Got Work? INETA: Career Webinars Series

We know that times might be tough right now, and we want to help! INETA in partnership with Sherlock Technology (http://sherstaff.com) is pleased to present the INETA: Career Webinars Series. So if you need help seeking new employment, tweaking your resume, or better positioning yourself at your current job this webcast series is for you! Attend them live via LiveMeeting or watch the recordings on INETA Live (http://live.ineta.org).  Hector Hernandez and Alex Funkhouser of Sherlock Technology Staffing will present.

Recorded Webcasts

You don't need talent to succeed, but Everything else Counts... was presented by Hector Hernandez on April 30, 2009

Upcoming Webcasts

*All times are Eastern US/Canada

How to talk to your manager about your career and actually make it happen... - May 21, 2009, 6:00 PM

This career discussion will help you with the following questions and suggest some career changing ideas that can put you in the right position to compete and meet your aspirations. When I start my job, how do I initiate a conversation about my future? Is this normal, and when do I do this? I am relatively new and I work from home—how do I obtain guidance to move my career forward? How do I use social networks to increase my chances of moving my career and professional relationships forward? How do I get others to recognize my leadership skills and contributions?. Everyone around us is like a recruiter. Managers, supervisors and executives are always looking for that special individual who can bring leadership into the organization, regardless if you are inside or outside the company. Everything we do on daily basis counts and matters, when studies show that close to 35% of resumes contain inaccuracies, screening becomes difficult. We need to be able to back up the resume with explanations of how our skills were applied and accomplishments achieved. All of this can be learned and applied for success. These and many more questions are explored with real tips on how you can write a great resume, move your career and your life in a positive direction.
Register

Unlocking the hidden value of your organization through people, technology and innovation... - June 4, 2009, 6:00 PM

The implications of collaborative innovation are many—the most important being its potential to reshape not just individual enterprises, but whole industries, perhaps even entire economies. Hector believes in investing in innovation in good and bad times. This session covers the alignment of business and technology to create a flexible environment that fosters innovation without permission. How do we get the most out of your employees and how does the employee get the most out of management. Its a WIN-WIN proposition. This session will provide insights on how to unlock all of the assets that are hidden in an organization. i.e., technical, communications, services, experiences, and most important, the employees capabilities and desires. Unlocking thought leadership and innovation is at the heart of this presentation.
Register

Unlock YOUR potential, by Applying the New Language of Business - CTRL-ALT-DEL your Career - June 18, 2009, 6:00 PM

Your capacity for change and growth will determine your full potential. The global landscape and a new language of business is now a key differentiator and a competitive weapon you can use to advance your career. The individuals who understand the new global requirements for aligning business and technology and think like "T" thinkers increase their opportunities for job advancement and success. The implications of collaborative innovation are many, the most important being its potential to reshape not just individual enterprises, but whole industries, perhaps even entire economies. Hector believes that you need to invest in yourself in good and bad times. What can you do now to get ready to compete in these challenging economic times? What is the new vocabulary that needs to be part of your resume. You need to have compelling reasons on why you are the right candidate. The resume is your infomercial to landing a job or a promotion. This session will help you unlock your inner capabilities to manifest your career and personal desires/aspirations. It will also provide you with tactics and strategies to increase your chances for career advancement by understanding the new language of business and having your resume reflected.
Register

Just in case you missed the INETA April newsletter, here are some links to the highlights. To subscribe to the newsletter, please register at www.ineta.org

INETA Booth at TechEd

http://www.ineta.org/newsletters/2009_04.htm#A30

TechEd BOF Session Hosts needed

http://www.ineta.org/newsletters/2009_04.htm#A10

Champs for Q1 Announced

http://www.ineta.org/newsletters/2009_04.htm#A20

Upcoming INETA Live and INETA: Career webcasts

http://www.ineta.org/newsletters/2009_04.htm#A77

Virtual User Groups

http://www.ineta.org/newsletters/2009_04.htm#A77a

WomenBuild at TechEd

http://www.ineta.org/newsletters/2009_04.htm#A80

Keeping up with INETA

http://www.ineta.org/newsletters/2009_04.htm#A93

Community Events

http://www.ineta.org/newsletters/2009_04.htm#A93a

Upcoming Speakers Bureau Events

http://www.ineta.org/newsletters/2009_04.htm#A95

From the blog of Steve Andrews

One of my initiatives as Director of Technology for INETA is to further develop INETA Live. To that end, Rachel Appel and I will be hosting five exciting live webcasts this month on Live Meeting, all from INETA speakers. Details below, and remember to stay tuned for more exciting content from INETA Live. If you are interested in doing a live webcast on INETA Live, please contact me.

