Introducing the Boston Area SharePoint Users Group

I mentioned yesterday about the Boston Area SharePoint Users Group that we are putting together, however, I wanted to fully dedicate a blog post to it, and use this as a placeholder until we have the actual website up and running, so, if you came to http://www.bostonsharepointug.org, then you probably got directed to this post. Welcome!

The Boston Area SharePoint Users Group was founded by Geoff Varosky of Grace-Hunt, Ryan Tacy of AvePoint, Eugene Rosenfeld of Black Blade Associates, and Talbott Crowell of ThirdM. We wanted to bring together like minds to network and share their experiences, triumphs, and tribulations around Microsoft SharePoint. To provide a community platform for Boston area SharePoint users, administrators, developers, architects, to share their knowledge with the community. We meet on the 2nd Wednesday of every month at the Microsoft New England Research and Development Center in Cambridge, MA.

We are currently in the process of developing the real website, so, stay tuned here for more information, as well as @BASPUG on twitter, for more up to date information regarding the Users Group.

INAUGURAL MEETING
We will be holding our first meeting on May 12th, 2010, from 6pm – 8pm EST at the Microsoft New England Research & Development (NERD) Center. Our speaker will be Chris Bortlik of Microsoft, presenting “Introducing SharePoint 2010”. Our first meeting will also coincide with the official launch of Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010. Watch the live launch event during the day, and come and see SharePoint 2010 in action at night!

A little bit about Chris…
Chris Bortlik works at Microsoft as a SharePoint technology specialist. He works with Enterprise customers and partners in the Northeast in a pre-sales technical role. Chris speaks frequently at Microsoft events (including the SharePoint Conference) and is a contributing author of the upcoming "Essential SharePoint 2010" book. He also publishes a blog on TechNet at: http://blogs.technet.com/cbortlik/  Prior to joining Microsoft in 2008, Chris was a customer for 14 years working in technical IT architect, development and management roles – primarily leading .NET and SharePoint related projects.

SUSTENANCE
Food for our inaugural meeting, as well as the first few meetings, will be sponsored by AvePoint. The meetings will also not stop to a dead halt at 8pm, that is just when we need to be out of the facility. After the user group meetings, we will most likely announce and adjourn to a local watering hole, to continue on our discussions and networking, which may or may not be sponsored.

RAFFLE PRIZES
We will be handing out raffle tickets at the BASPUG meetings (when we have items to raffle that is!). Black Blade Associates will be raffling off a license, valued at $2000 for their SharePoint Zip product, at each and every meeting of the BASPUG!

We will also be working with some publishers as well to extend discounts, be able to raffle off free books, and more, to the members of the BASPUG.

FREQUENCY
The BASPUG will meet on the 2nd Wednesday of every month, from 6pm to 8pm EST, starting May 12th, 2010.

LOCATION
We will be meeting at the Microsoft New England Research & Development (NERD) Center, located in Cambridge, MA. For more information on the facility, as well as directions, please visit here: http://microsoftcambridge.com/About/Directions/tabid/89/Default.aspx

LINKED IN
Join our group on LinkedIn today to connect with the rest of the BASPUG members, and spread the word! http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2878468

TWITTER
Follow news about the Boston Area SharePoint Users Group on twitter by following us @BASPUG, and by using the hashtag #BASPUG

INTERESTED IN SPEAKING OR SPONSORING?
Contact us at info@bostonsharepointug.org today!