Hello User Group Member:
First of all, thank you for being a member of the Orlando DotNetNuke® Users Group. As a member, you help to provide a service to the DotNetNuke® users in the Central Florida area. Many new and exciting things have happened recently that I would like to tell you about. Please TRY to read all of this newsletter. I wanted to keep it short, but there is a lot of really exciting news right now. I promise to keep it shorter for now on. Our next meeting is in September. I hope to see you all there.
Will StrohlODUG President
News
A Change in ODUG Leadership
First of all, you should already know that our users group founder is Brian Scarbeau. Until recently, he was also our user group leader. Brian has chosen to hand the honor of leading our users group to me. Brian has done an amazing job of getting us on our feet and keeping us organized. I cannot thank Brian enough for everything he has done for us so far, and for choosing me for this honor. He is still a member of our user group and I will continue to solicit his valuable input as we move forward.
Speaking of moving forward, I have many plans to get our users group to the level that I think it can be. This leadership change will also bring with it a more formal structure in leadership and planning to help our meetings and events be even more valuable to you each and every month. More on this is to come later. So stay tuned!
There's A Writer Among Us!
Brian Scarbeau, our user group founder, has just announced that he is co-writing a book with a couple other people that many of us know, Stan Schultes, Tracy Wittenkeller, and Darrell Hardy. Together, they are writing a book for Wrox about DotNetNuke® version 5 (code named, Cambrian). There is not yet a known release date for the book. CONGRATULATIONS Brian! We are all proud of you!
OpenForce Connect - Orlando 2008 Videos
If you were there, you know that I filmed the DotNetNuke® OpenForce Connect event that was held in Orlando on June 8th. Well, since this is my first video endeavor, it took me a while, but I finally have all of the videos posted to our web site. Since I am a newbie, I ended up using YouTube to publish the videos to save time, though I probably didn't save any time at all. If you know of an easier way, let me know.
INETA Champions Program
With our users group being part of INETA, I recently came across a really cool program that rewards people for their contributions to the .Net community. Basically, you track your community contributions on their web site, and you earn free stuff! Among this "stuff" can be a multitude of techie products, software, MSDN licenses, and more. Anyone can benefit, so create an account and see what areas of participation best fit you. It is called the Community Champions Program. Check it out! FYI - All points earned are also automatically entered into the Community Credit web site.
Tips & Tricks Forum
If you have browsed our web site anytime since its inception, you may have noticed the Tips and Tricks Forum. We intend for this to be an area to help our local members solve and work through common issues. As a start, I have published many of my own tips and tricks from my blog. I hope that you too can contribute to this area to make it more valuable for all of us. FYI - This is one of the areas that qualify for the Community Champions Program mentioned above.
CodeZone
CodeZone is a really cool web site that links user groups together. It provides us many services, including study groups for the Microsoft exams and coupons for the exam. It provides our user group many opportunities to earn products that we can giveaway at our meetings. One of the things that will increase the number of giveaways and resources is to use their site for meeting registration. Also, they automatically report our user group information to INETA for us. Moving forward, this is how we will track our users group meeting registrations. I mean, you want free stuff... Right?
Jacksonville Code Camp IV
The Jacksonville Code Camp returns on August 23rd. Mike Webb and I have been gathering local speakers again in an attempt to have another DotNetNuke® track like we have had in the Orlando Code Camp. It doesn't look like we will be successful in having a DotNetNuke® track, but we will certainly have a handful of valuable sessions about DotNetNuke®. Additionally, it IS a FREE code camp, so why not drive up there and check it out next month?
Speakers & Sessions For Future Meetings
September, October and December are all booked for speakers at our meetings. I am also waiting for another speaker to formally accept for November. I cannot release the details of this speaker or their topic until I receive final confirmation.
That being said, I have been both brain storming and looking through common areas of confusion or difficulty mentioned on the DotNetNuke® Forums where we might also want to learn more about. Here are some of the sessions I think might be useful:
- DotNetNuke® version 5 (Cambrian)
- Vendors Module (in the Admin & Host menu)
- Repository Module
- User Defined Table Module
- Reports Module
- Subscription Services (paid)
- Store Module
- Module Development
- Skin Object Development
- DNN Site Optimization
If any of those sound like something you or someone you know can present to the user group, let me know.
The ODUG Has Sponsors!
This is the part of the newsletter that I could not wait to write to you about! I am extremely excited at the new partnerships our user group has made. All of these partnerships bring something unique and valuable to all of us. For any of the sponsored benefits that should only be available to our user group members, the details will be posted in the Resources area on our web site soon. Here are a some of the generous sponsors that have committed to supporting the ODUG in various ways:
I have more sponsors on my list that I cannot mention yet, many of which are DNN vendors, so stay tuned. Also, the only way to win one of our giveaways is to register for and attend our meetings. So make sure you stop by so YOU can win this cool stuff!
Upcoming Local User Group Events
See our events calendar for more details...
Closing Remarks
In closing, I would like to let you know that all future newsletters will be in a graphical design. The ODUG has partnered with a local graphic designer who will be providing the graphics and design for our newsletters. Also, the ODUG has a CafePress store now. Get your ODUG swag and show it off at our next meeting! :) See you then!
Will StrohlODUG President