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SharePoint Saturday: A User Community Like No Other

By Russ Edelmann posted 04-08-2011 14:55

  

 

Heading into SharePoint Saturday #4 | Boston tomorrow and as always, I look forward to partaking in the festivities and learning.  For the “un-enlightened”, SharePoint Saturdays is a unique phenomena in the technology world like no other I have experienced.  In a nutshell, a bunch of SharePoint experts walk/bus/bike/fly/drive to exotic (and not such exotic ) locations to participate in a mini conference on SharePoint…all on a Saturday.  For attendees, participation is free and all breakfast, lunch and the now almost equally famous “SharePint” (thanks to Owen Allen) for post events are part of the fun.

So what is a SharePoint Saturday?  It is best to go to the website at www.sharepointsaturday.org to obtain the proper definition.  From my vantage point, it is a community event that takes place around the world at different Microsoft and other facilities to 1) teach people about SharePoint and 2) to foster a deeper sense of community around SharePoint.  The learning, networking and experience are truly unprecedented.  I realize I sound like a commercial; however, I have no alliance with the organization other than to be a fan and speaker.

It was all started by this guy, Michael Lotter who is a SharePoint Guru.  At first, the intent was to gather some SharePoint geeks (cool geeks) up for a code-camp like experience.  With the hope of attracting 20-30 people, it was a great idea to bring people together for a common interest and profession.   What started as a fleck of snow has now rolled into a massive avalanche of momentum.   Average attendances for each event usually eclipse 300 and in some cases, have gone as high as 1,400.

For organizations and SharePoint folks who realize the importance of investing in the right way to do SharePoint, SharePoint Saturdays are a welcome and important addition to the conference circuit.  If SharePoint is important to you, make sure find out where the nearest one will be and jump in!

Enjoy!



#SharePoint #SharePointSaturday #sharepoint
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