SharePoint Conference 2008
as I sit in the Washington State Trade and Convention Center--waiting for my flight--I find that the obvious use of my time would be to create a blog post about the most successful SharePoint conference ever.
- the busy Metalogix booth
the company I recently joined, Metalogix Software, was there representing the best of breed software for migrating web content, files, and upgrading previous versions of SharePoint to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007.
the conference was especially enjoyable for me since I haven't been to the SharePoint conference since I left the Microsoft SharePoint team in 2004. In fact, in 2004, I actually presented a talk at the conference about Microsoft Content Management Server (MCMS).
- the Washington Trade and Convention Center in Seattle
after writing for a few years (which prompted a couple of Microsoft people to comment that I had "disappeared") this show gave me a chance to catch up with some old friends, and make some new ones. most of my co-authors for the MCMS Complete Guide were there: Bill English and Todd Bleeker (co-owners of Mindsharp a high-profile SharePoint training group), and Shawn Shell (a principle with Consejo, Inc.) was also there. I also caught up with some of my former Microsoft team and some of the SharePoint MVPs.
I had a short chat with Lawrence Liu (the Social Computing Product Manager for MOSS). it's a really interesting area and it seems that SharePoint is only now getting recognition for the potential there. after collaborating with various individuals and groups (such as the Halo community) on book projects, I fully understand the value of enterprise social computing.
it was no surprise that the conference was popular; MOSS has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years. what was somewhat surprising was just how crazy popular this show was. rumour has it that the 3900 attendee limit was (just slightly) bent to allow close to 5000 people to attend the conference.
- sold out indeed
and with that number of people, you know that there are a lot who need the SharePoint migration and upgrade solutions from Metalogix Software. my feet are still sore as I sit here, and my voice was hoarse after just one day of talking to the constant flow of SharePoint customers (and future SharePoint customers) who want to migrate to SharePoint or upgrade from an earlier version of Sharepoint (e.g., Windows SharePoint Services [WSS] or SharePoint Portal Server 2003 [SPS]).
but it wasn't all business. we had a great time at the official parties (such as a visit to Seattle's Museum of Flight and the Xbox game night with the Master Chief, see cheesy image below), and the not-so-official ones as well.
- the museum of flight's unique M-21 Blackbird.
- a daylight shot of the M-21 Blackbird taken by "innocent bystander"
- the museum of flight... enough said
- Xbox 360 game night. the pose was his idea. I have this same photo with Andre Arlovski--MC vs. Arlovski, now there's a match-up
- the busy Metalogix booth
the company I recently joined, Metalogix Software, was there representing the best of breed software for migrating web content, files, and upgrading previous versions of SharePoint to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007.
the conference was especially enjoyable for me since I haven't been to the SharePoint conference since I left the Microsoft SharePoint team in 2004. In fact, in 2004, I actually presented a talk at the conference about Microsoft Content Management Server (MCMS).
- the Washington Trade and Convention Center in Seattle
after writing for a few years (which prompted a couple of Microsoft people to comment that I had "disappeared") this show gave me a chance to catch up with some old friends, and make some new ones. most of my co-authors for the MCMS Complete Guide were there: Bill English and Todd Bleeker (co-owners of Mindsharp a high-profile SharePoint training group), and Shawn Shell (a principle with Consejo, Inc.) was also there. I also caught up with some of my former Microsoft team and some of the SharePoint MVPs.
I had a short chat with Lawrence Liu (the Social Computing Product Manager for MOSS). it's a really interesting area and it seems that SharePoint is only now getting recognition for the potential there. after collaborating with various individuals and groups (such as the Halo community) on book projects, I fully understand the value of enterprise social computing.
it was no surprise that the conference was popular; MOSS has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years. what was somewhat surprising was just how crazy popular this show was. rumour has it that the 3900 attendee limit was (just slightly) bent to allow close to 5000 people to attend the conference.
- sold out indeed
and with that number of people, you know that there are a lot who need the SharePoint migration and upgrade solutions from Metalogix Software. my feet are still sore as I sit here, and my voice was hoarse after just one day of talking to the constant flow of SharePoint customers (and future SharePoint customers) who want to migrate to SharePoint or upgrade from an earlier version of Sharepoint (e.g., Windows SharePoint Services [WSS] or SharePoint Portal Server 2003 [SPS]).
but it wasn't all business. we had a great time at the official parties (such as a visit to Seattle's Museum of Flight and the Xbox game night with the Master Chief, see cheesy image below), and the not-so-official ones as well.
- the museum of flight's unique M-21 Blackbird.
- a daylight shot of the M-21 Blackbird taken by "innocent bystander"
- the museum of flight... enough said
- Xbox 360 game night. the pose was his idea. I have this same photo with Andre Arlovski--MC vs. Arlovski, now there's a match-up