Joomla User Group - Guelph, Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo

[JoeJoomla]

Are there any people in the Guelph, Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo Ontario, Canada area that are interested in starting or being involved in a Joomla User Group for this region?

[Picasso Fish]

Hi Joe,

Our organization would love to be involved in starting a Joomla! User Group. We are based in Simcoe, Ontario, but have a much wider client base.

[JoeJoomla]

Hi Joe,

Our organization would love to be involved in starting a Joomla! User Group. We are based in Simcoe, Ontario, but have a much wider client base.

I just looked at the map to see where you are located. You're about 1.5 to 1.75 hrs away from Guelph. I've been doing a drive like that to go to the Toronto group.

[Picasso Fish]

Joe,

Thanks for your quick response. We understand it is a fair distance from Guelph, but it would be the closest group of any size that we could attend.

We are still interested in joining / starting.

We would love to become a part of the local Joomla community.

[JoeJoomla]

We are still interested in joining / starting.

I sent you a PM.

[JoeJoomla]

I have started a Skype Group for anyone that wants to contact me or chat about this topic.

Click HERE to join the Skype group for this topic.

[Michelle Bisson]

This sounds exciting Joe! Keep us posted!

[winnie-gurl]

I am located in Guelph and I would definitely be interested. Please keep me posted!

[JoeJoomla]

I am located in Guelph and I would definitely be interested. Please keep me posted!

OK, that's good. I'll bet we can get a group going in a shorter amount of time than it took to get the one going that started in Toronto.

Jump on in here Tri-City people, don't be shy.

[Picasso Fish]

Joe,

Picasso Fish would like to dedicate ourselves to starting a Tri-City (or Southwestern Ontario) Joomla User Group.

We would even consider taking a leadership roll in the group.

We have many ideas for tutorials, workshops, etc. that we would love to discuss.

We even have an ideal venue for meetings, at least for the initial event. It is the Personal Computer Museum, in Brantford (pretty close to Guelph). We had a corporate retreat there a little while ago, and loved it.

Should we schedule an initial meeting and then try and get a certain number of people to attend? Would would be a good agenda for kick-off meeting? What steps should we take next?

[JoeJoomla]

What steps should we take next?

Let's set a date that works for the few of us that have expressed interest here, pick a topic(s) and make an agenda.

Everyone is welcome to participate.

[winnie-gurl]

I am without a car right now...and live in Guelph.
I may have to wait for something to develop in Guelph...

[Picasso Fish]

Hello Joe,

1. Let's set a date that works for the few of us that have expressed interest here
2. pick a topic(s) and make an agenda.

1. How about in mid August? That would give us more time to get clients and other interested people there.

2.Here are a few topics that we would like to see talked about soon:

a. Converting customized Joomla installations from 1.0 to 1.5
b. Usability issues, ie: adding an article in Joomla vs. Wordpress.
c. SEO tips for Joomla sites

[JoeJoomla]

Sounds good.

In September I will be doing a 3 hour Joomla! workshop at Ed Video Media Arts Centre in Guelph. The link to this is http://www.edvideo.org/education/workshops/joomla.

I will be covering the basics such as:

• What is a CMS (content management system)?
  What are the benefits of a CMS over a static html website?
  How to set up the database on a webserver for Joomla!
  How to install Joomla!
  A quick overview of a few administrative backend tools
• Control Panel
• Menus
• Section Manager
• Category Manager
• Article Manager
• Components - What are they?
• Extensions - What are they?
• WYSIWYG text editor
• How to install a template

• Where to find Joomla! help

[slewis]

I'd be interested! keep me posted.

[zrx1200]

This sounds very interesting. Have you got a user group now in the tri area? or is this class the first meeting?

[JoeJoomla]

This sounds very interesting. Have you got a user group now in the tri area? or is this class the first meeting?

I need to get on the phone with Picasso Fish and get the date and agenda for August sorted out. The September meeting at Ed Video requires registration. Click HERE for a link to the site.

[Picasso Fish]

We are happy to announce a date and location for the first meeting!

It will be at the Personal Computer Museum, 13 Alma St., Brantford, Ontario on Thursday, October 8th, 2009 @ 7:00pm.

All are welcome.

Please send a private message to me or JoeJoomla if you would like to attend.

