iFinity.com.au - Bruce's Blog
11.21.11

Well, it’s a week since I returned from the whirlwind that was DotNetNuke World.  Already things are starting to slip back into normality from the head-spinning fury of activity that was the conference.

All I can say is that if you didn’t go, start pencilling in the date and the budget to go next year.

This was the first year that DotNetNuke had it’s own, stand-alone conference, one that wasn’t co-located with the bigger DevConnections conference.  It was also a change in location, from Las Vegas to Orlando.  These two changes made a very big difference to the feel of the conference.

Because it was only DotNetNuke people, it immediately felt more inclusive, more friendly and more focussed.  Because it was no longer in the cavernous halls of the DevConnections conference with what seems like a mile of walking to and from the hotel, it immediately felt more accessible.  And because there was *blink blink* outside areas to break out into, it gave everyone a chance to enjoy some warm Florida sunshine (not that I have any shortage of that where I come from, but those Northern types seemed to enjoy it).

Here was an event where everyone you saw with a white lanyard on was a great person to have a chat to.

Conference Highlights

The Keynote speeches from Shaun Walker and Navin Nagiah were top quality.  Shaun covered off the achievements of DotNetNuke in the past 12 months, and the roadmap of features going forwards.  This included showcasing the impressive new Mobile features released in DNN 6.1, and answering some of those burning questions, like when were the social features going to be included. Shaun also recapped some of the impressive awards gained by DNN in 2011, including making the Gartner Magic Quadrant and placing in the Inc. 500 list of the fastest growing companies.  It’s easy to forget how fast all this has happened, because just 3 years ago DotNetNuke was a tiny company formed around the ownership of the DotNetNuke open source project.  Now it’s growing fast and the conference is evidence for all to see.  One statistics : all time DotNetNuke downloads are now at 7 million, and there are 700,000 live websites running DotNetNuke in the world.

Shaun Walker and Bobble headOf course, the big laugh of the day was reserved for the revealing of the Shaun Walker Bobblehead doll.  Mitch Bishop, the new Chief Marketing Officer at DotNetNuke, revealed that they had made a limited-edition run of 50 ‘bobblehead’ dolls of Shaun.  Mitch presented one of these to a clearly flummoxed Shaun, and then told the crowd that any great questions, presentations, antics throughout the conference would result in the presentation of a bobblehead.   From then, it was up to people to come up with interesting ways of what to do with their bobbleheads – in the bounds of good taste, of course!  This even included stripping down and jumping in the pool to retrieve a bobble head, which Malik of Pointclick Technologies did, much to everyone's amusement.

Navin’s keynote was a more sober affair, and clearly laid out the philosophy and strategy behind DotNetNuke and exhorted us in the crowd to do better, to work harder, because the competition out there in the Website platform business is fierce.   There is still a massive market for people to be running a complete website solution like DotNetNuke but it’s likely to be a winner takes all result, and with 1200 different options available, DotNetNuke needs to concentrate on being in the top 3.

The ‘DNN After Dark’ function was a huge improvement over previous events I had attended and everyone there clearly had a good time.  If you were there, you’ll know about the infamous Nerf dart war that broke out using promotional toys from Arrow Consulting.  If that sounds like a bunch of computer nerds gone wild, well, it would be hard to disabuse that notion.  But more realistically it just shows that everyone was having a great time and it was a very fun event.  The fact that the room was full shows how keen attendees are to engage in both the learning and the social segments of the conference.

Presentations

Sadly with three of my own presentations to deliver, and lots of interesting conversations to be had in the hallways and breakout areas, I didn’t get to attend many sessions, and only grabbed parts of different presentations throughout the two full days of presenting.  But a lot of people told me there was some great sessions delivered.  Every session I peeked into was well attended and well regarded.

For my sessions, I did three topics.  As a few people remarked – I must have done something to annoy the organisers to get that many sessions.  But in reality I had a lot of fun presenting and it was great to cover three entirely different topics:

DotNetNuke on Azure Cloud Servers

This presentation was both a discussion on how to create a DotNetNuke installation using the DotNetNuke Azure Accelerator, and also a discussion on how to strategically use Azure with DNN, both as a hosting service, but also for hosting content or using the CDN.

If you missed this presentation, you can read more about it here, and don’t miss the link provided by Microsoft to get a free 90 day trial for Azure.  Everyone should grab a copy of the Azure Accelerator, sign up for a free Azure trial, and see how easy it is to create a DNN website on Azure.

See separate blog post on this session including the slides.