* All times are Eastern US/Canada

Pete Brown – A Lap Around Silverlight 3
When: April 21st, 2009 at 12:00pm
Host: Rachel Appel
Link: https://www323.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=ZBZ3KJ&role=attend

Abstract: Join us for a lap around the new features in Silverlight 3 ranging from business application development to rich media, validation, navigation and out of browser support. If you’re new to Silverlight 3, or new to Silverlight itself, you’ll want to join us for this end-to-end look at Microsoft’s premier RIA platform. We’ll cover the basics from Silverlight 2, but focus primarily on the new announcements from mix09 and new features in Silverlight 3.

Bio: Pete Brown is a Microsoft MVP for Client Application Development (Silverlight and WPF), an INETA speaker, and an Architect/Project Manager for Applied Information Sciences in the Washington, DC area. From his first sprite graphics and custom character sets on the Commodore 64 to 3d modeling and design through to Silverlight, Surface, XNA, and WPF, Pete has always had a deep interest in programming, design, and user experience. His involvement in Silverlight goes back to the Silverlight 1.1 alpha application that he co-wrote and put into production in July 2007. Pete has been programming for fun since 1984, and professionally since 1992. In his spare time, Pete enjoys programming, blogging, designing and building his own woodworking projects and raising his two children with his wife in the suburbs of Maryland. Pete’s blog is at http://www.irritatedVowel.com/Blog , and you can follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pete_brown.

Steve Andrews – Visual Studio 2008 Tips and Treats
When: April 22nd, 2009 at 12:00pm
Host: Rachel Appel
Link: https://www323.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=TNTB2N&role=attend

Abstract: Based on real life experience of 8+ hours a day developing with Visual Studio, learn some sweet tips and tricks to tame the IDE. With something new for everyone, these techniques will give you valuable information to start using right away, increase your productivity, and make you wonder how you survived all this time without them.

Bio: Steve Andrews is a Team System MVP and INETA Board Member and Speaker, and has been working as a developer for more than 9 years. During this time, he has designed and developed applications in such widely varying areas as trust accounting, medical information management, supply chain management, and retail systems. Steve is also a MCTS, ICSOO, and community fanatic.

Claudio Lassala – Design Patterns in .NET
When: April 27th, 2009 at 12:00pm
Host: Steve Andrews
Link: https://www323.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=P648S9&role=attend

Abstract: Design Patterns are used every day by most developers in one way or another. A basic understanding of patterns and how to implement them is very useful for all .NET developers, and this session tries to clarify design patterns in a way that everybody can understand and start thinking about patterns in a more natural way.

Bio: Claudio Lassala is a Senior Developer at EPS Software Corp. He has presented several lectures at Microsoft events such as PDC Brazil and various other Microsoft seminars, as well as several conferences and user groups across North America and Brazil. He is a multiple winner of the Microsoft MVP Award since 2001 (for Visual FoxPro in 2001-2002, and for C# ever since), an INETA speaker, and also holds the MCSD for .NET certification. He has articles published on several magazines, such as MSDN Brazil Magazine, CoDe Magazine, UTMag, Developers Magazine, and FoxPro Advisor.Claudio blogs at http://claudiolassala.spaces.live.com, and can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ClaudioLassala. More detailed information regarding his presentations and articles can be found in his MVP Profile.

Amanda Laucher – TBD
When: April 28th, 2009 at 12:00pm
Host: Rachel Appel
Link: TBD

Abstract: TBD

Bio: Amanda Laucher is a software developer/architect focusing on Microsoft technologies. She is currently based in Columbus, OH and working with The Sophic Group.

