The world isn't short on SharePoint conferences. In fact, at any given time, there's some conference or another happening for SharePoint gurus, geeks, and experts. These conferences provide a great way to connect with like-minded individuals, learn more about the industry, and even hear the biggest news first.

While SharePoint Engine representatives can't make it to every conference, we do try to make it to quite a few. In cases where we are otherwise occupied, we still encourage you to make the most out of the opportunity. One of the conferences going on now – as in now, now – is the SharePoint Connections Coast to Coast Tour.

The SharePoint Connections Coast-to-Coast Tour

Sponsored by DevConnections, this tour brings prominent SharePoint speakers to locations around the United States, including Las Vegas, Boston, San Diego, San Francisco, San Antonio, and Chicago. The primary objectives, according to the official website, include:

• Getting practical guidance on SharePoint.
• Facing challenges of today's business world.
• Creating a strategic plan for your company.
• Mastering the SharePoint technology.
• Finding local SharePoint resources.
• Connecting with peers and experts in the industry.

The tour started in Vegas earlier this week, and is now continuing to Boston. As part of the conference, participants also have the chance to get involved in the Microsoft Developer Bootcamp – without any extra cost.

The dates are as follows:

• San Diego – May 2-4, 2011
• San Francisco – May 9-11
• San Antonio – May 23-25
• Chicago – August 8-10

If you make it to the conference or Bootcamp, let us know what you think by leaving a comment below or sending us a message via Twitter or Facebook.

SPTechCon: Where You Should Have Been on Feb. 7

SPTechCon, a SharePoint convention designed for professionals, managers, analysts, and developers, was a great opportunity to learn, and it was our honor to be present there. Didn't make it to the San Francisco event earlier this month? In addition to missing out on an opportunity to visit with representatives from SharePoint Engine, your favorite SharePoint consulting group, those who didn't make it to lost an opportunity to learn a lot of incredible things, attend some valuable workshop, and hear addresses from some industry leaders. Here's a brief rundown:

Keynote speeches from Jared Spataro, the Director of Microsoft Office's SharePoint Server division. His speech covered ways to maximize your investment in SharePoint. Spataro drew on his nearly five years of experience working directly at Microsoft, in addition to lengthy related experience prior to that. A second keynote speech was given by Joel Oleson, the Senior Product Manager of Quest Software, who discussed some bad examples of SharePoint deployments and the most commonly found worst practices.

A huge array of other talks and lectures were also given, including speeches from names like Owen Allen, Marc Anderson, Robert Bogue, Chris Beckett, Christian Buckley, Michael Doyle, Randy Drisgill, Jeff Fried, Ruven Gotz, Steve Hansen, Brian Jackett, Scott Jamison, Jennifer Mason, John Ross, Laura Rogers, Paul Swider, and dozens of others.

Attendees could also participate in a number of classes and workshops, which included instructions on expanding the developer toolbox, strategic considerations in SharePoint migration, best practices, controlling ad hoc deployments, common ways that workflow breaks down, major case studies for SharePoint, how to go into offline space, using fixed query searches, advanced document management, and more.

Are you drooling with eagerness yet? Don't worry. Since SPTechCon happens twice yearly, you can catch it in Boston this June. You can also visit us at several conferences in the meantime, including the AIIM Expo on March 21st, where we will be discussing the benefits of SharePoint consulting. Stop by and chat for a minute! We're glad to say hello.

Thanks,

The SharePoint Engine Team