SharePoint Community Events Need You: How You Can Get Involved – Part 1

Guest Author: Christian Buckley
http://buckleyplanet.net

One of the best things about the SharePoint community is that people really want to get involved and share their experiences. At a recent SharePoint Saturday event in Boston, I had a great conversation with a developer who had been through a couple deployments, and asked how he could best share his experiences and add to the vast best practice knowledgebase that is the SharePoint community.

At the most recent SharePointPalooza event, held in beautiful downtown Seattle, I met several local end users who shared their perspectives on productivity solutions, which included a few perceived gaps in the current vendor offerings and where they thought the various service providers were missing the boat. It turned into a great discussion of SharePoint as a development platform, the “build versus buy” argument, and how SharePoint presents an amazing opportunity for users and vendors alike to step in and solve critical business problems.

At the end of our conversation, one end user asked how she could get more involved. My knee jerk response was to tell her that she was already involved – that by attending the event, by walking up to one of the speakers and sharing her experiences, she was on the path. But on my walk back to the office following the event, I realized that I could have provided more concrete ideas to help her get started. She was looking for some specific suggestions, and I had given her a generic answer.

So I came up with a list of specific suggestions. Think of this as a roadmap for SharePoint “newbies” who are looking for a way to get more involved, to add to the collective unconscious, and to share some thought leadership around the topics they know. We are all experts in something, or on our way to developing expertise in the areas in which we work. And because of that burgeoning thought leadership, that unique perspective that only you can bring to the table, the SharePoint community wants your input. We need you to get involved so that together we can all continue to grow, to learn, and to solve business problems.

As I started to outline ideas, I quickly realized that it was a bit much for a single article and so decided to divide things into three categories. This article focuses on ways that you can jumpstart your involvement in community events. I realize that talking to people can be scary for most people (especially in the technology space), but hopefully you are able to pick out a few ideas to try. The next two articles will expand the topic into social media and content opportunities.

On that note, here’s where you can get involved in local, regional, and industry-wide events:

