Let me start off by explaining what the Summit is. The MVP Summit is a typically yearly gathering of MVP's from all disiplines from around the world. For all the groups its a place to go to engage personally with the product teams and provide feedback on the products and in some cases to learn about upcoming releases which is the case for SharePoint MVP's. Because we are tied to a strict NDA you will see no information on what was discussed in this blog or any of the other SharePoint MVP's.
So what can i say about this.... I can say that this is the one conference that i really look forward each year to attend because its hear that I get to see all the people from my group that I rarely get to interact with outside of IM or email.
Sunday: I arrived to chilly weather early Sunday afternoon and as I usually do i hit the ground running looking for everyone.... the Brits were all out playing golf but I found my little brother Eric Shupps down the street at the Fox Sports Grill with Dan Attis, Darren Bishop, Brendon Schwartz and his wife Heidi. We ended up back at the Sheridan and as more filtered in we headed out for dinner to someplace that now escapes me.
Monday is one of the highlights of the week... the annual paintball game. As was to be the case for the rest of the week it was raining and muddy and very little wood line which unfortunately was not what Brad Smith planned for when he donned his ghilly suit... silly ex marines :) But he and i teamed up and provided some great strategies we gained from our military training to cause some havoc :) Some of the memorable moments i witnessed:
- Todd Bleekers mad unarmed dash for the flag....... so you have seen him bouncing around energetically in his classes and presentations... we felt he could pull this off and he did perfectly..... Im thinking of buying him a cape to wear next year for the game.
- Adam Buenz and I were behind an obstacle and spotted someone running from cover directly in front of us and while laughing our asses off we peppered the person with paintballs.
- I felt somewhat youthful and nostalgic so i was doing some bounding and in one case did a knee slide across obstacles and became encased in mud..... pictures are on AC's Recap.
- I cheated at one point and was walking off the field and spotted Ben Robb behind and obsticle and i lit him up from 10 feet away with a load of paintballs.... he got me back the next round but it was fun to see him dance :)
- The women were incredible and both Agnes Molnar and Penny Conventry kicked some major butt.
Tuesday kicked off the sessions on campus (nothing more to be said here) Dinner was a blur and a late night evening full of conversation was the order of the day. Did i mention how cold and miserable the weather was all week? :) That was the only downer of the week.
Wednesday night was a huge night.... Brad Smith and I held the Bob and Brad Show or the Brad and Bob Show :) Both of our companies ( BlackBlade and B&R Business Solutions) along with Eric Shupps who owns and operates Binary Wave hosted this event and a good time was had by all. I will include links to various photo streams at the end. Personal Thank You to Chris Regan for generously contributing (I say this so he doesnt deduct from my bonus checks) :)
Thursday held the closing Keynotes and i sat through most of Steve Balmers but grew tired of the Q&A and headed off. Thursday also kicked off the start of yet another summit..... UserGroup Summit.. for both Thursday and Friday we discussed the ongoing efforts to build UserGroups worldwide. Although the main focus was on INETA and CUMULUS (which i am a part of neither) I found that alot of the stuff i am doing currently with my UserGroup work is in line with others. I wanted to speak on a new organization myself and a few others are forming for SharePoint Professionals but we are still in the beginning stages of this.... We hope to announce around TechEd (US) time frame. Stay tuned and feel free to email me if you are really curious.
Friday was a weird day... I was on MSFT campus in Bulding 34 and Spence ringed me up to get a cab together back to Seattle... he was in a nearby building..... I walk out and its frigging snowing. A friend told me it was 80 degrees and gorgeous back home and im watching snow.... i sent her a picture to prove it she didnt believe me.
Friday night we were treated by Spence to a nice dinner at a nice meal establishment. Food was fantastic but i had to have my interpreter Andrew Woodward explain every dish i was grabbing :) Great way to end a fantastic week.
So ends my week in Seattle... Im already looking forward to next year.
SharePoint Team Blog Recap
Andrew Connell's photo stream