Rachel Appel – TBD
When: April 30th, 2009 at 12:00pm
Host: Steve Andrews 
Link: TBD

Abstract: TBD

Bio: Rachel has been working as a mentor, instructor, software developer, architect and DBA for nearly 20 years. During her career, Rachel has worked with a variety of languages, technologies and systems and has contributed to projects of all sizes including large scale enterprise applications at some of the world’s leading companies. Rachel is the Vice President of the .Net Valley user group, as well as a leader and regular speaker in the Philly.NET and Central Penn.NET user groups of Pennsylvania. She can also be found speaking at code camps, user groups, community events and conferences. Rachel’s expertise lies within developing solutions that align business and technology using the Microsoft .NET family of products, particularly ASP.NET & SQL Server. She is also an ASP.NET MVP, ASPInsider and holds the Microsoft Certified Trainer, MCAD & MCSD certifications. She is also a member of the INETA speakers bureau. In 2008 Rachel has joined the team at Wintellect as a hired gun

Microsoft is running a Silverlight Game contest which closes April 30th. We want to encourage the INETA Developer Community to get involved. If your app wins, we’ll also provide an extra special INETA prize pack! (If it’s not an INETA entry that wins, we’ll divide up the prizes amongst the INETA entries).

How will we know it’s you? In order to track your game as an INETA entry, we need you to either include INETA in the title or description of the game, or preferably display and INETA logo somewhere in your game! (Somewhere relatively easy to find).

To participate please visit the contest site at http://www.serverquestcontest.com and check out the contest trailer.

<br/><a href="http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=4273f306-a750-4ba5-9427-b586e46fe672" target="_new" title="Server Quest Trailer">Video: Server Quest Trailer</a>

Please join us on Wednesday April 15th at 10AM PST for special community webcast hosted by Microsoft Patterns and Practices to provide and overview of Building composite applications with WPF and Silverlight.

You are invited to attend attend an online meeting using Microsoft® Office Communications Server.

Join the meeting

Make sure the Office Live Meeting client is installed before the meeting:

· I am connecting from outside the Microsoft network

AUDIO INFORMATION

To join a meeting from your phone, dial in using the following information:

Find a local phone number for your region

Conference ID:  5931235

        Passcode:       Passcode is not required.

        Note: If you have an account on this corporate network, use your PIN to join. Have you set your PIN?

TROUBLESHOOTING

Unable to join the meeting?  Start Office Live Meeting and join the meeting with the following information:

        Meeting ID:     8f751cd31be2416db89dda3ace1d5eb4

        Entry Code:     3318

        Location:       meet:sip:ajoyk@microsoft.com;gruu;opaque=app:conf:focus:id:8f751cd31be2416db89dda3ace1d5eb4%3Fconf-key=3318

If you still cannot enter the meeting, contact support:

· Outside the Microsoft network

Are you a proud Microsoft Certified Professional? Do you want to win a free trip to Tech·Ed 2009?

Enter the Microsoft Learning Get on the Bus contest and you could display your pride and attend Tech·Ed for free!

We are seeking six passionate Microsoft Certified Professionals to join us on the Career Express for the Get on the Bus 11-day odyssey across the United States. The Career Express will travel from Atlanta to Los Angeles, ending at Tech·Ed on May 11^th. If you want to take your career to the next level, Tech·Ed 2009 is the place to be.

MCPs who enter online and attend an event in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Denver, Phoenix, or Las Vegas will have the chance to compete to win a seat on the bus to travel with the Microsoft Learning Community Leaders and Evangelists while we blog, Twitter, video blog and have a great time going across the US and meeting MCPs! But you have to enter to win! Visit the Microsoft Learning blog, Born to Learn, for details on how to enter and to find out what we’ll be doing when we come through your city. We’ll be hosting MCP meet-ups where you can geek-out with us. We’ll be hanging out with the Windows Server 2008 R2 folks in some cities and we’ll be giving out Microsoft swag. From study breaks at colleges and universities to MS Press author signings, we’re going to be bringing Microsoft to your town, so don’t miss out!

