Predictions for SPC 2009

For some reason people like predictions as to what “could” happen at a conference or event. It seems that whenever there’s an Apple developer’s conference there’s a new or refined product released causing a mad rush to Apple stores. For conferences like VMWare’s VMWorld, there typically isn’t a mad dash to MicroCenter to pick up a new copy of Workstation or ESX, and likewise, with Microsoft release event, there might be a growing buzz to pick up something like Windows 7, but there hasn’t been this amount of buzz since the unveiling of the Apple iPhone 3GS at the Apple World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC).

That’s right, there’s a buzz in Vegas about the next iteration of the Microsoft Products and Technologies platform, SharePoint Server 2010.  Back in April of this year, Tom Rizzo, the Sr. Director of the SharePoint product group announced that Microsoft SharePoint “14” is SharePoint 2010.  There has been significant build up of speculation as to what SharePoint 2010 would provide for and how it would change.  The product group provided a little insight with the preliminary system requirements on their blog as well as announcements of the technical preview and a sneak peek of capabilities.  At the Best Practices Conference in August 2009, Arpan Shah provided the keynote address and demonstrated some capabilities that whet the appetite for several attendees for SP2010.

So similar to The Unofficial predictions that the Cult of Mac and other Mac followings tend to make before a conference or event, I’ve assembled a few different predictions from the SharePoint community regarding what they perceive will occur at the Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2009.

Please remember that these are predictions and speculations and do not have any actual verity.

Beer
First speculation from the king of SharePint, Andrew Woodward mentioned that he thinks there will be beer. I can only assume with over 190 RSVP’s through Andrew Connell’s web site for SharePint that the beer will flow and loosen the grey matter to allow for better penetration of information.  I would say that things are looking good for this prediction 🙂

Duet on Stage
Other speculations point to there being a good chance of Huey Lewis and Steve Ballmer singing a duet together on stage to get the concert started right. This one isn’t looking very probable.

The Hangover
Chances are good that there will be a few “Hangover” like experiences and stories circulating about conference attendees stealing a police cruiser and Mike Tyson’s Tiger. Again, probable, but hopefully no one ends up roasted on a roof.

Cowboy Hats
The SharePoint Hillbilly (Mark Rackley) thinks that there’s a good chance of other attendees attempting to take Eric Shupp‘s cowboy hat, in which a fist fight may ensue.  Highly probable, messing with the SharePoint Cowboy’s hat is a criminal offense in Texas and recognized by the other 49 states of the United States.

#ShareEvents to Attend
There will be a slew of #ShareEvents to include #ShareSushi, #ShareCanyon, #ShareCab, #ShareFood, #ShareJump with the likes of with Paul Swider, Dux Sy, Clayton Cobb, Mark Rackley, Marcy Kellar, Steven Fowler and others.  Extremely probable, in fact you can sight up for these events. For more info on #ShareEvents: http://2009-10-18-shareindian.eventbrite.com/

#ShareEvents to Avoid
Apparently most attendees are seeking to avoid #ShareFlu as aptly termed by Dan Lewis.  Probability on this one is pretty high, most folks probably aren’t going to Vegas to pick something up that will make them miserable.

Flash Mob
The SharePoint Community that participates in SharePoint Saturday, SharePoint Code Camps, MOSS Camps, SPTechCon, SharePoint Best Practices and other assorted events will Flash Mob several different venues with groups of 200 or more as aptly noted by Mr. End User SharePoint, Mark Miller.

Community
The community of MVPs, SharePoint Professionals and users will come even closer together, making new friendships and renewing old.

Sessions
Morning sessions won’t have quite the attendance of those sessions that are later in the day (come on, it’s Vegas…).

Best. Product. Ever
SharePoint 2010 will be released in November 2009, it will be the greatest software product ever and it will be free for all.  Pure speculation, but wouldn’t it be grand if that were the case?

Social Networking
There’s a good chance that Twitter will see #SPC09 and #SPCON09 hash tag topics start showing up in the “Trends” section of Twitter.

Wireless at SPC09
During the Key Note, there’s speculation that the wireless will fail out completely, similar to what happens to Twitter every so often with the Fail Whale (http://go.spdan.com/failwhale). Hopefully the CommNet infrastructure is flexible there at the conference venue to support the 7,000 attendees.

Updates from the Community

That’s all of the initial speculation, I’m sure that there will be more as the hours tick down til the event.  Check back for updates as more predictions come in 🙂