1. Share your experiences with anyone who will listen.
   The quickest way to get involved is to talk about what you’re experiencing. Those stories of the initial pains you’re going through trying to figure out “this whole SharePoint thing” is exactly what other people want to hear about.
2. Start or join your company user group.
   It can be as informal as two people having lunch at a regular time, talking about SharePoint. Post a flyer in the break room inviting others to participate. Don’t think you need to be a software architect with 10+ years experience to start a user group. Get the ball rolling, and start sharing common experiences.
3. Start or join your local/regional user group.
   If a group does not exist, there is help available, including guidance from Microsoft and many of the leading SharePoint sponsors. The fastest route is to reach out to leaders from other cities, and get their recommendations on where to begin. If you go this route and decide to start an SharePoint User Group (SPUG), remember that Microsoft wants to help you be successful. Be sure to reach out to your local Microsoft office for resources (and possibly funding).
4. Join your regional technology organizations.
   Coming from Northern California, this is where I got started – I joined the Software Development Forum (SDForum.org) and started participating in local user groups, panel events, and technology forums. I also participated in events by SVASE, the Bay.Net user group, Silicon Valley Bank, Stanford and Berkeley universities, and local VC and angel groups. Most major metropolitan areas generally have these kinds of groups, providing resources and networking opportunities for a variety of technological and entrepreneurial interests. Many of these groups have heavy involvement from local municipalities, and tech-savvy law firms and companies.
5. Sign up to help at a local SharePoint Saturday.
   There is never too much help at a SharePoint Saturday (SPS). There is need for people to greet, to help with registration, to stuff attendee bags, to help the flow of people in-between sessions, to coordinate meals and AV during the event, and to promote upcoming events.
6. Volunteer to co-host or help coordinate a SharePoint Saturday.
   Before putting together your own event, I highly recommend helping out with a planned SharePoint Saturday. Get a feel for the event, the issues, the priorities. The goal of SPS is to let the community drive.
7. Attend a SharePint.
   SharePint was started a few years back as yet another excuse for SharePoint users to get together and socialize, but has become the de facto networking event that follows every conference or gathering. Think of them as MeetUp for the SharePoint crowd. Want to chat with your favorite conference presenter and SharePoint Most Valuable Professional (MVP)? You’ll likely find them at the SharePint following the conference.
8. Bring a friend, a co-worker, a family member, your boss.
   Find it difficult attending new things alone? Bring someone. Reach out to co-workers about your interests, and bring them along to the user group or technology breakfast event. Do your part in spreading the word. Become the go-to person for details on local SharePoint events.
9. Introduce yourself to someone you don’t know – every time you attend.
   Another great community-building habit is to take that painful step forward and introduce yourself to someone you don’t know. Whether attending a SharePint (a networking event that follows just about every major and minor SharePoint activity), a conference, or a user group, make the effort to find and introduce yourself to someone you have never met. It is a healthy habit that will better plug you into the community, and help others to feel more comfortable. And it never hurts to make a new friend.
10. Attend a regional SharePoint vendor conference.
    A number of training companies, consulting firms, and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) host regional and industry-specific SharePoint events that bring together local and national speakers. Some of the better known conferences include SPTechCon (held in San Francisco and Boston), SharePoint Connections, and Best Practices Conference (and the UK version – SharePoint Evolutions). Some other examples of events include SharePointPalooza, SharePointFest, and ShareFest (for Life Sciences).
11. Attend a virtual event.
    Having a conference in your own town is ideal – no hotel and travel expenses, no extended downtime – but not always feasible. Thankfully, the quality of virtual events and caliber of speakers participating is very high. SharePoint Saturday has hosted a few, SharePoint Live has been successful, and some of the larger ISVs have adopted the model, as well. Keep watching for these events through Twitter and the community calendars.
12. Attend a Code Camp.
    Looking for a technical deep dive? Try one of the many regional code camps, offered by some of the leading training firms and independent SharePoint experts. A great resource for upcoming events is CodeCampJunkie.com, but most community calendars or your local SPUG should also inform you on what activities are approaching.
13. Attend an Ask the Experts panel event.
    In most cases, an Ask the Experts session is just an extension of your SPUG, sometimes with outside speakers and MVPs. In any event, these sessions are a great way to ask specific questions. These smaller events afford you with a great presenter-to-attendee ratio. That means more personal attention.
14. Attend the larger Microsoft events.
    The larger Microsoft conferences provide a wealth of information from product and marketing teams, MVPs, and Microsoft Certified Masters (MCM). They are a great opportunity to immerse yourself in the latest product information and solutions being provided by vendors, as well. The big ones to watch for here in the US are Microsoft’s SharePoint Conference, followed by TechEd.
15. Create your own SharePoint event.
    Maybe you have a background in events, or have access to individuals on your team or from partner organizations that can help you pull together an event. It could be as simple as a breakfast or lunchtime gathering where people share their experiences. You can find your friendly neighborhood experts and invite them to attend and present. It might be a half-day event with multiple speakers and a couple partners to present on specific topic or to address concerns within a certain vertical (such as health care providers, or HR solutions, etc). While you should not jump feet first into creating an event without prior experience or adequate help, it is a fantastic way to make contacts and plug yourself into the broader SharePoint community.

Have other ideas? Add your comments to the dialog – we want to hear from you. I’m sure you can come up with additional ways to get involved in the SharePoint community, but hopefully this gives you some food for thought on how to get started.

For more ideas on how you can get involved in the community and start building your SharePoint profile, download my free ebook ‘Inside the SharePoint Community: Three Strategies for Building Your Personal Brand.’

Get involved! The community needs you!

Guest Author: Christian Buckley
http://buckleyplanet.net

Christian is Director of Product Evangelism at echoTechnology, an Axceler company, where he is responsible for content, strategy, and evangelism. Prior to echo, Christian was part of the Microsoft Managed Services (MMS) SharePoint team, now known as BPOS-D (Business Productivity Online Services-Dedicated). He has also led product and deployment teams in the creation of product lifecycle management and supply chain-integration solutions for some of the world’s largest manufacturing and telecom companies, and co-authored 3 books on software configuration management and defect tracking. You can find him at http://buckleyplanet.net or on Twitter at @buckleyplanet