Don’t miss the bus! Registration for the contest ends at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time on April 6^th

INETA NorAm is pleased to announce the election of the following individuals to the Board of Directors starting April 3rd.

Rob Zelt, President
Mike Vincent, Vice President
Scott Spradlin, Secretary
Morgan Baker, Treasurer
Steve Andrews, Director
Lori McKinney, Director
Randy Walker, Director
Shawn Weisfeld, Director
Chris Williams, Director

We look forward to having this great group of people working on behalf of the developer community. We would also like to thank all of the other individuals that were nominated, and hope that they will join us in helping grow our community.

INETA Community Champion Award Winners

Please join us in congratulating the recipients of the Q4 2008 INETA Community Champion Award!

• Adam Machanic - New England SQL Server Users Group
• Chris Eargle - Columbia Enterprise Developers Guild
• Teresa Hennig - Pacific Northwest Access Developer Group and Seattle Access Group
• Supriyo ‘SB’ Chatterjee - Connecticut .NET Developers Group
• Chris Hammond - St. Louis DNN User Group
• Scott Cate - Arizona .NET User Group
• Greg Pugh - TRINUG (Triangle Net User Group)
• Randy Walker - Northwest Arkansas .NET User Group (NWADNUG)
• Art Villa - LA C# Developer's Group and Southern California .Net Developers Group
• Toi Wright - Dallas ASP.NET User Group

The purpose of the INETA Community Champion Award program is to recognize individuals with the highest levels of contributions. Those exceptional leaders and volunteers who devote innumerable hours towards hosting user group meetings, organizing Code Camps and special events, mentoring and supporting their members, publishing newsletters, updating web sites, and the list goes on and on. The Community Champion program provides INETA with an opportunity to showcase the efforts of our user group communities as a whole as well as provide individual recognition. Recognition that we hope will open doors to networking opportunities, potential sponsors, future employers or partnerships.

Special thanks to everyone who took the time and energy to participate in this program. Keep contributing to your local developer community and submit your activities through the Champs program. This is your chance to show the world what community leadership is all about and to gain some of the recognition that you deserve! For additional information and to view past winners, please go to Community Champions Award section of the INETA web site.

For a limited time (exact timeframe is TBD), there is a 50% off discount on Microsoft Expression Studio, Expression Blend and Expression Web through the new Microsoft Online Store. *Please Note this is is US Only*

http://store.microsoft.com/microsoft/design/category/601

The Microsoft patterns & practices (p&p) team is responsible for delivering applied engineering guidance that helps software architects, developers, and their teams take full advantage of Microsoft's platform technologies in their custom application development efforts. Starting January 21, they will be hosting a monthly technical sessions over live meeting. For January's session, p&p team will be presenting their recently released SharePoint Guidance. http://www.microsoft.com/spg

We encourage you to reach out to any of your user group members and anyone interested in SharePoint and share this opportunity with them. This is a great opportunity to interact and get questions answered by those directly involved with the project!

Attend today's 1:00 EST webcast: meet:sip:ajoyk@microsoft.com;gruu;opaque=app:conf:focus:id:311e63060e044b2682506039bc892bc3%3Fconf-key=4X4wO4i2v52

Please help us congratulate the 16 new speakers welcomed into the INETA NORAM Speakers Bureau! (in no particular order):

1. Chris Williams
2. Keith Elder
3. Jason Bock
4. Claudio Lassala
5. Rachel Appel
6. Andrew Dunn
7. Chris Love
8. Cory Smith
9. Tim Rayburn
10. Jim Wooley
11. Rob Windsor
12. Amanda Laucher
13. Adam Machanic
14. Stuart Celarier
15. Pete Brown
16. Steve Andrews

Thank you to all who submitted applications. The selection process was very difficult and the number of applicants overwhelming, because of this we will be having a second round in the first quarter of 2009.

More than 35.5 million people in the United States and Canada will go hungry during the holidays.

