SharePoint Saturday Ensenada 2019: A Dream Come True
In January of 2019, myself, Joel Oleson, Dave Leveille and Erica Toelle discussed the possibility of having an event in Baja California. The thought and motivation behind this event was: To hold an event in Mexico that brought people together. On Saturday, October 12, that milestone was achieved in Ensenada Mexico at the beautiful CETYS University. I call CETYS the “Pepperdine of Mexico” due to its similar campus location overlooking the sea.
So before I go on, what exactly is SharePoint? And what is SharePoint Saturday? Some people who attended, never heard of either. To summarize in one sentence: “SharePoint is a collaborative platform, created by Microsoft, that you can use to serve as your intranet.” I have a sentimental love for SharePoint because it has kept me employed for most of my career and has enabled me to work for its creator: Microsoft! SharePoint Saturdays are conferences that take place in cities all over the world. These events provide free knowledge sharing and networking opportunities for the local communities. 100% volunteer based, the events are paid for by sponsors who happen to be technology companies that create software that integrates with SharePoint. The events have sessions given by Speakers who are experts in the field. Before I worked for Microsoft it was, and still is, one of the best resources for learning this technology.
SharePoint Saturday Ensenada was the first one to take place in Baja and only the second such event to take place in Mexico. Dave Rendon, one of our speakers as well as a Microsoft Valued Professional (MVP), gives a great breakdown of the event in his blog.
It started off on Friday at Corona Del Valle with a dinner to thank the speakers for their gracious time sharing their knowledge as well as our sponsors for their time and money. In additional to working as a Microsoft Premier Field Engineer, I am also a wino so I loved this place. The sessions were great, the speakers discussed SharePoint, the Power Platform, SharePoint Framework as well as Microsoft Teams. One thing I wanted to do a bit differently was to add some sessions on social media and using technology to run a business. Thanks to LatinaGeeks co-founder Lala Castro for stepping up to deliver that, as well as Femgency Founder Jessie Medina.
We hope this is the first of many events in the Baja region. Technology is a uniting force that exists to make people’s lives better. Let’s continue to do that and make the world a better place for everyone. Salud!!