Tracking Social Media Campaigns for Effectiveness

In this session, I covered off many of the tools available for tracking your Social media activity.  I then presented the concept of gathering all these different metrics into a central location, and creating your own trend lines.  The idea with this is to gather the metrics on a periodic basis, then map your own trends based on the things that are most important to your campaign.  Part of this is identifying the goals of the campaign (followers, downloads, sales?)   Once this is in place, you can monitor which parts of your social media campaign are the most effective (in meeting your goals) and use simple analysis to double-down on the things that work, and abandon or at least cut back on the things that aren’t.

See separate blog post on this session including the slides.

Selling code in the DotNetNuke Store : from idea to execution

I had submitted this concept to the organisers of DotNetNuke conferences for 3 years in a row, so I was delighted when it was selected as a topic.  My only regret was the short 50 minute timeline with which to try and cram in all the things I have to say on this topic.  What the audience received was a high-speed download of my thoughts on the world of software development, how to become a successful vendor, and a presentation on how the upcoming changes to Snowcovered (soon to be re-branded the DotNetNuke store) are about to make the DotNetNuke eco-system a great place to be if you have the ability to write good code and indulge in a bit of shameless marketing.  This session was a lot of fun and it’s just a shame I didn’t get the chance to connect with more people who have questions on becoming part of this exciting little corner of the software industry.  Perhaps I might start a new blog series or something similar on this very topic because I sense there is great interest in it.

See separate blog post on this session including the slides

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Putting the last touches on one of my presentations while Scott Willhite  questions my choice of hardware in the DotNetNuke Community breakout area.

Photo courtesy Will Strohl

Networking

All I can say about the networking at the DotNetNuke World conference is that it can’t be beaten.   This is the third year in a row that I have attended a DotNetNuke conference and I still run into people I haven’t met, some of whom are new to using DotNetNuke, some of whom are old hands.  And each year I enjoy renewing the friendships with people I have already met.    If all the conferences you’ve ever been to are full of people politely sipping coffee and making small talk until they can escape back to their rooms, you’ve got to attend a future DotNetNuke conference to witness the high energy exchanges of ideas and information, the meetings and more.  From the early morning breakfast discussions to the late-night free and frank exchanges of ideas in the hotel bar, the fun just never stops.

However, apart from the fun aspect of meeting people and finding out what they are working on, the networking at DNN World made me realise that the DotNetNuke platform is rapidly growing up.  Where once my main conversations where with smaller system integrators, hosting firms and the like, increasingly my conversations where with government departments, representatives from larger companies, and people working on big projects.  This is an important change, because it shows that developers like myself need to step up again to a higher level of quality and support, and to recognise that the combination of people ‘out there’ is changing quickly in the mix.

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Deep in conversation at the lunch table during DotNetNuke World.  Photo courtesy Will Strohl

Conclusions and Wrap up

It’s incredibly important for people like myself who are geographically isolated from many others who work on the same things to attend conferences like DotNetNuke World.  It’s why I spend the time and the money to attend, even though doing so means spending well over 24 hours in transit to get from my home to the conference.  The rewards certainly outweigh the costs, even though when it comes to booking it’s easy to feel that this won’t be the case. 

With DotNetNuke World 2011 in Orlando, the concept of the DotNetNuke conference really came of age.  It developed a confidence in itself as a conference, and a confidence of DotNetNuke as a platform not only for writing software and building websites, but also for building businesses and relationships that will probably endure for a long time.  In the same way the conference no longer felt like a bolt-on to a .NET conference, the platform no longer feels like a bolt-on to the .NET framework but an entity unto itself that even Microsoft is taking notice of and supporting.

Mitch Bishop asked us all to tell 5 people about the conference so that it can double in size next year.   I’m using my blog to do my part  - I hope I’ve got those who attended smiling in memory, and those who didn’t pencilling attendance for 2012 into their personal plan for next year. The dates will be announced much earlier this time, so there will be no reason not to go.   Will I see you there?

IMG_0546

My Shaun Walker Bobblehead learns a thing or two between sessions

Want to see more?  Visit the Flickr DotNetNuke World photoset.   Please remember to abide by the licensing attached to individual photos.


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The Mighty Blog
07.06.11

DNN_World11ad_520

Every year since the first North American DotNetNuke conference (then named OpenForce), it was nothing short of the who’s who of the DotNetNuke community and ecosystem.  The buzz resulting from people before, during, and after the event was simply gravitating, and was sure to make anyone who didn’t attend jealous of those that did.  If you pay any attention to the blogs, forums, and twitter during this time, this proves true every year.

This year, a major change has been made.  The conference is no longer in Las Vegas, and the event is now run 100% by DotNetNuke Corporation.  This means to you that it’s more affordable than ever to attend the most prestigious DNN event of each year!

What does that mean to you? 

You can now spend just a fraction of the cost of attending DNN Connections to attend DotNetNuke World

You can be right in the middle of all of the action.

