Not all conferences are the same, and it’s always a challenge deciding which is the right conference to spend your budget on. The decision is not just something to be made be attendees, vendors have to decide where to sponsor and speakers have to make a call on where to invest the time.
At 21apps we had to make a decision late last year as two conferences we absolutely wanted to be part of fell on the exact same dates. The conferences in question were
The reason these two conferences are important to 21apps is that they offered the opportunity to talk about the business side of SharePoint, with Share2012 begin a dedicated conference and the International SharePoint Conference dedicating a track to business and having a track record of delivering awesome events and located in our home market.
The challenge we had was the dates for these conferences were the same in 2012, and are going to be the same in 2013. So how do you decide which is the right one for you?
The event location is probably the most important decision for most attendee’s. Getting budget to fly to the US for a few days conferences is not easy, especially when you consider the Microsoft SharePoint Conference in Vegas later this year.
For 21apps we are in the lucky position of being invited to be part of both events. Andrew headed up the Business Track for ISC London and Ant did a session followed by an extra one day workshop on SharePoint Requirements with Serious Games.
It’s worth noting that there is no money to be made from doing these events, the hope for us is that we connect with people and demonstrate our skills to allow us to secure work with people after the events.
How do they compare?
Using our new #RoobarbStudio we sketched out the pros and cons (based on our experience, needs and expectations) for each conference and then compared the two based on what an Attendee would need to consider in making a choice.
Some may be wanting us to provide a detailed what was positive/negative on each. However we feel that would not be fair and any feedback in this format we will provide to the conference organisers to help them make the events even better than they are today.
We did however come to a conclusion about both conferences that should make it easy for people to make a decision. If you want to know:
“How To…” >> Go to International SharePoint Conference
“Why and What…” Go to Share Conference
This is not to say that there isn’t an element of the “why and what” in ISC London, there was, but it was presented by experienced consultants with many years of experience with a view to helping the audience understand how they might approach a SharePoint project.
In Share2012 there was also an element of “How To” but this is not the focus and it is significantly weighted towards customer case studies and showing what people had done and why.
In ISC London there is a weighting towards consultants and practitioners, people who are looking to learn how to do SharePoint projects from people who have the “implementation” battle scars.
At Share2012 the number of attendees is about 1/2 of those at ISC London, with the weighting more on the actual end business customers looking to get reassurance that similar companies have done what they hope to do and to confirm they have made the right choices, picking up some tips to hopefully avoid a few pitfalls and gaining significant ideas about how SharePoint can be used in a business context.
So which is better?
It would be like comparing apples and oranges – both conferences offer different experiences and with different focuses. ISC London this year took steps to promote and develop the business ideas which will evolve and develop. The SHARE conference continued to refine a very business user and customer case study focused event that targets the needs highlighted through extensive research of the business users of SharePoint.
Our recommendation would be that you should look to attend both. They each offer enough difference to make them compatible and complimentary. At 21apps are planning to split up promote, collaborate, learn and come back and share our experiences next year like we did this.
If you can’t justify both – you may want to consider the focus of what you are looking for:
“How To…” >> Go to International SharePoint Conference
“Why and What…” Go to Share Conference
Finally, if you want to read more about our individual experiences at the conferences this year, then you can read more here:
SHARE 2012 Atlanta – A Personal Review by Ant
International SharePoint Conference – A Personal Review by Andrew
Andrew and Ant