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DNN Blog
Jun
12
Posted by:
Joe Brinkman
6/12/2008 7:06 AM
This past weekend myself and 200 others descended on Orlando Florida for the first ever OpenForce Connect conference. The OpenForce Connect series is designed to be a locally run event in the mold of a Code Camp or Bar Camp. The Orlando DNN User Group did an excellent job of lining up a great group of speakers and helping to promote the event throughout Florida. Each speaker brought a unique perspective to DotNetNuke and even taught me a few tidbits about DNN that I didn’t know.
The event received pretty good coverage from DotNetNuke bloggers. Tom Kraak has a good live blog on the days events. Will Strohl gives his take on the days events with a nice summary of each session. Brian Scarbeau includes some amazing information about the event itself, including the fact that people were flying from all over the world just to attend this event.
Joe Healy, of the Microsoft Developer Evangelists for Florida and the event coordinator for the TechEd InBetween events, was very pleased with the overall turnout for OpenForce Connect. We had the largest attendance for all of the Sunday events, which did not go unnoticed.
There is one aspect of the OpenForce Conferences that I think does not get enough press: OpenForce conferences are a great place to meet and network with other individuals in the DotNetNuke community. I love the hallway discussions and the after-hours events where you really get a chance to talk one on one with other community members. Since the Internet can be so impersonal, it is nice to put a face to the names that we deal with every day online. I find that I am more forgiving of online comments when I actually have had the opportunity to get to know and understand an individual. These mini-friendships help smooth over any communication challenges online and in the end just go to help strengthen our community. So if you don’t go for any other reason, I think it is well worth your time to go just for the networking opportunities.
Finally, I want to say thank you to all the sponsors who made this event possible: DNNSpired, Hardy Consulting, Active Modules, MaximumASP, Arrow Consulting and Design, Seablick Consulting, t-Worx, DNNCovered, Applied Innovations and IHost
6 comment(s) so far...
Re: DotNetNuke OpenForce Connect Orlando makes a splash
This was an excellent event. Thanks for doing it!
By DrewTheRat on
6/13/2008 3:55 AM
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Re: DotNetNuke OpenForce Connect Orlando makes a splash
Joe,
It was a great way to spend a summer Sunday, even after flying in from Maryland late Saturday night. I'm hoping that the "slide decks" will be available soon so that I can start to share this information with my colleagues.
I learned a few things, met some people with interests I need to explore, and I've already enjoyed that little extra that came with the RSVP code.
I'm looking forward to Las Vegas in November!
By jncraig on
6/13/2008 3:55 AM
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Re: DotNetNuke OpenForce Connect Orlando makes a splash
Thanks again for coming down Joe, it was a great day for DNN and the community.
And I wholeheartedly agree, the networking opportunities that events like this provide are second to none.
By tkraak on
6/13/2008 3:56 AM
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Re: DotNetNuke OpenForce Connect Orlando makes a splash
Joe - The Orlando DNN community thanks you and the DNN Corp. - Shawn, Nic and Scott - for flying in for the event. It was just as important for us to associate your personalities to the faces we often see on the DotNetNuke website and on bookcovers. The round table discussion at the hotel after the event proved to be the perfect complement to an informative and enjoyable afternoon.
By kamstutz on
10/3/2008 6:19 AM
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Re: DotNetNuke OpenForce Connect Orlando makes a splash
Hope you guys do one in the midwest sometime.
By pwegrzy on
10/3/2008 6:19 AM
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Re: DotNetNuke OpenForce Connect Orlando makes a splash
Wow! I cannot believe that I just now came across this blog entry! :) It was so cool to speak with and hang out with everyone at OpenForce Connect Orlando. I cannot wait until the next time. There will be a next time, right? :)
By hismightiness on
10/3/2008 6:19 AM
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