Jacksonville Developers User Group

Last night we held an election for president.  Vinay Ahuja and Jonathan Bates were the candidates.  Jonathan was elected president.  There will be no JaxDug meeting in August b/c of Code Camp.  I will be working to transfer my knowledge of JaxDug to Jonathan during August.  Regular JaxDug meetings should start in September.  Please join me in congratulating Jonathan.

As previously mentioned at meetings and via newsletters I am stepping down as president.  A few weeks ago posted on www.JaxDug.com that tonight we would hold elections.  This was also mentioned in the newsletters ealier this month. 

I know a few people have discussed taking on a leadership role within www.JaxDug.com and if you would like to run for president please attend tonights meeting.  Vinay Ahuja, confirmed this morning that he intends to run and sent me a blurb as I asked so I am posting hist qualifications.  To be fair, should anyone else decide to run you can still send me your blurb before the meeting and I will post.  Please send to president@jaxdug.com.  Finally, anyone running for president will be given a chace to address the group tonight.

Thanks,

Dennis

--- Vinay's Campaign Blurb ---

Who am I?

Technical

I have more than 8 years of experience in designing, developing, and architecting enterprise scale applications using Microsoft Technologies. I am a passionate software developer / architect and love to venture into cutting edge technologies. I am a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional in Visual C#. I am a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer in .NET and working towards MCTS. I did my Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science from a prestigious university in India. I graduated with M.S. in Computer Science from The University of Texas at Dallas.

Community - Technical

Currently, I serve as Secretary and Special Interest Group (SIG) Coordinator for Jacksonville Developers User Group (http://www.jaxdug.com) (Since October 2005). I was instrumental in organizing last year’s Jacksonville Code Camp. I am a strong proponent of knowledge sharing and community development. I have spoken extensively in Code Camps in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.  Last year, for few months, I was also part of INETA’s Technology Committee.

Community – Non Technical

I love working with the community and helping them. Apart from my association with JaxDUG, I have been associated with Hindu Society of Jacksonville for the last 4 years and served as Chair of Youth Committee from 2004-2006. Since, 2005 I am also the Regional Coordinator for North South Foundation. This non-profit organization organizes spelling, math, essay, geography bee and other contests for kids of Indian origin. In 2005-2006, I was associated with a local toastmasters group as Treasurer and VP of Education as well.

What I would do as president?

We have done really well as a user group over the past years. There are some things I would like to see more structured and execute my ideas around. These items are in no particular order.

Speakers

-         Develop local speaker pool by giving them structured opportunities

-         Get UG Members feedback on which speakers they would like to see and present

Meetings

-         Explore different meeting styles – Discussion based, 2 speakers in one night, Bring your own presentation, Interactive debate on technology

-         Meeting reminders and communication

-         Feedback on meeting, future topics

-         Attendance

Events

-         Keep Code camp as an yearly event

-         Organize 1 day technology focused events on a weekend. These events can be based out of the need of the community / local businesses

Web Site

-         Shows meetings and events for the next 3 months preferably

-         Refinement

Collaboration with other User Groups

-         Other User groups in the area in different technologies

-         User groups in Florida

-         INETA

Collaboration with local businesses

-         Assess needs of organizations from a training perspective (brought up by Marshall Harrison)

-         Get speakers on those topics

Newsletter

-         Have a weekly newsletter with all events coming up locally and in Florida

Special Interest Groups

-         Encourage and support people who want to start focused groups

-         Try to get financial support

-         Raffle prizes

UG Meetings and Events Sponsorship Structure

-         Structure around how organizations can sponsor meetings

-         Associated benefits and costs matrix

UG Organizational Structure

-         Role based organization

-         Advertise opportunities to get involved

-         Recognize all people involved

-         Prepare for sustainability and growth of user group

Actually, these are the items that came to my mind while thinking about it. I would take every suggestion as an opportunity and evaluate it with an open mind along with the group. We have to do things that make our user group one of the strongest knit communities not only in Florida but all over the nation.

Why I want to be the president?

·        To serve the technical community

·        Bring ideas and refreshing changes for growth and betterment

·        Develop my own leadership skills

The president is only a facilitator that guides the leadership team and the community. I certainly look forward to the support of able volunteers and advisors. By being a president, I would be the torch bearer, however it is the community and the team that will strive for excellen

We have had a significant increase in requests for development training (mainly .NET) to the point where we may need to bring on another instructor.  Before we put an add on monster or another ad site, I thought that I would check to see if you knew of anyone with at least an MCAD certification who may have an interest in teaching.  Obviously if they were already an MCT (Microsoft Certified Trainer) it would be a plus, however, we can easily get them the MCT status if they feel comfortable delivering classes in front of a group.  The most difficult part is obtaining the Microsoft MCAD, MCSD, and several new certs for Visual Studion 2005.  We would like to hire locally if possible.  If you have any ideas or potential candidates, we would really appreciate it.  I hope that you are doing well.

Thank you

Dan Vohs

Owner/General Manager 
New Horizons-Jacksonville
904-564-9500 ext. 141
dan.vohs@newhorizons.com
www.newhorizons.com

[From Onetug Blog]

INETA NorAm Membership Division Announces: New Membership Manager - FL
Shawn Weisfeld (shawn@shawnweisfeld.com), Orlando, FL

Bellevue, WA – September 12, 2006 – INETA NorAm Vice President in charge of the Membership Division, Chris Wallace, announced today the new Membership Manager for the state of Florida - Shawn Weisfeld.

Shawn takes over the Membership Manager duties that have been the responsibility of Shervin Shakibi. Wallace said “We thank Shervin for his volunteer service to INETA as one of our Membership Managers. He has acquired additional professional responsibilities taking more of his time and has regretfully been forced to resign from this important INETA volunteer position.” Shervin will remain an active participant in the developer community in Florida as well as in his current role as a Microsoft RD in Florida. Shawn comes highly recommended by those who know him and recognize him for his tremendous work with our developer community in Florida. One recommendation said “Runs a great UG [user group], ran great codecamp, very very active.”

“Please welcome him to this new position and extend him every courtesy in working to succeed in our challenges ahead as we work together to build a stronger developer community. Good luck, Shawn!” Wallace said.

More details here - http://www.onetug.org/dnn/Home/tabid/36/EntryID/237/Default.aspx

Shawn was also one of the Xtreme Coders in Jacksonville Code Camp's Code Countdown.

Congratulations once again, and we look forward to help you in your endeavor to make Florida one of the best developer communities. Let us know for any help you might need.

Consultech is offering

This course doesn’t happen very often in the Southeast much less Jacksonville FL.

Also:

2014: Customizing Microsoft® SharePoint™ Products and Technologies 2003-2 days

Sept 6-7th

Email  robert@consultech.org if interested.

Andrew Connell did a great job presenting at our July JaxDug meeting.  However, he had so much to share he ran out of time.  Andrew took the time to create a screen cast so that we could see all the DevTools information he wanted to share.  Watch the screen cast at http://andrewconnell.com/blog/archive/2006/07/14/3236.aspx

Thanks for your commitment to the JaxDug AC!

Jacksonville is a meca for MVP's.  JaxDug member Marshall Harrison has been awarded MVP for Microsoft Speech Server.  His site http://www.gotspeech.net

http://www.tlhdotnet.net/tlhcodecamp/CodeCamp.aspx