See attached flyer for more details.

[Michelle Bisson]

Congratulations on your first meeting! Keep us posted with the news.

[JoeJoomla]

Last night was the first meeting of the Joomla! User Group - Southwestern Ontario. What a great start for a user group it was! There was a good turn out of approximately 21 people including the presenters. The venue at at the Personal Computer Museum in Brantford, Ontario, was perfect. There literally were only a couple of empty chairs in the theatre upstairs so it's possible that a larger meeting place may have to be quickly found. Picasso Fish Corporation was an excellent sponsor. There were lots of goodies and refreshments.

Stacy Bradshaw of Annex Publishing & Printing who is a publisher of on-line magazines using Joomla! did a presentation and was terrific. Greg Caughill & Corrie Sloot of Picasso Fish also presented great Joomla! content and information. Syd Bolton, the curator of the Personal Computer Museum in Brantford, was filming some video for possible use in a PBS special about Brantford. There's no guarantee it will be used by PBS but you never know!

People came from as far and wide as Oakville to Simcoe, Ontario, and everything in between. There were lots of questions from the attendees. There's no question in my mind that this group is going to flourish. I was thrilled to be a part of it last night.

A special thanks to John Matecsa, "The Big Fish" at Picasso Fish, for all his support and the professionalism his team brought to this event that was clearly evident by the results of last night.

This JUG is HOT! Don't miss the next meeting. I'm sure there is going to be one announced in the near future!

[thering]

It's great that there's other Joomla enthusiasts around the area. I've been working with Joomla for about a year now and everyone I've collaborated with on projects have been in other countries!

[Riskinit]

Yes, I'm very interested.. Please keep me posted as well.

Thanks!

[Picasso Fish]

We are happy to announce our second meeting!

When
Thursday, November 26th at 7:00 p.m.

Where
Personal Computer Museum
13 Alma St.
Brantford, ON

Please feel free to pass this along to anyone and please let us know if you would like to attend.

[Kathie]

I am an experienced Dreamweaver/Fireworks user who is interested in learning Joomla for a specific project. Are there any upcoming UG meetings in the Guelph/KW area?

Barring that, can anyone suggest a source for some newbie training so I can get up to speed fairly quickly?

Kathie in Guelph

[JoeJoomla]

I am an experienced Dreamweaver/Fireworks user who is interested in learning Joomla for a specific project. Are there any upcoming UG meetings in the Guelph/KW area?

Barring that, can anyone suggest a source for some newbie training so I can get up to speed fairly quickly?

Kathie in Guelph

Hi Kathie,

There will be a user group meeting at the end of January sometime but a user group meeting isn't going to give you what you need quickly enough to be able to handle a client website. There are Joomla! training sessions for introductory and intermediate levels happening in Toronto starting on January 26. The classes are not free. If you are interested in paying to learn Joomla! you can PM me and I can point you to the site with the class details.

[Kathie]

Thanks for the tip, Joe. In fact I tripped over that site just after I posted my message. Great to know that these sorts of things are worthwhile.
Given that I am not inexperienced with website development, do you think I could skip the intro course and still keep up with the intermediate one?

Kathie

[JoeJoomla]

Given that I am not inexperienced with website development, do you think I could skip the intro course and still keep up with the intermediate one?

Unless you are already familiar with setting up a Joomla! site, it's content management concepts, and working with the backend administration, you may be dong yourself a disservice. I have found that some of the people who have the most difficulty with Joomla! are those that try to apply their Dreamweaver web development concepts to Joomla. You need to have the fundamentals of Joomla firmly established in your thinking in order to thrive with Joomla. Check out the prerequisites for the intermediate class to help you make that decision.

[acupuncture al]

Hello, all.
I am new to this forum and new to Joomla as well. I live and work in Oakville; any chance of user group meetings coming up in the new year that are close to me?

Thanks in advance for any reply,

[JoeJoomla]

Hello, all.
I am new to this forum and new to Joomla as well. I live and work in Oakville; any chance of user group meetings coming up in the new year that are close to me?

The Joomla! User Group Toronto (JUGT) is meeting in February. Check out the event HERE

[Direction]

I would be interested in attending Joomla user group meetings in the KW area... Please let me know when and where the next one is to be scheduled. Thanks...