The Challenge: For all user groups to hold a food drive at their meeting this month. There is plenty of need, especially this year!

http://www.geekfooddrive.com/

“As a little incentive, we are offering the following rewards for those groups who bring in the most donations based on the following ratio: Total Items Collected / Number of Attendees. Prizes will be awarded on or before January 15^th, 2009 and all claims must be submitted by January 12^th, 2008.”

Microsoft Learning has released a collection of valuable offers for the INETA user group community.  Get the Microsoft Learning products that you want for less. Take advantage today of these special offers for developers by visiting:  http://www.microsoft.com/learning/offers

· Get a free “Second Shot” at passing a Microsoft Certification exam, please visit:  http://www.microsoft.com/learning/secondshot

· For free offers and learning “snacks” on Windows Server 2008, please visit:  http://www.microsoft.com/learning/windowsserver2008

· For savings on SQL Server learning resources, please visit:  http://www.microsoft.com/learning/sql/2008

· Get great savings on Virtualization learning resources at:  http://www.microsoft.com/learning/virtualization

Free Microsoft Learning “Snacks”

Learning Snacks are free, short, interactive presentations about popular topics and have been created by Microsoft Learning experts.  Each Snack is delivered by using innovative Microsoft Silverlight technology and includes various media, such as animations and recorded demos.  Time-strapped?  You can learn something new in less than five minutes!  Try a “snack” today @ http://www.microsoft.com/learning/snacks

Get a FREE Second Shot at Microsoft Certification

Second Shot is back!  Microsoft Certifications are the best way to stay up to speed on the latest MS technologies.  Now, for a limited time, you can get an extra chance to pass any Microsoft IT Professional, Developer, or Microsoft Dynamics Certification exam – free. Register for this offer before your first exam and you’ll get two shots at success.  Register now @ http://www.microsoft.com/learning/secondshot

Coming up on Oct 3 is a Deep Dive on Virtual Earth web cast on Channel 9. Learn about the next major release of Virtual Earth. Come see the improvements to the parsing and geo-coding engines, clustering, localization, and routing. Hear how the new Virtual Earth Web Services provides server-side support for building location-based applications on desktops and mobile devices.

For the new stuff, they have just released version 6.2 AND Virtual Earth Web Services 1.0. Check out Mark Brown's blog for all the details.

Also, there are some really interesting background presentations on Virtual Earth available that you shouldn't miss. Behind the Maps - UltraCam gives you a detailed look at the cameras used to photograph map images. You'll learn about the cameras and software and get an up close look at both.

Then, join Mark for Behind the Maps - Flying the UltraCam for a flight over Philadelphia to see how Keystone Aerial Surveys uses the UltraCam to capture Virtual Earth imagery.

Finally, get into the rich array of developer tools at http://dev.live.com/virtualearth/default.aspx.

The Twin Cities XNA User group is hosting a charity event to raise money for Children’s hospitals and clinics of Minnesota. It’s great to see members of our developer community and supporting sponsors giving back like this, especially through such a create event. 

http://www.charityfragathon.com/

Wednesday, September 24, 2008 (6-10PM)
Microsoft
8300 Norman Center Dr, Suite 950
Bloomington, MN 55437

The Twin Cities XNA User Group is throwing their first ever charity event! Admission to this event is $10 (ten bucks!!) and that covers entry into what just might be the biggest Halo 3 tournament you've ever seen. We'll also have a room set aside for Rock Band 2 and of course XNA games for anyone who wants to check out the new Xbox Live Community Games

Across North America and around the world, user groups will be hosting their own Community Launch Events focusing on technical presentations of Microsoft Windows Server 2008™, Visual Studio 2008™, and SQL Server 2008™. Community leaders have been trained directly from Microsoft and empowered to host technical launch events locally.

Ask your local User Group Leader or {Go here} to find a Community-led Launch Event in your area.

The .NET Developer Community is very active this spring with an incredible number of Code Camps taking place. Code Camps are a great way to learn a variety of new skills, while at the same time meeting great peers in your local developer community. These free events offer a range of topics and speakers that give most conferences a run for their money. If you attend any of these events, please send us some comments, photos, or videos!

