#ESPC24 Takeaways
It’s good to be back home after 2 weeks on the road, first participating in #ESPC24 Stockholm, and then spending a week on the road with my son Nicholas as we explored Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest. You can do your best to beat the jet lag, but it always seems to find you.
I’d like to start out by thanking Kevin Monahan, Sarah McNamara, Pamela Miskell, Orla Spencer, John Carroll, and the rest of the ESPC team for another fantastic event, and for once again inviting me to participate not only as a speaker but as a community reporter – which is always a blast. This was my 11th in-person ESPC (2 were online-only) going back to Berlin in 2011 where it all began as the European SharePoint Conference. Now, of course, the event covers much more than SharePoint, and two sister events growing rapidly around Microsoft’s Power Platform and Fabric audiences. My sessions performed well, earning 8.86/10 (Building Scalable, Repeatable Feedback Mechanisms) and 9.07/10 (The Art of AI-Assisted Writing), with good audience feedback and several new connections made around both topics. In fact, I offered both audiences a free consult on either topic (If you attended ESPC and would like to schedule a 1:1, please reach out through LinkedIn).
Highlights from Stockholm
A few standout moments from the event:
Getting a shoutout (along with fellow MVP Bill Ayers) by ESPC GM Kevin Monahan with my picture on the big screen. Kevin claimed that I don’t appear to age, but unfortunately, it’s all CGI, so…- The opportunity to conduct the official post-keynote interviews with Microsoft’s Jeff Teper and Dona Sarkar (who did a fantastic keynote on AI, filling in for Karuana Gatimu, who unfortunately fell ill and missed the event) and fellow MVP+RD Paula Januszkiewicz, with her excellent keynote on cybersecurity. In fact, I plan to share my takeaways from all 3 keynotes in blog posts in the coming weeks.
- Participating once again as an ESPC Community Reporter along with fellow MVPs Chirag Patel, Laura Rogers, Vlad Catrinescu, Magnus MÃ¥rtensson (also an RD), and good friend Fabian Williams (former MVP now at Microsoft) with his daughter + fellow speaker Gabrielle Williams, who I met back in 2010 (I think?) as she was tagging along with her dad at various SharePoint Saturday events back in the day. I helped run the daily summary videos for the community reporters, which you can find here.
- Hanging out in the Community Lounge each day and seeing so many SharePoint “old timers” that I’ve not seen in years, as well as many friends and community members that I see at other events around the world each year. In fact, check out my interview with one of these old-timers, Anthony Pounder.
- Presenting once again on the Inspire Stage. I’m so glad that they decided to add this section to the expo hall for the 2nd year as a way to include more business-related topics to the schedule, as well as give sponsors an opportunity to demo and promote. My 2nd session was on this stage, and my audience was fairly full, but many other sessions were packed with a huge crowd standing all around because all seats were taken. I love to see that at an event like ESPC, giving people options in the types of content available.
- And, of course, the opportunity to see so many friends and do some networking. There is no replacement for in-person events for this reason alone. It’s good to get out once in a while and see people.
Getting a shoutout (along with fellow MVP Bill Ayers) by ESPC GM Kevin Monahan with my picture on the big screen. Kevin claimed that I don’t appear to age, but unfortunately, it’s all CGI, so…
Hanging out in the Community Lounge each day and seeing so many SharePoint “old timers” that I’ve not seen in years, as well as many friends and community members that I see at other events around the world each year. In fact, On the final day, the ESPC announced that ESPC25 will return to Dublin, and I’m already looking forward to participating. Of course, everyone will need to submit and have sessions accepted, which gets more competitive every year, but I’m hopeful that I’ll return and have an unbroken attendance record. I had a great time in Dublin last time it was there, and am hoping to follow the event with a few days of travel to do some family history, as well.
Extended Travels
Joining me mid-week in Stockholm was my 3rd child, Nicholas, who joined me at the attendee dinner (although he would have really liked to have slept). Following ESPC, Nick and I made plans to visit a few additional cities around Europe to take in the tourist activities and walk through museums. While it’s difficult to take off this much time from work when you’re an independent, Nick and I had been planning for this trip all year.
Where we went:
- In Stockholm, Nick explored the city during the last day of the event. While he lived in Sweden for 2 years (serving an LDS Church mission) and speaks the language, he was never based in Stockholm and so he explored, took in a few museums, and on Thursday evening, we visited the ABBA museum, because when in Rome, er….Stockholm, right? I spent 4 nights in Stockholm, arriving mid-day Monday with the main event running Tuesday through Thursday.