At the DNN Corp Booth

You can be the first to learn the latest and greatest news from and about DotNetNuke in the ecosystem and community.

Closing Panel Discussion with DNN Corp Leadership

You can meet and create more meaningful relationships with people whom you’ve only known online in the past.

Dang and Will

Meet people that you never thought you would meet.

Shaun Walker

Catch your friends at some of the funniest moments!

I can't hear you

Bring the family, and maybe see a sight or two.

Silly tourists

This list could potentially never end.  At the end of the day, there’s way too much to miss.  Find a way to justify the trip, and get your hind parts to DNN World

I guarantee you that this is an investment in yourself and your career that you will not regret.  Think about it…

Have you ever heard anyone say that they wish they didn’t attend the official DotNetNuke conference?

Register to attend today!

DNNDaily.com
06.06.11

If you are interested in presenting a session (or three) at DotNetNuke World in Orlando in November time is running out to get your sessions submitted!

You have until June 8th to get them in. Even if you haven’t spoken at a DotNetNuke Conference in the past we are looking for new talent, new ideas, and new topics!

So head on over to the speaker submission page and get started, obviously the more sessions you submit the better your chances are for being picked!

DotNetNuke World is November 9th through 11th, 2011, and will be held in Orlando Florida. What happened to DotNetNuke Connections? Well, while doing the conference in Las Vegas the past few years, we’ve grown up, and it’s time to do our own show! Having our own show, and having it in Orlando offers a lot of benefits. 1) It’s far cheaper for you to attend compared to Las Vegas. 2) it is easily accessible for our DotNetNuke user’s in Europe. 3) You can easily turn it into a family vacation, as I hear there are a few things that families might be interested in around there.

DotNetNuke Training

We will once again have some pre-conference training available, the topics and registration information for those will be announced within the next couple of weeks.

Charles Nurse
02.09.11

This year I have decided to place a bigger focus on speaking at Developer Conferences and so over the last few months I have been submitting session proposals to major conferences around North America.

I am pleased to say that many of my submissions have been accepted and I have quite a busy speaking calendar for the upcoming Spring conference season.

VSLive

Conference Dates: April 18-22, 2011
Venue: Rio, Las Vegas
Website: http://vslive.com/lv

VSLLV11_Speak_VLSPK23This excellent conference for .NET Developers is held two or three times a year and in April it will be held in Las Vegas.  I will be presenting two sessions at this conference.

  • The Almighty @ – A Razor Primer
  • WebMatrix Real World Data Centric Applications

If you would like to see me speak please use the registration code – VLSPK23 – for a $400 savings.

 

DevTeach

Conference Dates: May 30 – June 3, 2011
Venue: Intercontinental Hotel, Montreal, Canada
Website: http://www.devteach.com/

This excellent conference which is held annually in one of Canada’s 3 major cities, is this year planned for Montreal in the beautiful province of Quebec.  Come and see me speak on:

  • The Almighty @ – A Razor Primer
  • Have your Cake and Eat it Too - Using the WebFormsMVP Framework to Develop Testable Web Applications

Prairie DevCon

Conference Dates: June 13-14, 2011
Venue: Delta Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Website: http://www.prairiedevcon.com/

The Prairie Developer Conference is the conference event for software professionals in the Canadian prairies!  At this conference I will be teaming up with my son Andrew to give two Razor presentations

  • The Nurse2 Razor Show – Parts 1 and 2

Notice that the focus is Razor – Razor and WebMatrix are new technologies and DotNetNuke’s support for Razor means that I will be able to put a DNN spin on many of my speaking engagements.

If you plan on attending any of these conferences – ping me (@cnurse is my twiiter alias) – and we can meet up.

Day of DotNetNuke
02.04.11

The original Day of DotNetNuke was named OpenForce Connect – Orlando in 2008.  The next year, we wanted to hold the event again, but had to change the name and move the venue.  This was the first time for the event running as the Day of DotNetNuke, and it was held in Tampa, FL.  Since then, there has been interest to hold the event in many cities and regions, but it has been held in Paris, France and Chicago, Illinois.  This year, the event is returning to where it all begin, sunny and beautiful Orlando, Florida.

There are many more details to come, but mark your calendars for March 26, 2010, and plan to fly, drive, walk or run to the Orlando area.


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Category: Events
Category: Orlando
The Mighty Blog
01.25.11

Mix11 LogoMix is another conference-type event where developers from all over gather to learn the greatest and newest things about technologies that work with or on the Microsoft stack.  This year, it’s being held on April 12-14 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, NV.  For those of you that are familiar with or have attended DotNetNuke Connections (formerly known as OpenForce North America), this is the same hotel on the Vegas Strip.

