In an effort to better support User Groups worldwide, Microsoft is rolling out UGSS User Group Support Services. We at INETA have been, and will continue to be, working closely with this team to better serve the user group community…

Consistency and scale in the services we provide to User Group Communities has been a challenge and a source of consternation for all of us over the past years.

Microsoft is pleased to announce that as of last month's User Group Leadership Summit and based on global feedback, we have a model that delivers progress that can be universally appreciated and used by your local User Group Communities.  Our pilot, User Group Support Services, launches today May 8!

The pilot emerged from community feedback, efforts from UC and Windows and from work led over the past 2 years by the US Subsidiary with their rollout of Codezone in the US.  Thanks to their work and bolstered by the great feedback from the community, we have taken on the commit to build and sustain UGSS as a part of our global offering.  The pilot is available at this time for English speaking regions – but stay tuned as in early H1 FY09 we will have additional language offerings. If you wish to be among the first to pilot this program in your region, please contact mfleming.

WHAT IS USER GROUP SUPPORT SERVICES?

First of all, User Group Support Services (UGSS) does not replace local engagement and local investment. These tools enhance corp-to-user group engagement and have the capability to enhance your engagement with your local Microsoft field. UGGS is a  platform with an underlying framework which drives consistency in how we engage UGs across our Technical Audiences and enables the community to participate in a direct dialog with Microsoft.  The focus of this platform is on providing a process and a portal that helps improve the quality of content available to User Group Leaders for their events and tools that help them manage their groups.

This platform has two distinct offerings:

1. Access to content built specifically for User Group events by Microsoft Product teams
   UGSS has partnered with Microsoft product teams to provide content built specifically for User Group events (demos, discussion presentations and other content). This content will be free to User Group Leaders and available through the UGSS Connect portal. In the future, User Group Leaders can access community led launch event content as well as explore other Beta Connect program opportunities.

• How do I know what's available to me? A user group specific content editorial calendar is available through two interfaces:

  • Public planning interface for Developer through Codezone
  • Public planning interface for ITPRO Culminis – JUNE 2008

• Where can I go to download the content? UGSS Connect portal (user group content download center) is accessible from:

  • MSDN
  • TechNet
  • Codezone
  • Culminis (ITPRO) – planned release for JUNE 2008

• Online user group tools wrapped in a consistent UI
  UGSS framework offers a free set of tools specific to user group management. In the pilot, these services continue to be surfaced through: Codezone (Developer & INETA supported), and for ITPRO will be released through Culminis – planned for JUNE 2008. These services include:

  • Speaker's repository
  • Sponsorship Repository
  • Event management & attendance tracking
  • Member management and communication
  • Consolidated User Group Management Interface
  • User Group Kits: Available in supported regions
  • Study Groups

ADDITIONAL USER GROUP BENEFIT

• Free Live Meeting Accounts for User Group Leaders (contact livemeeting@ineta.org for more details)

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.