3.22.2008 Orlando, FL www.orlandocodecamp.com

3.29.2008 Atlanta, GA Atlanta Code Camp 4

3.29.2008 Woodbridge,VA  NovaCodeCamp (South)

4.5-6.2008 Waltham, MA New England Code Camp 9: I Came, I Saw, I Coded

4.5.2008 Bloomington, MN Twin Cities Code Camp 4

4.12.2008 Pittsburgh, PA Pittsburgh Code Camp

4.12.2008 Columbia, MD CMAP Code Camp

4.26.2008 Indianapolis, IN Indy Code Camp 2008

4.26.2008 Richmond, VA Richmond Code Camp

5.3.2008 Iowa City, IA IowaCodeCamp.com 

5.17.2008 Charlotte, NC Charlotte Code Camp

5.17.2008 Philadelphia, PA Philly Code Camp

5.17.2008 Austin, TX Austin Code Camp

Other developer events to note:

4.19.2008 Wilmington, OH Central Ohio Day if .NET

5.3.2008 Jacksonville, FL SQL Saturday

5.3.2008 Dallas, TX Dallas Tech Fest

5.12-16.2008  Toronto, ON DevTeach

Please contact us to have your event listed.

Are you thinking about going to Tech Ed in Orlando this June? Do you have topics you'd like to discuss with other attendees?

Submit your ideas as topics for Birds-of-a-Feather (BOF) discussions and volunteer to be a moderator!

According to some of last year's attendees, BOFs were one of the 3 best things about Tech Ed 2007. While it may seem far in the future, it's time to start thinking about topics for the Birds of a Feather sessions at Tech Ed Developers in June.

With the conference split into two consecutive Tech Ed events for the first time this year, INETA is organizing the Birds-of-a-Feather sessions at Tech Ed 2008 Developers in Orlando June 3-6, 2008 while our sister organization, Culminis, is organizing the BOF sessions at Tech Ed IT Professionals, June 10-13.

If you're not familiar with the concept, a Birds-of-a-Feather session is an open discussion lead by a moderator who is not a Microsoft employee. The sessions are not presentations, there are no projectors. Unlike the Keynotes and Breakout sessions which are mostly one to many communication, Birds-of-a-Feather sessions are many to many communication and don't necessarily focus on Microsoft products or technology.  They are about people talking with people - connecting, sharing, networking, and creating community. It's that simple, and that's what we do best.

Over the past several years Birds of a Feather sessions have become fully integrated into the Tech Ed agenda.  This means you'll see them in the online scheduling tool and they'll be listed in the mini-guide.  There will be daytime sessions along with the other conference technical tracks, as well as an All-BOF Night on Wednesday, June 3rd from 6:30 to 9:00 PM.

As a result of this integration, BOF Submissions and Voting close on March 19th!

The BOFs are all about community participation, and community is a critical part of their success. INETA and Culminis solicit session proposals - you submit topics you would like to have discussed - your peers vote on they you want to see as BOF sessions - and then the organizers select, schedule, publicize and organize the Birds-of-a-Feather sessions.  If your BOF topic submission is selected, you are then asked to moderate the session.  You are welcome to submit more than one topic!!  Anyone attending a BOF can contribute to the discussion.

Do your part to continue the community tradition and get involved now!  Here's how you can participate:

1. Get the word out.  Blog about the Call for Topics, or post the Call in forums you participate in.  Let folks know about the voting and about your favorite topics.

2. Propose a Topic. If you're going to be at Tech Ed - if there's a topic you'd like to discuss with your peers and you'd be willing to moderate that discussion- click through and submit the topic.

3. Vote.  Check the Tech Ed Developers BOF Voting Page and as you see topics appear that interest you, vote for them!

4. Stay Tuned. As BOF session ideas come in, they will be added to the Tech Ed Developers BOF Voting Page for you to select. When the Tech Ed Schedule Builder goes live in April, mark your calendars and plan to attend and join in great discussions. We'll also have more to say about how you can volunteer to be a Host at one or more BOF sessions in the next INETA newsletter.

