Well after one excellent, long week, SPC 2011 is over. Although we only got to a few sessions, the ones we hit up were great.
It was nice meeting the many of you who stopped by our booth. Being the only company dedicated to SharePoint Branding at this conference gave us an opportunity to hear all of the many ways that you are trying to customize the SharePoint platform.
It was encouraging to hear several presenters stress the importance of branding in their presentations. We know it’s not always easy and there’s often little information available to address the number of questions about effectively branding in SharePoint.
Also of interest was just how many people showed up to this conference. There was no major launch of a new version, no major annoucements, no major impovements, yet between 7,000 to 8,000 people were here. This goes to show just how big and powerful the SharePoint platform is. A few other key points that I noticed through sessions and listening to others is the growing importance of governance in SharePoint 2010 and the power available if you need it. Sure SharePoint has built in workflows, allows for great collaboration between groups and more, but there needs to be a plan in place to guide or steer the process.
Another often heard topic of conversation was SharePoint’s built in search and FAST search. If you haven’t looked into FAST Search Server for SharePoint, I suggest you check it out. The results from FAST Search Server provide an amazing intranet search of content and people and allow for searching, sorting and filtering your organization’s data that will make your SharePoint users more productive. But do not take FAST Search Server lightly, with power comes responsiblity. A good search administrator is a must with FAST Search.
Lastly, for those of you who attended the conference, don’t forget that all session slides and session videos are available online in your MySPC account for the next three months. Go review the sessions you went to or find out what you missed when you were too busy, or unable to maybe drag yourself out of bed for a 9am session Wednesday morning?
We look forward to helping provide more valuable content, as well as essential products and services to address your concerns. Feel free to learn more about how PixelMill can help your SharePoint Branding projects.
