Southern California was home to the SharePoint Intelligence Conference held yesterday and hosted by QuickStart Intelligence. The southern California location is certainly one of the perks of business travel!  Over 400 of my fellow SharePoint enthusiasts attended the event, which featured over 40 sessions ranging from administration to development, to business value to power users, and everything in between.

The conference kicked off with a keynote from Margo Day, Microsoft Vice President for Small and Midmarket Solutions and Partners (SMS&P for those that follow Microsoft acronyms) in the West Region.  Weather and traffic were definitely on our side today, as it was standing room only for Margo's keynote.  Following the keynote, attendees headed to breakout sessions to start building on their SharePoint Intelligence.

The exhibitors were set up throughout the hallways within the Anaheim Convention Center.  We are located across the hall from our local Bamboo Partner, speakTECH.  Shown at left are Amy Costello and Gretchen Rivas.  speakTECH continues to stay on the leading edge of all the great capabilities available on the SharePoint platform.

During our time at the Bamboo booth today, we had a lot of traffic from our existing customers, as well as those just getting started with SharePoint.  Those just getting started were especially excited to see our products, given the overwhelming tasks they envisioned ahead of them; from managing users, passwords, and sites to rolling up data, navigation, and managing projects.  When we explained what Bamboo did, and they recognized the time and development resources they would save – they left skipping and singing a new tune.   Speaking of a new tune, has everyone had a chance to hear the Bamboo jingle? (It's a personal favorite of mine.)

Nando Carbonel, my right-hand technical engineer supporting our fabulous partner community and pre-sales activities, presented a session on Workflow in SharePoint in which he demonstrated how to build a basic expense approval workflow in four different ways: 1. SharePoint out-of-the-box, 2. SharePoint Designer, 3. SharePoint Designer plus Visio 2010, and 4. Bamboo Workflow Conductor.   As you can see, you have many options, each dependent on your requirements, your budget and your resources.  For a demonstration of Bamboo Workflow Conductor, and to determine how it may fit your needs, please sign up for one of our free weekly webinars.

The day concluded with the customary Happy Hour and prize drawings.  Bamboo gave away a Microsoft laptop cooling station along with a $500 coupon to the Bamboo storefront. The lucky winner was from one of our existing customers, Allergan.  Chris Hurney was the happy recipient of the coupon, and is seen at right posing for a quick photo opportunity.

Thanks to the team at QuickStart for a great day, and for the opportunity to surround ourselves with the SharePoint community of Southern California.