For Instructions check out: http://www.ineta.org/newsletters/misc/2008-02/bof_instructions.pdf

Bob Goodearl
co-chair, Birds-of-a-Feather sessions for Tech Ed U.S. 2008 Developers

Code Camps have always been an exciting opportunity to learn about the latest Microsoft .Net development technologies and related topics from some of the finest speakers available. These events are different from many traditional tech conferences in that they are put on my the local developer communities. They are both extremely fun and highly educational. Check out one of these events taking place near you!

If you would like us to help promote your .Net community event, please email noram.communityactivities@ineta.org the details.

The INETA Speaker Bureau is made up of an experienced and well respected group of industry leading experts. Many INETA Speakers maintain weblogs containing expert information and follow up materials to there presentations. Below is the current listing of INETA Speaker blogs. Watch for local INETA Speaker Bureau events at a user group near you!

• John Alexander - http://geekswithblogs.net/jalexander
• Mike Amundsen - http://mikeamundsen.spaces.live.com/
• Jason Beres - http://geekswithblogs.net/jberes/Default.aspx
• Andrew J. Brust - http://www.brustblog.com/default.aspx
• Miguel Castro - http://geekswithblogs.net/mcastro/Default.aspx
• Scott Cate - http://scottcate.mykb.com/
• Don Demsak -http://donxml.com/allthingstechie/default.aspx
• Kathleen Dollard - http://msmvps.com/blogs/kathleen/
• Jim Duffy - http://geekswithblogs.net/takenote/Default.aspx
• Daniel Egan - http://www.dotnetdoc.com/
• Markus Egger - http://www.MarkusEgger.com
• Bill Evjen  - http://geekswithblogs.net/evjen/Default.aspx
• Stephen Forte - http://www.stephenforte.net/owdasblog/
• Sam Gentile - http://samgentile.com/blogs/samgentile/default.aspx
• Ken Getz - http://mcwtech.com/cs/blogs/keng/
• Jonathan Goodyear - http://aspsoft.blogs.com/
• Robert Green - http://mcwtech.com/CS/blogs/rgreen/
• Kate Gregory - http://www.gregcons.com/kateblog/
• Richard Hale Shaw - http://richardhaleshawgroup.com/rhsgroup/community/blogs/richard_hale_shaws_blog/default.aspx
• Rob Howard - http://weblogs.asp.net/rhoward/
• Tim Huckaby - http://blogs.interknowlogy.com/timhuckaby/
• Richard Hundhausen - http://sqlblog.com/blogs/rhundhausen/default.aspx
• Patrick Hynds - http://www.patrickhynds.com/
• Caleb Jenkins - http://www.calebjenkins.com/v2/Default.aspx?tabid=1&BlogID=1
• Don Keily - http://sqljunkies.com/WebLog/donkiely/default.aspx
• Chris Kinsman - http://www.vergentsoftware.com/blogs/ckinsman/
• Nickolas Landry - http://home.infusionblogs.com/nlandry/default.aspx
• Julie Lerman - http://www.thedatafarm.com/blog/
• Michèle Leroux Bustamante - http://www.dasblonde.net/
• Rockford Lhotka - http://www.lhotka.net/weblog/
• Ambrose Little - http://dotnettemplar.net/
• Paul Litwin - http://aspadvice.com/blogs/plitwin/
• Sahil Malik - http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/sahilmalik/
• Wallace B. McClure - http://weblogs.asp.net/wallym/
• Kevin McNeish - http://msmvps.com/blogs/KevinMcNeish/Default.aspx
• Chris Menegay - http://weblogs.asp.net/cmenegay/
• Mark Michaelis - http://mark.michaelis.net/Blog/default.aspx
• Mark Miller - http://www.doitwith.net/
• Russ Nemhauser - http://weblogs.asp.net/russnem/
• Ted Neward - http://blogs.tedneward.com/
• Brian Noyes - http://www.softinsight.com/bnoyes/
• Rod Paddock - http://codebetter.com/blogs/rodpaddock/
• Jeffrey Palermo - http://codebetter.com/blogs/jeffrey.palermo/
• John Papa - http://codebetter.com/blogs/john.papa/
• Keith Pleas - http://weblogs.asp.net/kpleas/
• Jeff Prosise - http://www.wintellect.com/cs/blogs/jprosise/
• Joel Semeniuk - http://weblogs.asp.net/JSemeniuk/
• Paul D. Sheriff - http://weblogs.asp.net/psheriff/
• Steven A. Smith - http://aspadvice.com/blogs/ssmith/
• Scott Stanfield - http://blogs.vertigo.com/personal/scott/Blog/default.aspx
• Craig Utley - http://geekswithblogs.net/cutley/Default.aspx
• William (Bill) Vaughn - http://www.betav.com/blog/billva/
• Dan Wahlin - http://weblogs.asp.net/dwahlin/default.aspx
• Stephen Walther - http://www.superexpert.com/Default.aspx
• Phil Weber - http://www.philweber.com/
• Shawn Wildermuth - http://adoguy.com/
• David Yack - http://blog.davidyack.com/
  

