User Groups

Wally McClure Coming to the Southern Maryland .NET User Group

Frank — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:50:00 GMT

Wally McClure, well known MVP, podcaster and Microsoft Insider is coming to speak at the Southern Maryland .NET User Group on Monday.

He'll be there courtesy of INETA to speak about the ASP.NET Update Panel Control.

Details:

Date / Time: Monday, April 14, 2008 6:00 PM Add to Outlook
Presentation: ASP.NET UpdatePanel by Wally McClure
Meeting Location: Holly III - California, MD [Map]
Summary: Wally McClure is a well known MVP as well as a Microsoft Insider. This event is sponsored by INETA. Please visit INETA at http://www.ineta.org
Speaker Bio: Wallace B. (Wally) McClure INETA Speaker's Bureau Microsoft MVP ASPInsider Co-author of "Beginning AJAX with ASP.NET" Co-author of "Professional ADO.NET Programming" Co-author of "Building Highly Scalable Database Applications with .NET" Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech
Flyer: APR08_FLYER.doc

Technorati Tags: INETA,Wally McClure,Southern Maryland,Developer Community

Tips on Starting a User Group

Frank — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:40:00 GMT

At the Heroes Happen Here launch event in DC, I fielded some questions from folks looking to start a user group.

Chris Williams offers some tips on starting a User Group.

Reduce the amount of time people have to speak.
Instead of having one guy talk for an hour (very intimidating to new speakers) pick a theme for the month and have 4 or 5 guys talk for 10-15 minutes on the topic. Think about it, most people can easily talk about a topic of interest for this long without even really trying.
Not every meeting needs a presentation! Just a topic.
Consider offering a round-table discussion format for one of your meetings... skipping the speaker altogether. Get people discussing a specific topic, and occasionally jumping up to draw something out on the whiteboard while the discussion continues.
Figure out your slowest month and plan an alternate activity.
In some places, the summer months can really kill the attendance of user groups. In other places, it's around the holidays. Pick the month that typically has the worst attendance and skip the meeting that month. Instead, offer something else fun to do. Perhaps a pub night, or a Geek Dinner at a local restaurant. Maybe even a cookout. (Try to involve your local Microsoft DE in this event... they have budgets for this sort of thing.)
Try to plan as far in advance as possible.
This probably falls under common sense, but the longer you plan stuff out, the more people will hear about your event and show up. If you can schedule at least 2-3 months in advance, you can typically count on pretty decent attendance (and better yet, people who are more likely to be interested in the specific topic.)
Promote, promote, promote!
Starting a user group is way easier than sustaining one. Getting the word out for the initial meeting can be easy, because of the buzz surrounding something new. The trick is getting people to show up for the following meetings... and getting new people who may not have heard about the group until recently.

I'd also like to add one more thing to the list:

Believe in your ideas and not what other people tell you.

A lot of people told me that there was no way that Richmond could support one, let alone multiple user groups. There are now four (at last count), plus a monthly geek dinner.

If that weren't enough, the fifth Richmond Code Camp in two years is taking place later this month.

You wouldn't believe how many people told me *that* was impossible.

The bottom line is that you're not alone.

If you feel the need to start a user group, chances are there are others that feel the same way.

All you need is a "first mover" to start the process and ignite the enthusiasm already around you.

You can be the first mover.

My role with INETA is to help user group leaders get started and plugged-in to INETA's resources to help get their groups off the ground.

If you're in DC, Maryland, or Delaware and want to know more about starting a user group or help connecting with INETA, let me know.

Technorati Tags: User Group,Chris Williams,INETA,RichmondVA,Developer Community

Andy Leonard Speaking at RV.NUG Thursday

Frank — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:09:00 GMT

Database guru, all around great guy and groomsman in my wedding, Andy Leonard will be speaking at the Roanoke Valley .NET User Group this Thursday.

Details below:

April Meeting: Testing the Database - Andy Leonard

When: 4/3/2008 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Add to Outlook/iCalendar
Where: NEW Roanoke County Public Safety Building

Abstract:

In this presentation I cover types of database tests and an introduction to testing using Visual Studio Team System Database Edition. Highlights include a custom test condition and an overview of ETL testing. BIO: Andy Leonard is a SQL Server database and Integration Services developer, SQL Server MVP, Solid Quality Mentor, engineer and author.

Technorati Tags: Roanoke,RVNUG,Andy Leonard,Unit Testing

Geek Dinner in Richmond, VA

Frank — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:59:00 GMT

Justin Etheridge is organizing the first Geek Dinner in Richmond on Feb 19.

