On my flight back from DevConnections / OpenForce 2008, I decided to write up a blog about my thoughts about the conference and post them for the community (which I could do offline with WLW).
1) My hat is off to DotNetNuke Corp. for putting together such a great conference. Based on the sessions I attended, the speakers were very good and the topics very informative. In addition there was a good selection of sessions that provided options for novice users as well as advanced users, skinner as well as module developers, etc. Hopefully in future conferences the attendance will increase, thus making the availability of more sessions likely.
2) Whether you are a Core Team member, Project Leader or Community member, you should try to attend at least one OpenForce conference. Not only is it a great opportunity to learn more about DotNetNuke (DNN), but to also allows you to meet other users of DNN. The social event Wednesday night was a great success and it was interesting to hear how others are using DNN (and there were great prizes given away). Hopefully this will become a regular event at OpenForce conferences.
3) The Keynote by Shaun Walker and the Panel Discussion at the end with the members of DNN Corp (Shaun Walker, Nik Kalyani, Joe Brinkman and Scott Willhite) were very insightful. I think that DotNetNuke Corp has some really good things planned that will be coming down the pipeline in 2009/2010. IMO, these will strengthen the base of the community and overall make DotNetNuke a better product. One of the things that was announced was the creation of the "DotNetNuke Professional Edition", which should officially be released sometime in Q1 of 2009. I personally am very excited about this announcement and cannot wait to see what kind of opportunities this opens up for me as a part time consultant. The future looks bright for DNN and for those who have built a business around DNN.
Overall it was a great conference and although I will not be able to attend every year due to company finances, I will be trying to attend as often as possible. So as I stated above, if you have never gone to one of the OpenForce conferences you should really try to go next year. It is worth the money that is charged for the conference and you will not regret going. If any other attendees would like to add their experience they had at the conference, please feel free to post them here.