Thoughts about SharePoint Saturdays

All Site Content

Schaeflein Consulting > Blog > Posts > Thoughts about SharePoint Saturdays

January 11

by Paul

on 1/11/2012 3:15 PM

Category: Speaking

A while back on the Twitter, I posted a question that started a few ripples. Has SharePoint Saturday jumped the shark? (Millions of parrotheads will tell you that fins to the left are never a bad thing!)

I did not originate the question, but I do admit to giving it a very public position. But I think the time is right for such a discussion. The SharePoint world is growing, there will be another "official" SharePoint conference from Microsoft for the second year in a row, and the SPS movement has matured.

On the "Yes" side of the answer are two complaints I’ve heard often:

It is a clique and it is the same speakers over and over. Those speakers just want to visit places for free.
It is all about vendors

I would like to respond with a few questions of my own:

Do you want to speak? Have you done so before? If a dozen people give up their weekend to come listen to you, will they feel it worthwhile?
Did you know that local user groups are desperate for speakers, and are great for learning how to prepare and give a presentation?
Can you afford the travel costs to SPS events? Did you know that you can register in the INETA Regional Speaker program and get reimbursed for travel to user groups?
Do you work at a company that can provide meeting rooms for free? Do you work at a company that can feed 100 people for free? Do you work at a company that does not need customers and profits?
Do you want to only take from the community and not give back?

For the record, I think SharePoint Saturday is a great idea. I believe the regional nature of the events should be highlighted, and speakers be from those regions. I spoke at many of the early SPS events, but now only speak occasionally. That does not mean SPS is bad, it is just not conducive to *my* thoughts about community and *my* schedule.

No, SPS has not jumped the shark.

And since I mentioned schedules, my speaking schedule is now posted on this site. (That’s right, I am a capitalist just like every other vendor in the SharePoint ecosystem.)

9 Comment(s)

Comments

It's all about the COMMUNITY!

I attended my very first SPS in San Diego last year. It just happened to be the first of many that I either attended or volunteered for. Not only is it a venue to learn great concepts in your field, but it also gives you a chance to meet great people who are great at what they do. It gives you an opportunity to be a part of something that is much greater than ourselves. We all contribute in various ways. Some speak, some organize, some volunteer, and some just come out for moral support. In some way, we all are contributors to SPS. Now, when you accept the role of wanting to be a part of that community, you also accept the responsibility of contributing to that community. Once we understand this, we will continue to grow as a community.

Brandon

on 1/11/2012 4:02 PM

this blog should be on wordpress

:-)

Love the idea of keeping the speakers for SPS local.

It would be nice to match up the speakers with the audience. For example, if the audience doesn't know SharePoint at all...then match them up with the speakers that don't know SharePoint at all. Because really this type of audience needs someone to sell them on SharePoint.

Which leads to the next question. How many people in attendence are beginners? Can we get some stats on that?

Lastly, I hate to pile up on user groups because not all of them are bad. But I think your comments about vendors applies to them more than SPS.

Before I leave, kudos to all you people who organize these SPS events. It is not a small task at all. :)

on 1/11/2012 4:02 PM

SharePoint Saturdays...

I can never fault anyone for not wanting to speak at a SharePoint Saturday event. There is no obligation and no one should feel pressured.

I have been to several SharePoint Saturdays and loved them all. They are fantastic.

The organizers are heroes to me. The time, effort and personal expense is staggering considering that there is no guaranteed payback.

Jumped the Shark? I dunno. I sure did like the ones I have been to. But then again, maybe they were better before I started going to some of them.

It's a worthy discussion, but I think it's a pretty easy argument that they are valuable to lots of people who attend. I can't be sure of the value that speakers and organizers get out of it, but I sure do appreciate it.

on 1/11/2012 5:10 PM

SharePoint Saturdays

I have heard the same items on the "Yes" side, and frankly I understand why some people feel that way. Based on my experiences with early SPS events, I feel that the vendors attitudes and behaviors have changed over time. I think that is reflected in the statement that "It's all about vendors".

As an attendee, I liked the casual feel of the early events and the way the vendors interacted with attendees.

As a speaker, I like that event organization has been shared and the events doen't feel like chaos (at least none that I have attended felt that way). The point is that these event COULD easily turn into chaos since they are volunteer organized and without the community behind them they might have taken that turn.

As an employee of a company that sometimes sponsors events like these, I understand the need for some justification to the expense.

With all of that said, I think that the fate of the SPS events lies in the hands of the sponsors and the community.

If the sponsors push the line between community support and product demo to far, then the community will stop showing up.

If the community doesn't respect the sponsors for supporting the event, and accept/embrace some marketing and demos then the vendors will pull sponsorship.

Bottom line, these events benefit the people in the SharePoint community and that should include the sponsors.

It can be a delicate balance. I hope the users and vendors continue to come together as a community to ensure this one avenue remains open.

on 1/11/2012 7:53 PM

When the river sounds, is because brings stones

That is a cheap translation of the spanish phrase: "El rio suena cuando piers trae"
In other words it is important to take in consideration the negative feedback as well. In fact, the people that gives feedback are the community itself.
I Believe that SharePoint Saturdays are fantastic opportunities, not only to learn something new but to get to know people.
Having an important group of known speakers helps a lot, specially on communicating the value of the conference. But I think would be wise for the community to make an effort for incubating new speakers, specially if there are new topics that are not being covered.

on 1/12/2012 9:43 AM

please replace "piers" for "piedras"

... the autocorrect is wild some times!

on 1/12/2012 9:44 AM

Free?

As a SharePoint Saturday Speaker... I don't consider myself to be in the clique... nor are my expenses paid for except out of my own bank account.

While there are a small group of folks that tends to travel together and submit together, please don't lump all of us into that gravy boat.

on 1/12/2012 1:52 PM

Who is complaining?

Paul,

You're a great guy and we we've been lucky to have you speak at our user group.

You do a lot for the community, but is it really a user group versus SharePoint Saturday thing? Most SharePoint Saturdays I know of are organized with direct participation and encouragement of the local user group.

Honestly, though, I wonder where these complaints are coming from. I've been to 8 SharePoint Saturdays. I have never heard an attendee complain that the speakers were not good or the vendors were in the way. Who would complain about free, quality training?

-Tom Resing

on 1/12/2012 8:26 PM

Re: Thoughts about SharePoint Saturdays

Paul,
Good, thought-provoking post. I think there is room for improvement in the format and a focus on local speakers and community is a great place to start.

As a past volunteer and organizer of a SPS event (Michigan 2010), I know that we had to balance between "big names" for the draw factor, with our desire local speakers. In fact, we wanted speakers who were not even regular speakers or vendors to give them a chance to show off solutions and provide attendees some real life examples of what can be done with SharePoint.

- Sebastian Atar

on 7/13/2012 3:44 PM

About this blog

I am a long-time SharePoint developer currently working as a consultant.

I like hockey, margaritas and SharePints.