5 reasons why I'm excited to be going to the Microsoft SharePoint Conference in Anaheim #SPC11

Great speakers, great venue, great network: all SharePoint all the time

In just about a week, I will be headed, along with several thousand other enthusiasts, to the Microsoft SharePoint Conference in Anaheim, CA. If you aren't planning to go, here are some of the reasons you might want to join me.

1. Great speakers - I'm lucky enough to know several of the speakers who will be doing presentations at the event and I was going to list their names and sessions but then I got nervous about leaving someone off the list and having them get offended. So, let me plug a concept rather than name specific people. In addition to some excellent speakers in the main session tracks, my sessions are in a track which is more business manager/user focused. The track coordinators also have a special booth in the exhibit hall where even more great speakers will be doing "mini" sessions with fun titles like "Tag, You're It!" about getting users involved in metadata tagging. Check it out and say hi to Drashti Patel from Microsoft who is coordinating the "big" and the "mini" sessions in this track. Catch a mini-session during lunch and you won't regret it. All of the speakers at SPC11, if they were smart, took advantage of the 90 minute professional coaching sessions that Microsoft offered and paid for. I've done many conference presentations in the past and even had some coaching and I can honestly say that the 90 minutes with Richard Klees was both awesome! I used to think I was a good presenter, but I've spent hours and hours working on and practicing the suggestions Richard gave me and I think my two sessions at SPC11 will be both fun and informative for everyone who comes - and much better than anything I've ever done before.  SPC248 is on Measuring the Value of SharePoint Investments. It's at 1:45 on Tuesday, October 4, 2011. SPC 261: Practical Approach to SharePoint Governance is at 5:00 pm the same day. I've added a lot of new material to my "regular" talk on governance and since I've got the absolute worst time slot for that session (right before Disneyland), I've worked really hard to add some Disney-style excitement to both of my talks, thanks to some great coaching from Richard.
2. Incredible venue. Anaheim, CA. Warm and sunny weather predicted for each day. Need I say more?
3. Lots of options to learn - whether you are a business manager, an IT Pro, a SharePoint novice or a SharePoint veteran, there are almost too many session options from which to choose! You really can't go wrong, because if you miss a session, the presentations will be available to download afterwards and there will be a lot of people, myself included, "live blogging" from the event. I have about three sessions I want to go to for each time slot so I will either be running around a lot or hoping to get someone to live blog for the sessions I can't get to. I also have some products I'm anxious to look at in detail and I was lucky enough to be given press credentials (thanks to this blog) so I've also been invited to some press opportunities that are not open to everyone - and I plan to share as much as I can right here on my blog.
4. Great networking opportunities - did I mention that I know a lot of the speakers? Well, I also know a lot of the attendees and many of the vendors as well and I can promise you, this will be an unparalleled networking event for the SharePoint community - these are really nice, smart, and interesting people. Bring lots of business cards because if you are like me, you will be trying to make lots of new connections to extend your SharePoint family.
5. Parties and prizes - I admit it, I love conference SWAG. I just won a mouse and an iPad2 in two contests on Twitter so I may have exhausted my contest luck for the year, but since my son got the mouse and my daughter is getting the iPad2, I think I'm entitled to win something I can keep for myself! I used to collect the t-shirts and tchotchkes for my kids but since they are all a little too old to be happy with a stress ball or something that lights up, I will now collect the good stuff for me! There are several "official" parties and a lot of side events so if you are into free drinks and loud music, you'll have plenty of both available. If you are in to the "Mouse," however, there's the main event at Disneyland on Tuesday night. I've been to several Microsoft events where they have taken over theme parks for a conference and all I can say is that it's definitely a lot of fun!

If you can't make it to Anaheim, I'll try to share my impressions here, but there's no substitute for being there in person. Plus, I could use some supporters at my sessions so if you are reading this, you have a personal invitation to come share the fun! I've got prizes of my own to give away so without revealing too much in advance, you've got to be present to win!

• Microsoft
• Collaboration
• SharePoint
• SharePoint Conference
• SPC11