It's great to be in the cloud. It's great to be on SharePoint 2013 on-premises. But you don't have to be, to attend SharePoint Connections at IT/Dev Connections Sept. 30-Oct. 4 in Las Vegas
You can, however, get some real-world information about the latest and greatest that’s not colored by Microsoft or other vendors. And make the most of what you're running right now.
Why SharePoint Connections?
Ever been to SharePoint Saturdays? Or the biggie, Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2014?
Both are useful: The smaller, local events and the gigantic Microsoft conference offer great training opportunities. But typically the SharePoint gurus I really want to hear don’t present at the SharePoint Saturdays near my home. Plus, one day just doesn’t do it for me.
As for SPC, although I’m looking forward to the whirlwind of sessions, workshops, vendors, and labs, it’s a little overwhelming. I’ve come away from the past two SPCs knowing I learned something—but not sure exactly what it was. (I do remember Disneyland at night and Bon Jovi at the Mandalay Bay pool.)
SharePoint expert Dan Holme conjectures that SPC 2014 will be Microsoft’s opportunity to focus more on the cloud and SharePoint, or new features and versions coming, as opposed to drilling down into the current on-premises solution. Great--if you're on or moving soon to 2013. Not so great if you're not.
What to See
SharePoint Connections is small. You won't get lost in the crowd. Ideas for sessions for SharePoint admins to attend include
- The Only Way to Go is Up! Upgrading to SharePoint 2013, Chris McNulty shows what you can expect when moving from 2010 to 2013.
- Top 10 New ECM Features in SharePoint 2013, John Holliday gives you ammunition for showing management why moving to 2013 is a worthwhile goal.
and for SharePoint devs,
- Developers Approach to Social Applications with SharePoint 2013 with Matt McDermott gets you up to speed about developing for 2013 including 2013’s REST and JSOM interfaces.
- And Bob German helps you hedge your bets with Design for the Future: Build SharePoint 2010 Solutions That Become SharePoint 2013 Apps.
You can also get ideas for making SharePoint 2010 be as good as it can be:
- In SharePoint Performance: Best Practices from the Field with Jason Himmelstein, you can see how to beef up performance.
- And at Chris McNulty’s Optimizing and Accelerating Your SharePoint Farm you can get ideas to use back at the office.
Plus you can sharpen your own skills, no matter what version you’re on:
- Admins should check out Jason Himmelstein’s Introduction to PowerShell for the Anxious IT Pro. If you haven’t used PowerShell enough to really feel comfortable with it, this should get you ready to go.
- For devs, Data Visualization with SharePoint and SQL Server with Paul Swider looks at self-service reporting tools in SharePoint 2013 and how they can be used to create business solutions.
- If you’re new to the new development models, Corey Roth discusses Office 365: Introduction to SharePoint Online Development to get your feet wet in the cloud.
- Asif Rehmani dives into What Options Do Non-Developers Have in SharePoint 2013?
- And you can add on pre- and post-conference workshops with Scot Hillier and Dan Holme.
Did I mention SharePint?
This is only a sampling of what’s available for SharePoint. I'm also looking forward to seeing Mary Jo Foley and Paul Thurrott, at IT/Dev Connections. They’ll be broadcasting their Windows Weekly Live show from the conference.
It's a SharePoint/Windows/Exchange/SQL Server World
And here you can connect to other Microsoft technologies--because, as you know, SharePoint is not an island. Try sessions on Windows or Exchange or SQL Server or the whole developer sphere, if you want to. (Or bring your devs, your network admins, and the DBAs from the branch office--they will thank you.)
And simply immerse yourself in SharePoint.
September 30 is coming up fast! Are you registered?