When: February 19th at 7:00pm
Where: Capital Ale House Innsbrook (Good food, good drinks)

The Capital Ale House Innsbrook also has free Wi-Fi. ;)

Technorati Tags: Justin Etheridge,Geek Dinner,Richmond,Developer Community

NoVA Code Camp Call for Speakers

Frank — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 23:52:00 GMT

The upcoming NoVa Code Camp takes place Nov 17 ( Register | Add to Calendar) and they're looking for speakers.

Code Camps are a great way to share information, meet other members of the local developer community and an excellent place to get started giving user group talks.

If you don’t feel up to giving a whole session, Scott and Jeff are introducing “lightning talks” to NoVA Code Camp.

“If you don't think you're ready for a full session, or maybe your topic doesn't need a full session, why not consider submitting a lightning talk (quick 5-10 minute mind meld telling us why we must know about _____).”

Visit the Speakers Page for more information.

Technorati tags: Code Camp, NoVA, NoVA Code Camp

Cap Area .NET Meeting Tonight

Frank — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:18:00 GMT

Tonight Chad Boyd presents a A Walking Tour of SQL Server 2008 Code Names Katmai

Chad is an Advisory Support Engineer / Premier Engineer for Sql Server and Clustered systems with Microsoft Corporation responsible for providing onsite and remote support, guidance, and advice with SQL Server products to some of Microsoft’s foremost enterprise customers.

He also likes to dress retro-style.

Technorati tags: Katmai, Chad Boyd, CapArea, SQL Server 2008

Kevin Goff at N3UG Tomorrow Night

Frank — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 13:09:00 GMT

Kevin Goff, speaker, author, and all around nice guy will be presenting his "Crash Course on WCF" tomorrow night at the North Jersey .NET User Group (N3UG).

Kevin is one of the highest rated speakers ever to present at any of the Richmond Code Camps and he routinely fills up any of the rooms we put him in, no matter how big.

So, if you're in the North Jersey area and want to learn a thing or two about WCF, then definitely check out Kevin's talk.

Technorati tags: WCF, Kevin Goff

Slides from Last Week's Richmond.NET User Group Meeting

Frank — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 15:06:00 GMT

I've posted my slide deck from last week's Richmond.NET User Group meeting on SlideShare.

SlideShare is a free service that allows you to upload your presentation and share it online. Right now, they do not support PPTX (PowerPoint 2007), so you'll have to save in good, old PPT or PPS. The site can even understand PDF files.

Slide decks can also be tagged and searched across. There are plenty of good WPF and user experience slides, including this one entitled "The Age of the UX."

My colleague, Russell Stalters, told me about the service and how easy it was to upload documents and embed them in blog posts. He has a lot of presentations up there on the site.

Technorati tags: SlideShare, PowerPoint, PowerPoint 2007, WPF, Richmond VA, Developer, Device Development, Embedded, Tablet PC, Mobile Computing

Speaking at CapArea.NET This Month

Frank — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 16:16:00 GMT

I will be speaking at the CapArea.NET User Group this month, presenting on Developing for the Tablet PC.

So, stop by and hold on to your tax refund.

Details:

Developing for the Tablet PC - Frank La Vigne

Tuesday, March 27, 2007 at 7:00 PM
Learn all about the the basics for building Smart Client applications that leverage the portability and power of the Tablet PC platform. In this session, Frank La Vigne introduces developers to the hardware, software, and development options available to building out Smart Client solutions on the Tablet PC. Adding Ink functionality can dramatically add value to existing applications without adding significant amounts of code and we will see just how easy it can be to take an existing application and add support for Digital Ink, handwriting recognition, and document recognition..

Technorati tags: Tablet PC, User Groups, CapArea, Washington, DC

CMAP Code Camp

Frank — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 09:39:00 GMT

So far, 2007 is shaping up to be the year of the Mid-Atlantic Code Camp.

There's one this weekend in Roanoke, VA and two more in VA in April (Richmond and Reston).

Now, Maryland is joining in on the fun.

Central Maryland Association of .NET Professionals (CMAP) will holding its first Code Camp on April 21, 2007. The Code Camp will be held from 9am - 7pm at the UMBC Tech Center in Catonsville, MD.

Source: Christopher Steen : CMAP Code Camp

Technorati tags: CMAP, Code Camp, Microsoft, Developer Community