compare to a Google search. You could also prepare a question in advance.It really will be up to them whether they'll use it or not. If you find the group in a major debate, try putting it on Stack Overflow as a follow-up to your presentation. Everyone may not see the need instantly. Keep at it.My current company was using a paid site. I never bothered to get an account because of Stack Overflow.Time can be perceived as wasted if you spend too much time on Stack Overflow. I'd rather have people get involved. You learn just as much by answering questions in my opinion. It just may prompt you about a issue you never considered.