- We then spent two nights in Prague. I had been several times, but it was new to Nick. It’s just such a beautiful and historically rich city, with the Charles Bridge and Prague Castle (both pictured to the right, with the castle up on the hill), Astronomical Clock, and a fascinating military museum covering hundreds of years of defense and warfare in the region. I should also point out that we definitely got our steps in each and every day. The photo below is the St. Vitus Cathedral within the Prague Castle complex.
We then spent two nights in Prague. I had been several times, but it was new to Nick. It’s just such a beautiful and historically rich city, with the Charles Bridge and Prague Castle (both pictured to the right, with the castle up on the hill), Astronomical Clock, and a fascinating military museum covering hundreds of years of defense and warfare in the region. I should also point out that we definitely got our steps in each and every day. The photo below is the St. Vitus Cathedral within the Prague Castle complex.
- From there, we took the train to Vienna where we spent 3 nights. Vienna is a city I could see myself living in. While I’m more of a suburban/rural guy, Vienna is beautiful and picturesque, and there’s just so much to explore and do. We stayed at a hotel not too far from the major museums, visiting the Albertina, the Leopold within the Museums Quarter (a complex with multiple museums), and the Belvedere, which houses many works from one of my favorite artists: Klimt. We also were able to catch a septet performance of Mozart and Strauss. The picture below is me next to Klimt’s most famous painting, The Kiss.
From there, we took the train to Vienna where we spent 3 nights. Vienna is a city I could see myself living in. While I’m more of a suburban/rural guy, Vienna is beautiful and picturesque, and there’s just so much to explore and do. We stayed at a hotel not too far from the major museums, visiting the Albertina, the Leopold within the Museums Quarter (a complex with multiple museums), and the Belvedere, which houses many works from one of my favorite artists: Klimt. We also were able to catch a septet performance of Mozart and Strauss. The picture below is me next to Klimt’s most famous painting, The Kiss.
Here is Nick and I in the garden between the Upper and Lower Belvedere buildings.
- We then took a day trip by train to Bratislava. This was my first time in Slovakia, and with only half a day to look around, we kept things simple and walked around the old town, had a lunch in the old town underground where we tried some regional food, and then walked up the hill and around the gardens of the Bratislava Castle.
We then took a day trip by train to Bratislava. This was my first time in Slovakia, and with only half a day to look around, we kept things simple and walked around the old town, had a lunch in the old town underground where we tried some regional food, and then walked up the hill and around the gardens of the Bratislava Castle.
- After returning to Vienna and visiting another museum, we once again jumped on the train and traveled to Budapest. This was also my first time visiting Hungary, and we were blown away by the beauty and history of the region. In fact, of the 5 cities we visited on this trip, Budapest is the one I want to visit again next. Two nights was not enough for all that we wanted to do. The weather was nice (but cold) throughout, so we were able to visit a couple of museums, the Central Market Hall, walk along the famous Andrássy Avenue, climb up to the top of St. Stephens Basilica to take some epic pictures of the city (below), and sample some local food. We walked across Chain Bridge to see a church built into the caves on the side of a hill (Gellért Hill Cave), but arrived just as mass got underway and closed to the public, so we missed the window. We’ll leave that one for next time, along with a performance at the Opera Hall, maybe even a Danube River cruise.
After returning to Vienna and visiting another museum, we once again jumped on the train and traveled to Budapest. This was also my first time visiting Hungary, and we were blown away by the beauty and history of the region. In fact, of the 5 cities we visited on this trip, Budapest is the one I want to visit again next. Two nights was not enough for all that we wanted to do. The weather was nice (but cold) throughout, so we were able to visit a couple of museums, the Central Market Hall, walk along the famous Andrássy Avenue, climb up to the top of St. Stephens Basilica to take some epic pictures of the city (below), and sample some local food. We walked across Chain Bridge to see a church built into the caves on the side of a hill (Gellért Hill Cave), but arrived just as mass got underway and closed to the public, so we missed the window. We’ll leave that one for next time, along with a performance at the Opera Hall, maybe even a Danube River cruise.
Nick and I had a great trip, but as I said at the beginning, it’s good to be home. My feet still hurt, I have some jet lag, and a stack of work piled up and waiting for me to take action. More content coming from my ESPC24 adventure, so follow this space for updates!
