SharePoint Saturday UK: Post Mortem
I just spent a remarkable weekend at SharePoint Saturday UK in Birmingham, England. The event was hosted by Tony Pounder, Brett Lonsdale and Mark Macrae. It was outstanding on several fronts.
It was the first SharePoint Saturday in the UK. Some people didn’t think it would work that well because it’s assumed that Europeans would not want to give up their Saturday, a Ryder Cup Saturday at that, to come and hear about SharePoint. With over 400 people registered, that theory was put to rest pretty quickly.
Second, these guys are not event promoters. No only was it the first SharePoint Saturday for them, it was their first event, ever. I have to say, it wasn’t noticable. The flow and rythym of the day was really smooth. Breaks were appropriate, nicely selected foods available and snacks throughout the day.
I did two sessions and walked away pleased from both. People sincerely wanted to be there and it showed in their attitude and their focus during the presentations. When doing sessions at a SharePoint Saturday, it’s gratifying when you feel that you’ve really reached people. Literally everyone of the standing room only crowd in my Missing Links sesson came up and shook my hand, thanking me for coming. I stayed about 15 minutes after, talking with people about the problems they were having and how what I had shown made sense to them on all levels. Like I said, very gratifying.
I was speaking with Brett at dinner after the event about some of the little special things they did for the attendess. One of those was free parking. There was a very steep fee for attendees to park in the hotel parking lot, but the SPS crew insisted that there be no fee for attendees. They held their ground to the point where they told the hotel it was a deal breaker: either we get free parking or we go somewhere else. I had to smile at that one.
There are many pictures up on FaceBook, but there’s really no way to search for them. I know that James Love has a bunch up. I’ve got some, too, that you can view without a FaceBook account. If you have more photos you’d like people to see, leave a link in the comments and we’ll send people to them.
Nicely run event, guys. I look forward to the next one and hope I’m invited back. I promise more Hobbits, Wizards and Elves on the next visit.
on
An absolutely fantastic event! No matter what your level of involvement is with SharePoint, attending these user events is sure to leave you with 2 things:
1) A greater knowledge of SharePoint
2) Real motivation to either start or continue doing great things with SharePoint
My thanks to the event organisers and the speakers.
Hey Mark, great to see you at sharepoint saturday, enjoyed your session on community. great event.
thanks for taking time out. Im new to sharepoint but the event has inspired me and your session was a big part of that. thanks again
Hi,
Excellent job on Saturday, great to be there. Any chance you’re going to make your Keynote presentation – Hobbits, Wizards and Elves availabel for download?
Cheers
Andy
Andy – Glad you enjoyed it. I don’t see a way to do that. There were gigs of video included in that presentation, plus I’d have to record a sound track over it. Let me think about a way to do that. — Mark
Hi Mark,
As always, it was good to see you. Although the keynote was good, the sessions excellent and the opportunity to learn and network was huge, my personal high point was actually seeing your shirt in all it’s vibrancy!
Hi Mark,
It was great to meet you at SPS UK. Being new to SharePoint I’m particularly greatful for your advice and for pointing me in the direction of some very useful resources (your presentation on community was also of great interest).
I’m now subscribed to your newsletter and following on Twitter!
Regards
Mark
Mark – Good to have you on board. I hope you find the resources useful. — Mark