After 15 months of planning, the first SharePoint business conference for South Africa arrived and went by in a blur.  And what a success it was!

A sell out show of 360 delegates, with people clamoring for tickets until late on the Friday afternoon before it started.

The feedback from delegates was unanimous.  One of my favourite moments was when Tracy from Afgri ran up to me, grabbed my arm, looked at me with big round eyes and said : “I’m so excited, I’m gonna start a band!”.  And she wants to have tshirts printed.  That’s exactly the type of excitement we love to see business users feel.

Tracy was far from alone and there were big smiles and the most wonderful atmosphere in the room throughout the event.  New friends and old friends – it was like a great big family gathering!

There are a ton of SharePoint events globally every year, and it’s always hard to choose which ones to go to.  It’s a great show of support that FOUR SharePoint MVP’s from around the world chose to attend Share2012 instead of the MVP Summit over the same weekend!  (Hilton Giesenow – SA, Dux Raymond Sy – USA, Me – SA and Ruven Gotz – Canada).

Team Lets Collaborate had their first stand!  Can there be a greater compliment on earth when all your clients use you as a home base to store all their stuff, come ‘n have lunch with you every day, and generally man the show?  We love you all!!  You warmed our hearts more than you will ever know.

And Team Lets Collaborate is expanding!  Watch this space for more news shortly.  Thanks Johan and Cathy, it couldn’t have been done without you!

The main reason for having Share is to hear customer stories, and they did not disappoint.  I am amazed at the work done by Engen, Afgri and Nedbank.  There are people disguised in companies as normal working folk – it’s all lies – they are Super Humans quietly and determinedly changing the face of how companies operate!  Unsung heros that we need to hear much more about.

The closing keynote on day 1 was from Braam Malherbe.  There wasn’t a a dry eye in the house!  What a story and what a speaker!  His message is DOT – Do One Thing.  If you think you’re tired after a long day, or feel hard done by for whatever reason – go and listen to Braam speak.  It can change you forever.

And finally, it never gets tired seeing your name in lights!  It was good fun to hang out with Andre Vermeulen from Business Connexion and Mpumi Nhlapo from Intervate.

Eventful Group – the conference was everything I dreamt it would be and more. Thank you for a spectacular event, one that will become a must-attend on the South African SharePoint calendar every year.  You have an incredible team and put on an incredible show!  Thank you.

Check out the rest of the pictures on Facebook.  View my sessions : Activating My Sites and Upgrading from SharePoint 2007 to 2010.

See you next year at Share2013!  Better book early next time if you missed out. 🙂

PS : If you want some SharePoint posters for your walls, drop me a mail and I’ll get them to you.  We’ve got some left from the conference.