Review of SharePoint Conference 2012

The once yearly official Microsoft SharePoint conference has just come to a close in Las Vegas, and as you would expect, there was a lot to see and take in. With over 10,000 attendees SPC12 was the biggest conference Microsoft has ever put on, eclipsing even the likes of TechEd.

The keynote speech this year very much focused on social and, in particular, what Microsoft plans to do with its $1.2 billion purchase of Yammer. Microsoft seemed very much taken with Yammer’s rapid development cycles, and it seems this is something they will now be replicating with SharePoint as well (the cloud version, rather than the on-premise version). Yammer will slowly be subsumed into Office 365 over the coming years. Initially it will be easier to push content and updates between the two systems, before eventually merging into a single product.

This year's conference also had a big focus on the wider SharePoint community. There was a focus on community groups like SharePoint Saturdays and SharePint, as well as some much needed recognition for the wide number of SharePoint user groups that are out there.

There was also, as you would expect a whole host of parties and social gatherings (it was Vegas after all!). Pamela Anderson and Bon Jovi made appearances, entertaining the delegates and handing out various awards and prizes. Axceler put on a great party celebrating the top 25 influential members of the community. Avepoint put on a similarly impressive event.

All in all it was a very entertaining few days, with lots of important announcements and product news. SharePoint 2013 is firmly upon us, and this conference really got people geared up for next year and all it will bring.

For more information on Infragistics at SharePoint Conference see "MS SharePoint Conference 2012: Event Recap"