Which SharePoint conference should I attend?

I get this question so many times that I thought this definitely deserves an article. As part of my job, I continue to visit and present at numerous conferences every year - including all of the ones listed below. While I don’t think that this makes me an expert at SharePoint conferences, I do have a perspective that I can share with folks who are looking to evaluate the choices out there.

The Midwest SharePoint Community get together

I have been to SharePoint fest Chicago a few times now and every time I go, the thing that I like the best is that it is a very good representation of who is who in the Midwest area SharePoint community. If they have anything to do with SharePoint, they're there. I like the local flavor that this conference provides which I don't think any of the other conferences in the SharePoint industry does as good of a job at - bringing the local SharePoint community together is priceless. This is the place to come to and interact with the peers and also the experts in the Midwest community.

At VisualSP, we have hosted dozens of webinars throughout the years. Why mess with tradition? So we are continuing to host regular webinars on all things SharePoint and Office 365.

Time is flying. On October 12 - 14, 2015 the Unity Connect Conference will take place in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Four Microsoft MVPs, including our CEO Asif Rehmani, Dan Holme of IT Unity, Jasper Oosterveld of Sparked, and Susan Hanley will present a workshop about building, adopting, and governing portals and collaboration solutions based on SharePoint and Office 365.  One of the key topics they will discuss is the often-challenging task of implementing a successful governance plan for SharePoint and Office 365.

Rehmani, Holme, Oosterveld and Hanley will talk about how to dispel the cloud of complexity about governance and user adoption for SharePoint.

If you will not be able to attend this conference, or if you would like more of a preview of this event, please let us know. We will send you additional information NOW.

One of the major changes brought to SharePoint 2013 is around Search. With the new Continuous Crawl, the new architecture and the many changes to the existing and new Web Parts, your architecture will need to be re-worked. This no-cost webinar session is for those with experience in SharePoint 2010 that want to see how we can exploit the new features and Web Parts to build our own new Search Center. 

How focused is your organization in getting actual usage out of the SharePoint platform?

14 years have passed since I first learned the word 'SharePoint' - then started consulting first and then training on it. One thing has still not changed since the first project I was on doing some 'SharePoint work':

So many organizations still treat SharePoint as 'plug and play' software.

At the Microsoft Ignite conference (May 4-8, 2015), Jennifer Mason and I presented a session titled:

What to Expect at Ignite: Online Discussion from Tuesday, April 28, 2015

This morning we held an online discussion with SharePoint experts and seasoned veterans of Microsoft conferences: Jennifer Mason, Asif Rehmani & Jack Fruh.

We talked about "What to Expect at Microsoft Ignite" going on May 4-8 at McCormick Place in Chicago.

some of the things we talked about included:

• Navigating the Ignite website / helpful tips articles / how to view online / etc.
• Helpful tips: badge pick-up, shuttles, transportation, where things are at McCormick place, etc.
• Session highlights / how to find the sessions right for you, speakers to check out, community sessions in the lounge areas, etc.
• Networking events (a full listing of what's going on each night) and details about the Welcome Reception (Mon. May 4) and special Ignite Celebration (Thurs May 7).
• we showed a sneak-preview of the expo floor...highlighting different "focus areas" - so you know which direction to head to see the SharePoint / Yammer vendors (vs. Windows or Surface) etc.

Both Asif & Jack are Chicago residents, so they had a lot of helpful information to share about the City including: transportation tips, how to get around & what to "check-out" (restaurants, site-seeing, etc.)

In case you missed it...you can check out the presentation & slide show below!