Collaborpedia

Written by: Shadeed Eleazer

As our nation stood in solemn remembrance of 9/11, an event that altered this country’s moral fabric, a new community event was stirring within the Microsoft SharePoint community during the weekend. SharePoint Saturday, an event started by Michael Lotter and Josh Carlisle in Virginia Beach in the late fall of 2008, has grown into an international phenomenon, with hosts organizing in Capetown, Toronto, and Copenhagen and various host cities throughout the continental USA.

The stage was set for the 2nd SharePoint Saturday event to be held in New York City at the Learning Tree Facility in Manhattan’s Financial District.
Despite rainy conditions which plagued the weekend, there was a great turnout of developers, admins, managers, and end users to the totally clueless to interact with speakers and vendors who traveled far and wide to interact, connect, and grow from the experience.

The event, organized by Dux Raymond Sy and Michael Lotter was a success by all accounts as a gathering of close to 40 speakers were lined up to deliver their viewpoints and perspective on the rapidly changing landscape of SharePoint from a technical point of view.

The huge anticipation for the release of Office SharePoint 2010 influenced the course content for speakers as well as there was the highest collective focus on areas such as social computing than any other SharePoint Saturday event I’ve witnessed or spoken at to date.

I delivered two sessions entitled Redefining SharePoint Administration: The 2010 Mindset and Transitioning Into SharePoint Careers. The 2nd session was recorded and is available online
I had a great time with both with tons of follow-ups to do. One idea I’ve developed is to do follow-up conference calls with my session attendees to handle all Q&A for the subject matter.
I had an awesome time and met great speakers, sponsors, and attendees within the SharePoint community.

The speaker’s social and SharePint gatherings were held at Ulysses, located within walking distance on 95 Pearl Street. What makes SharePoint Saturday special is the interaction that attendees are afforded to internationally known speakers and community leaders free of charge. In an economy where training budgets are down, SharePoint Saturday fills a much needed void for quality content.

For more information on SharePoint Saturday and to view the upcoming schedule of SharePoint Saturday events being hosted in your area, visit:

Community event serving as informal kick-off to SharePoint Best Practices Conference
written by: Shadeed Eleazer

The SharePoint Best Practices Conference attracts professionals from all over the world on August 24-26th that will converge upon Northern Virginia to learn from the best technical expertise available today.

Dux Raymond Sy sent out an invite for a Pre-Best Practices Conference #sharefood BBQ event to be held at his home. A menu consisting of grilled meat, seafood, veggies, salad, drinks, and a roasted pig was served to attendees, some of which were meeting for the first time or re-uniting after previously speaking or attending other SharePoint events.

(Photos Courtesy of @meetdux)

Dux mentioned that he had a surprise for attendees of his session at Best Practices Conference.
You don’t want to miss this one. He posted a sample of his surprise on Twitter this evening.

Twitter Directory of #ShareFood attendees:
@meetdux
@scottsingleton
@catpaint1
@sharepointsara
@WonderLaura
@usher
@AndrewWoody
@budweber
@ruveng
@lorigowin
@paulculmsee
@mikecferrara
@gdegregori
@sharepointlinc
ZlatanDzinic
@EUSP
@IECmike
@mattgowin
@mrshadeed

The SharePoint Best Practices Conference will be event to remember on the eve of the 2010 release. The ShareFood event was very instrumental in allowing SharePoint professionals to gather and discuss outside of the hectic event day schedules.

About Dux Raymond Sy:
With over 15 years of experience in Information Technology and Project Management, Dux (you’re right, it’s pronounced as “ducks”) has earned a reputation as among the leading experts in leveraging technology to enhance project management. A certified Project Management Professional (PMP), he is currently a managing partner and the chief evangelist of Innovative-e, Inc., a Microsoft-certified, business technology consulting and services company that serves startups to Global 50 clients.

View his presentation on Best Practices in Gathering Requirements for SharePoint Projects:
Dux’s Presentation HERE

BSPUG is celebrating our 2 Year Anniversary!

Thanks to all the attended our May session with Dan Usher. You can find his presentation in the resource section, and the photos in the videos located in the videos section.

Our next session will be on June 18th at UMBC training center. We will update this newsletter on the exact room number shortly.

Our special guest speaker is none other than Dux Sy.
With over 15 years of experience in Information Technology and Project Management, Dux (you’re right, it’s pronounced as “ducks”) has earned a reputation as among the leading experts in leveraging technology to enhance project management. A certified Project Management Professional (PMP), he is currently a managing partner and the chief evangelist of Innovative-e, Inc., a Microsoft-certified, business technology consulting and services company that serves startups to Global 50 clients.

We’re going in a unique direction for June. We are allowing YOU to select what topic you want to have delivered by Dux.

1. 7 Ways to Leverage SharePoint for Project Management

2. Best-Practices in Gathering Requirements for SharePoint Projects

3. Effectively Managing SharePoint Projects

In the RSVP survey this month, you will have another option to vote on the topic you would like to hear. The night of the event we will announce the winning topic and proceed to give it.
Voting closes on June 12th, 2009.

Please jump over to the RSVP survey on the events page and RSVP for this session.

Please go over to the events page and RSVP for this as well. Thanks all, see you then!

TELL A COLLEAGUE! This is sure to be a great presentation, please tell a co-worker.

For more information on BSPUG, please log-on to www.baltimoresug.org.

For our new members, we will be meeting at UMBC Tech Center, 1450 Rolling Road, Halethorpe, MD 21228. Doors open at 6pm for food and refreshments.
As always please go to www.baltimoresug.org/events and respond to the RSVP survey to RSVP your spot.