Last week I was in Toronto for the week conducting some DotNetNuke Training for a DotNetNuke Professional Edition client. While I was there I got the opportunity to deliver a presentation at the local DotNetNuke user group, www.tadug.ca. The user group leader, Paul Scarlett, picked me up after my training was done on Wednesday evening and we headed out to Ajax to the user group meeting.
Side note: One of the things I enjoy most about my involvement with the DotNetNuke project over the years is the people I’ve had the opportunity to meet and keep in touch with, Paul is one of those great community members. He’s been around DNN for a number of years and travels to the various conferences and even heads down to some of the Orlando DNN User Group meetings on occasion. He’s a nice guy, and I get to talk cars with him, so it’s always great to meet up. The people you meet that are heavily involved with DotNetNuke become friends, and I definitely consider Paul a friend.
Alright, back on topic! So Paul and I headed up to Ajax, had a bite to eat for dinner and then went to the location for the user group meeting. When we got there Aderson from DNNHero.com and one or maybe two other people were there. I thought, uh oh, it looks like I couldn’t overcome the power of Game 7 Hockey as the Montreal Canadians were playing the Pittsburgh Penguins that evening in the playoffs. Fortunately for me DNN won over a large number of people and the room filled up, it took a bit after the initial start time, but it was great to see the turnout for TADUG’s second meeting!
Paul did the intro for the meeting with this cartoonish logo that he had created for the group (seen earlier in this post). I found out during the intro that his brother (or was it brother-in-law) is handy with the art and created that graphic, which leads to the next slide that was displayed on the screen, one that I am sure Will Strohl will get a kick out of. I believe the original inspiration for the graphic was the photo used on the cover of our book published last year, DotNetNuke 5: A User’s Guide.
So my session for the user group was on the various best practices I and other have picked up over the years of using DotNetNuke. I always wonder if the session is actually useful, I’ve given it a number of times, but everyone seems to just eat it up! Everyone likes to know what the best practices for DNN are as they can be small but important things, it is always interesting to get the feedback after the session.
After the user group meeting a few of us headed out to a local watering hole, unfortunately the local guys who suggested the watering hole didn’t know it was no longer there! 7 or 8 of us ended up finding another watering hole and met up there for a few drinks. Another cool thing about DNN and DNN people is that everyone has their own story, their own successes and their own struggles. It is interesting to hear what other people see from the platform, especially after they have a few drinks! :)
Thanks again to Paul and the members of TADUG for graciously hosting me last week, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them. Also thanks to Bob Scarborough for taking the pictures at the user group! Below are a few more photos that he took.
Are you a member of a DotNetNuke User Group? If not, you could be! Check out the User Groups page, see if there is a local group near you, if not, why not start one up! If you have a user group and are looking for speakers shoot me an email. Most DNN folks are willing to give presentations at local groups when they travel, and often times that can save you from having to search for a speaker and funding to pay for travel! Rob Chartier, DotNetNuke Corp VP, Engineering & Support, was just in Boston earlier this week and gave a presentation at the user group out there. Stay tuned for his blog post on that trip.
