Conferences are always a good way to get up to speed with new technologies and gain deeper knowledge in certain topics. But it is also a good place to meet new people within the business, expand your network and share knowledge. When it comes to conferences that will have focus on SharePoint there are a few to choose from and due to the economic downturn it might not be possible to attend more then one. Therefore this month’s Fivelist will cover 5 conferences that is fully or partial dedicated to SharePoint and that should be considered if you only can choose one.

Best Practices Conference
In August (24-26) the fourth Best Practices Conference will be held in Washington, D.C. As in the earlier conferences I expect a long list of MVP’s sharing their knowledge in a broad selection of topics. New for this year is that they have combined it with the SQL Best Practices which makes this even more interesting.

http://www.bestpracticesconference.com/

 

SharePoint Connections
The SharePoint Connections will this year be co-locating with a number of other Connections conferences. Much focus will be on development but there will also be a SharePoint Administration track. A number of known speakers will be there including Thomas Rizzo as key note. The conference will be held at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas between 9-12 of November

http://www.devconnections.com/shows/FALL2009SP/default.asp?s=138

 

MS SharePoint Conference
This will probably be the biggest SharePoint event of the year and if you are interested in the coming version, SharePoint 2010, this is the event to attend. It will be held at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas between 19-22 of October. I will not miss this event and I promise to write more about it.

http://www.mssharepointconference.com/

New Zealand Community SharePoint Conference
If you are located in the Asia-Pacific region then you should definitely consider attending the New Zealand SharePoint Conference. It is a two day long conference in Wellington, but even if it’s only two days long there is a long list of speakers including Joel Olsen.

http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/default.aspx?EventID=714444

Tech Ed Europe
This might not be a SharePoint Conference per se but I’m quite sure that you will find a lot of interesting SharePoint stuff including information about SharePoint 2010 since this will be held after the MS SharePoint Conference in October. The dates are 9-13 of November and will be located in Berlin easily accessible from whole of Europe if you are located here.

http://www.microsoft.com/emea/teched2008/