Sep 2

Written by:
9/2/2009 4:38 PM 

No, these are not excuses to give your boss to get him to let you go to Las Vegas. These are compelling reasons that anyone working and making at least part of their living in the DotNetNuke stack should consider.   

1. New Management at DotNetNuke Corp:
   Last year at OpenForce 08, hints were made about big things coming, and even some of the new management was there (before we knew who they were). OpenForce 09 will be the first major US conference where the new management will be playing a visible role. Yes, DotNetNuke was created in a community environment. However, if someone (spell that Shaun Walker) had not been controlling the core, DNN would have split into many directions and would most likely not even exist today, but especially not in the robust form that it now is. This will be our chance to take full measure of the new management; to find out what they are planning; to see if they appear trustworthy. 
   Why is this important?  Well, DotNetNuke is no longer a hobbyist tool. DNN has entered the enterprise market place. Mission critical applications are being constructed on the DotNetNuke Application Framework.  Anyone implementing DNN, or even recommending DNN, wants to be sure that DotNetNuke Corp will be around in 5 or 10 years. If DNN Corp doesn’t make a profit over the next couple years, they will fold, and that will be the end of consistent improvements, upgrades and security patches. However, if they succeed in their business plan, it would make DNN one of the most important application frameworks in the Microsoft stack.
   How well they conduct this conference will leave a big impression on the attendees. Their professionalism, competence, openness, demeanor, trustworthiness, even their attitudes will influence how DotNetNuke Corp is perceived and by extension how the DotNetNuke Application Framework’s viability is perceived.   The good news is that even though there is “new management” in place, the “old management” is still there. How well these two groups work together will tell us a lot! It is an unusual thing for “techie” management that starts a company to bring in “business” people to run the company. I take this as a good sign for the long term viability of DotNetNuke.
   Additionally, this will be a chance for us to see how well the new management and the “community” interact. It will be interesting to watch how well the Corp gets across it view of what it expects out of the community, and how many of the community are willing to participate in that vision.
2. Sessions – Sessions – Sessions:
   Knowledge, this is what the conference is all about. Last year attendees said they wanted sessions with “deeper” content. The committee that selected speakers/topics seems to have taken that request to heart. There is no reason to list all the sessions in this blog as you can see them at http://www.devconnections.com/openforce/default.asp?c=1&s=141. (Wouldn’t it be cool to convince them to use DotNetNuke for the DevConnections site next year?)  
   The only down side I can see is that there is no way I can expect to attend all the sessions I would like to attend. Wouldn’t it be great if DNN Corp could video the sessions and make them available to attendees. Some might think that if the videos were available, why pay the admission price. That is why I specified “available to attendees”. This would be a great bonus! Regardless, the point here is that there is knowledge to be had, and many of the “heavy hitters” in the DNN Community and from the DNN Corp will be there ready to share information.  This leads me to the next point.
3. Networking:
   As stated above, it is looking like the “heavy hitters” from both the Community and the Corp will be at OpenForce 09. When we talk about “Networking” we often are thinking about job opportunities. Yes, I am sure there will be people looking to expand their companies and people looking to expand their employment horizons. However, the opportunity to make contacts that let me know where to find information, to use as resources, to partner with, and even to make friends with people who have the same interest; are just as valid reasons to attend.
   If OpenForce 09 is anything like the last few, there will be groups of people all over during the day, and during the afterhours visiting and talking about DotNetNuke.
4. DevConnections:
   If the above reasons don’t give you enough knowledge to seek out, don’t forget that Tuesday is “Microsoft day”. OpenForce being a part of DevConnections is a really good thing. As an attendee of OpenForce, we will be able to attend the sessions from all the other conferences that are being held at the same time and place. 
   ASP.NET
   SharePoint
   SQL Server
   Visual Studio
   Exchange
   Windows
   Of course figuring out which OpenForce session to miss will be a big problem.
5. OpenForce Social:
   If this Social is anything like the last one I attended, you will not want to miss this event! Not only was it a “social”, but there was a panel that answered just about any question thrown at them. Then there were the prizes (shhhhhhh). The last time prizes included things like MSDN subscriptions, software, modules, books, clothing, just about anything you could think of that was DotNetNuke related was offered as a prize. There were so many prizes, that almost everyone got something. After the social, I was talking to Joe Brinkman, and he asked me what I got. He was truly shocked that I didn’t get something. I think I must have been about the only person who didn’t win anything. Prizes aren’t the only reason to attend, but they sure don’t hurt. Although I don’t know if the social for OpenForce 09 will be like the past ones, I’m really looking forward to attending. It is always such fun to watch happy geeks.