The SPTechCon in Austin turned out to be everything it promised it would be and more, with some keynote speakers getting straight down to basics, making clear where Microsoft® stands with regard to on-premises, hybrid, and the cloud. More on that below.

From our own perspective, we had the chance to meet a lot of new faces and explain how Bamboo® could help their companies maximize communication and collaboration. We also enjoyed putting faces to names we already know and discussing the latest thinking on Office 365 and SharePoint®.

All the speeches and sessions held value, from learning new ways of creating content in SharePoint to the big-picture announcements mentioned above. Seth Patton – Senior Director of Product Management for Microsoft and OneDrive – and Chris McNulty – Senior Product Marketing Manager for SharePoint and Office 365 – spoke to a packed room in their keynote address, which got down to business with a statement of commitment to on-premises.

However, that commitment did include a “hybrid at the core” message, and the phrase “built for trust” came up numerous times, making itself known as more than just a reassuring phrase and something Microsoft is very serious about.

New features were demonstrated live from McNulty’s Microsoft account and Patton, McNulty, and Senior Product Marketing Manager for Microsoft, Jeremy Thake, rounded out the talk personally by walking around the conference, chatting and gathering feedback, using actions rather than words to back up Microsoft’s commitment to customer input.

We’re sure the feedback they received was as positive as the feedback we gathered through our own efforts. New friends were made and eyes were opened about the value of Bamboo Solutions for their businesses.

And we can’t end our post-show report without mentioning David Mott, who walked away with our $100 Amazon gift card. Congratulations, David!

The video clip shows highlights from the Austin SPTechCon, August 24-27, 2015.