After attending my first DNN event, Day of Dotnetnuke - Chicago, I thought I would post here and share a little of what I learned.

Having never attended such an event I have to say it was time and money well spent.  In addition to the training and networking it was nice to finally meet many of the people I have shared the forums, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.  with over the last 4 years.  Here are just a few of the specifics I learned at the event:

• I really don't think Will Morgenweck, CEO of Active Modules, expected so many people to be there who had never used DNN before.  Active Modules was a sponsor of the event and Will was a speaker. At the end of his session on social networking he asked some questions (don't remember what the first two were) and gave out two free licenses to Active Social. He then, as if he had done this a few times before, asked if there were any people in the session who had never used DNN before - kind of as he was moving to put the certificates away. Three people raised their hands!  Ha!  I think he gave out 5 free licenses.  Thanks a ton Will for your sponsorship, speaking, and the free stuff you gave out.  The range of people there also surprised me - I spoke with a retired lawyer and his wife who had never used DNN before and were looking at DNN for a legal site they were working on!
• I sat next to two Indian ladies in one session and I'm really REALLY glad I didn't just assume that they were newbs because those two girls REALLY knew their stuff and I believe they would have taken me to school and seriously embarrassed me!  Turns out they were employees of Phil Wegrzyn's company.
• I learned that Don Bishop can make weird faces and has a really interesting DNN support company called Spiffy.  www.spiffywebteam.com also made it into my "cool DNN sites" bookmarks folder because it is a really good looking site.
• I learned that Herb Benton likes to dance and used to be able to.
• I learned that if you want to have a good time at these events just stay close to Chris Paterra - but you should keep your wits about you if Will Strohl joins the group because the combination of the two could land you in places you don't want to be!!

Seriously though I am very glad I attended and I would recommend it to anyone considering the next Day of Dotnetnuke.

You guys need to host such events in Los Angeles as well. I can host it if you promise to come!

@FrozenDNN:  If you want a Day of DotNetNuke in your area, we can talk.  I can help get you up and running.  So far we've had Orlando, Tampa, Paris, and Chicago.  There are others in the works, but nothing in Southern California or the west coast yet.  Check out the Day of DotNetNuke website, and contact me through there if you're serious about it.  I just need one or more organizers involved for each area.  :)

@Greg:  Great post and summary of the DoDNN.  It was very fun hanging out with you! 

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Will Strohl

Upendo Ventures DNN experts since 2003 Official provider of the Hotcakes Commerce Cloud and SLA support