Which conference(s) should I attend this year?
This question came through my inbox today, so I thought I’d throw it to the “crowd”:
“I will be funded to attend one SharePoint Conference this year. Which one would be the best? Maybe MS SharePoint in Vegas or SPTechCon in Boston or TechEd in LA? Or is there another you all like? Thanks for the advice.”
Holy Smokes! That is a tough one. Here’s my take on it.
SPTechCon: Boston
First, Paul Grenier and I will be teaching a workshop at SPTechCon in Boston in June: Become Your Company’s SharePoint SuperStar!. This will be a three and a half hour extended session that will cover setting up a jQuery environment plus all the other stuff we talk about in the SuperStar! sessions. There are a couple dozen other people speaking and presenting including Laura Rogers, Dux Raymond Sy, Woody Windischaman, Rob Bogue, Shane Young, Matt Passannante, Bob Mixon, Scot Hillier… stop me when you’ve had enough.
SharePoint Conference 2009: Las Vegas
I really liked last year’s Microsoft SharePoint Conference in Seattle. The turnout was phenomenal, so I got to meet a lot of people and stay in touch with a lot of the readers from EndUserSharePoint.com. I think the SharePoint Conference 2009 in Las Vegas should be high on the list, even though I do believe Las Vegas is the devil’s playground.
Best Practices Conference: Washington, D.C.
Another one I really like is the Best Practices Conference that is coming to Washington, D.C. in August. The MindSharp guys are doing a knockout job and getting rave reviews. Check the list of speakers they had for the February event and you can see why.
SharePoint Saturdays: Everywhere
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention SharePoint Saturday in this group. It might be worth it to check out three or four of these. All you’d have to do is pop for the travel budget… no expenses to attend. I’ve spoken at these events, and am scheduled for the one in Washington, D.C. on May 2nd. Definitely worth thinking about.
I would be honored to speak at any of these events, so I would recommend these as my top ones for right now. What about you? Where and why for conferences this year?
My money is set on the SharePoint Conference 2009 in Las Vegas. This is definitely the place to be if you’re interested in getting a head start with the next version of SharePoint: Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.
SharePoint Conference 2009: Las Vegas .. will be the best one for sure.
2010 is the only reason to consider Vegas. If you are not already talking about Azure, then I think you’ll see a lot more value from the Best Practices conference in D.C. I believe this is the conference that is going to fill the gap that Microsoft always leaves behind in the enterprise space when they launch a new product. Even though I’m speaking at SPTechCon in Boston, my money is on Best Practices if you only get to pick one this year.
I agree the SharePoint Conference 2009 in Vegas will be the one for me. I liked the Seattle one a lot and hope that this one will be the same! Although I did feel a little like I didn’t have enough time to make it to all the sessions I wanted, I came back with tons of resources. I would say if there’s something very specific you are looking for then go to a conference that focus on that.