Please let me know of any corrections or updates.

Congratulations to Dan Wahlin from the INETA Speaker Bureau on his article being featured as the cover story of the December Visual Studio Magazine!

Also of note, INETA Speakers Julia Lerman and Rob Howard were recently selected to attend a special Mix & Match event at Microsoft which included a meeting with Bill Gates. Julia has more details on her blog.

To hear from INETA Speakers in person, please be sure to attend these upcoming December events.

12/10/2007 - Kathleen Dollard - Southern Maryland .NET
12/10/2007 - Rod Paddock - Austin .NET User Group (ADNUG)
12/11/2007 - Bill Vaughn - Seattle Access Group
12/11/2007 - Rob Howard - Arizona .NET User Group
12/11/2007 - Shawn Wildermuth - Florida .NET - Miramar
12/13/2007 - Patrick Hynds - Naples .NET User Group
12/17/2007 - Miguel Castro - Dayton .NET Developers Group
12/18/2007 - Don Kiely - Capital Area .Net Users Group
12/18/2007 - Miguel Castro - Cincinnati .NET User Group
12/19/2007 - Don Kiely - Richmond.NET User Group
12/20/2007 - Don Kiely - Hampton Roads SQL Server Users Group

Leadership team members from Canadian user groups came together at DevTeach in Vancouver, Canada to share ideas and resources on November 26th. Through Community Leadership Summit events like this, INETA continues to gather resources and best practices from the community, and to share them with others around the world. Thanks to everybody that attended for their participation and to Dev Teach, MSDN Canada, and Verio for helping sponsor this event.

The INETA Live team will be sharing key content from these events as a resource for the community. Future summits will continue to build on this knowledge base and expand the sharing of resources.  If you would like to get involved with a leadership summit near you, please let us know.

Congratulations to Roy, our XBox 360 winner.

If you are attending next weeks DevTeach developer conference in Vancouver, please stop by the INETA booth and say hi to Nancy and Scott. We'd like to get a chance to speak to you about your .Net user groups, and hear how INETA can better serve the developer community.

In addition to being at the conference, in conjunction with MSDN Canada and DevTeach, INETA is participating in a Community Leadership Summit on Monday November 26 at the conference.

"Again this year DevTeach is hosting on November 26th, 2007 the Canadian User Group Leader summit. This event will be held at the Vancouver Sharaton wall Centre and all Canadian User Group Leaders and Regional Directors are invited to attend. This will be the perfect opportunity to share experiences and ideas for our community."

Our friends from Verio will also be present with details on their free hosting for INETA user group members.

With this inaugural post, I would like to personally welcome you to the new online home of the INETA North America Community Activities Team! The Community Activities Team (CAT) has been involved in bringing you a variety of INETA events such as Community Leadership Summits, Community Launch Events, and the INETA Live web casts. We're working hard to introduce a new series of offerings as part of our new INETA Live initiative.

The goal of this site is to allow u to increase our team's voice in the community, helping to share what we're doing as well as to promote your community activities such as Code Camps, special user groups events, and other items of interest. We're looking for to your input, and your involvement.

Please add us to your subscription list and join us in our community adventures!

Rob Zelt
INETA, VP Community Activities