Based on the CodeCamps, which while similar are very different from BarCamps, comes Toronto SharePoint Camp. It looks like a very promising event for developers and administrators of SharePoint. There are 15 speaking slots and the organizing group is actively recruiting speakers (it looks like submissions were due by September 26, 2007, so you’re probably out of luck). But registration and “call for volunteers”: http://www.torontosharepointcamp.com/Lists/Toronto%20SharePoint%20Camp%20News/DispForm.aspx?ID=3 are open.
This free event will be hosted by the Toronto SharePoint User Group with a supporting cast of many fantastic volunteers and guest speakers.
There will be three tracks: Developer, Administrator, and Champion/Architect. There will be 15-18 presentations total in 3 to 5 theatres. The space should comfortably accommodate 200 to 300 attendees. TSP Camp will follow the CodeCamp manifesto: free, volunteer-run, brand-agnostic, less talk, more rock. Speaker slots will be first-come, first-served though there will be a bias for practical non-commercial presentations.
I haven’t used SharePoint a lot until I arrived at Microsoft. I would still often looking at other CMS solutions, that is probably because of my experience with other platforms (Drupal, WordPress and ColdFusion-based CMSs). The integration of SharePoint and Office applications is great. I am definitely not a fan of the SharePoint user experience, there is a lot of room for improvement particularly on non-MS platforms, there are companies like Habanero and tools like the Community Kit for SharePoint that can help improve the experience. With more companies building SharePoint-based Internet sites it’s interesting to see discussions focusing on improving the user experience for SharePoint.
It’s great to see community-driven events like Toronto SharePoint Camp and SilverlightDevCampChicago and SilverlightDevCampSF engaging the community instead of relying solely on Microsoft events (calendar of Canadian events).