The inaugural SPSTC kicked off this morning in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Annandale, VA with opening remarks provided conference organizer Dux Raymond Sy, and SharePoint Saturday founder Michael Lotter.

Set to a thumping musical soundtrack, Dux began  sharing a well-received video montage of past SharePoint Saturday events.  Following the video, Dux asked how many attendees were attending a SharePoint conference for the first time, and lots of hands were raised in response, proving both the value of SharePoint Saturday and the continuing adoption of SharePoint as a platform. 

Dux then provided a brief history of SharePoint Saturday, explaining that it was conceptualized in early 2008 Michael Lotter as an event which would take place “once a year in Virginia Beach,” and is now “a worldwide phenomenon.”   Explaining the idea of the Conference, Dux said that “with these three days, we’re taking it to the next level.”  With over 280 sessions presented over 150 world renowned speakers, Dux confidently stated that with its paltry $39 registration fee, SPSTC represents “the best training budget you’ve ever spent.”

And with over 1,800 registered attendees (and additional walk-ins already showing up), there’s going to be a monumental amount of SharePoint knowledge being transferred over the next three days at SPSTC.  And on top of that?  Check out the sweet swag bag that all attendees receive, including a quality SPSTC-branded travel coffee mug, t-shirt, notebook, and a 2-gig flash drive!

Read our complete coverage of SharePoint Saturday: The Conference:

• Greetings from SharePoint Saturday: The Conference (SPSTC)!
• SPSTC Keynote: Dean Halstead on ‘Innovation at Microsoft’
• SPSTC: Ray Wang on ‘Addressing Key Challenges in Social Business Adoption – Lessons Learned in Putting the Social Business Maturity Framework to Work’
• SPSTC: The Business Value of SharePoint Community – Shadeed Eleazer Asks, ‘What is the Impact of SharePoint Community for SharePoint Practices, Experienced Professionals, & Newcomers to the SharePoint Platform?’
• SPSTC: Jeff Willinger Asks, ‘What’s in it for Me?’ User Adoption & Employee Engagement Strategies for Enterprise Social Computing Projects
• SPSTC: Mark Rackley on ‘SharePoint & jQuery – What I Wish I Would Have Known When I Started’
• SPSTC: Rob Manfredi on ‘Trends Driving the Need for Solutions on SharePoint – Frontline Business Automation and How to Best Deliver Those Solutions’
• SPSTC: Jay Leask & David Berry on ‘Stepping into Social Computing with SharePoint’