This year I’m going to TechEd 2011 in Atlanta (hometown) by myself. Later this year most of my department and co-workers will be traveling in October to Anaheim, California for the 2011 SharePoint conference as a substitute.

I’m looking forward to TechEd this year but much more so for the SharePoint 2011 conference. I went to TechEd last year and it was a techno shock to me because of all that was offered and all that I wanted to do. 5 people, including me, went last year to New Orleans to attend TechEd 2010 and I was the newbie. I wish I had a twin that we could’ve just combine thoughts; there was a LOT I wanted to do/see/learn.

If you’ve never been to TechEd, I would strongly suggest going. There are speakers talking about anything and everything Microsoft. You brush shoulder with people who are leading the industry in innovation and inspiration. Feeding off of sessions, technical talks, and demo station is what it’s all about. Coming out of TechEd 2010, I had a laundry list of ideas and understandings that I was ready to run back to INPO and use. The down side is the total cost of the conference, but if you can afford to go, I would strongly suggest. There were things that I learned at TechEd that I wouldn’t have learned elsewhere. Some were “gotchas” that official documentation does not warn about while some were tips and tricks that were very little known.

Close to 11,000 people attended last year and I wouldn’t be surprised if that many came this year. The SharePoint conference in October promises to have that many people, but specifically for SharePoint. The focus on this year’s SP conference would obviously be SP2010 from anything to server side to development to advanced user. Registration for the SharePoint conference opened up just yesterday so I’m already planning what courses or sessions to take!