The organizers had an open call for sessions to be submitted for the event, gaining an incredible number of submissions from very talented speakers all over the world.  Among those speakers are the DotNetNuke community’s very own Shaun Walker and Charles Nurse.  Each have two sessions submitted for consideration – and YOU can help get their sessions approved!

That’s right.  You have the opportunity to vote for their sessions to help them be speakers at Mix11.  All you have to do is visit the links below and click on many animals to prove you’re human for each vote.

Oh. And here’s the best part…  You can vote EVERY DAY between now and February 4th!

Don’t wait or put it off for tomorrow… VOTE NOW!

Shaun Walker’s Sessions

Charles Nurse’s Sessions

Why are you still reading?  VOTE!  Smile

R2idnn
11.11.10
Yet another good year has gone by and the R2i team had a great time in Las Vegas last week at DevConnections conference. Time flies, doesn't it? It was great seeing old friends and new faces this year at the conference. DevConnections this year definitely has picked up attendance quite a bit compared to last year despite the uncertainty of the economy. Our crew headed to Las Vegas early on Monday last week to set up our booth and showcased some of the cool projects we have been working on the past year. This year, R2i is proud to have Cuong Dang, Ian Robinson, and Nick Christy and speakers on various topics from design, skinning, module development to enterprise deployment so we had a big group of people there. We met up with a few friends after setting up the booth and caught up before the rush of attendees comes on Tuesday when the day starts.
The Mighty Blog
11.06.10

DotNetNuke Connections 2010 Banner

Some of you will already know, and some will be surprised to find out that this was my first time attending DotNetNuke Connections.  I have been to all but one of the Day of DotNetNuke events, and other events all over the United States, but never to DotNetNuke Connections.  I could tell early-on that this event was going to be different than anything I had attended before.  It was…

Will Strohl at a dinner at DotNetNuke Connections 2010

I arrived in Las Vegas early on Sunday with Chris Hammond and my lady, Kim.  We spent much of the day exploring the Vegas strip and taking pictures, while we waited for our rooms to be ready.  We would then turn in to prepare on our respective projects, awaiting for the next day to come, where the events would begin.

DotNetNuke Connections

The week would truly begin the next day, on Monday, and fly by so fast.  DNNCon was over before we realized it.  There were a ton of meet-ups, gatherings, and other networking to be had at all times of the day, all over the area.  It was extremely cool to meet people from all over the world in one place, many of which that were literally new to the DotNetNuke platform.

DNN Networking Night
Photo courtesy of Chris Hammond's Flickr Stream

Being the Global Organizer of the Day of DotNetNuke, I was most interested in seeing how different the event, attendees, topics, and speakers were in contrast to the various DoDNN events.  There was a huge contrast in my opinion.  Many of the speakers were the same, but this event seemed to bring in a completely different crowd than the DoDNN.  There were many more decision-makers and other focused attendees that I don’t normally see at community-based events.  Some of the topics and speakers were the same, but the presentation styles were completely different, and the speakers came from around the world as well – from as far as Australia and Portugal. 

In talking to people, they were all very focused on getting the most out of every conversation.  This is something I try to breed into the community events, but people here seemed to be much more proactive about it on their own.  Everyone was either trying to promote themselves, or trying to learn something new from everyone else.  It was incredible.

At the DNN Corp Booth

No matter where you went at DNNCon, it appeared to be the who’s who event where you would be able to see nearly everyone that you’ve heard of walking around, talking, speaking, or just plain hanging out.

I think no matter who you were, you were learning and seeing new things.  In fact, I spoke to another vendor about their DNN site that has over a million pages on it, and uses Active Social pretty extensively.  Here is a screen shot of that vendor’s site, F5 DevCentral.

F5 DevCentral

Another vendor I spoke to was helping with the implementation of a major college football website, NCAAFootball.com.  Their site gets around 10 million page views per month.  Impressive!!!

NCAA Football

DNNCon Keynote by Shaun Walker

Shaun's Keynote at #DNNCON
Photo courtesy of Chris Hammond's Flickr stream

I don’t think we can speak about DNNCon without speaking about the keynote speech, given by DotNetNuke founder and DNN Corp co-founder, Shaun Walker. You can always expect to have a great presentation from Shaun.  He is a fountain of knowledge, and has a unique and passionate perspective over open source, Content Management, and of course with DotNetNuke.  He spoke briefly about where DNN is, but spent a great deal of time going over where DNN will be, not only next year, but also the year after.

Some key points made revolve around:

  • InstantOn – a way to have an App Store experience from within DNN
  • Overall UI Overhaul – including the admin modules, there will be significant improvements to the DNN UI
  • Social Media Integration – being able to manage your social media presence from within DNN
  • Folder Provider – Being able to host your folders using a provider that can point to nearly any location, including the cloud
  • SharePoint Integration – A folder provider for SharePoint, to pull in SP files and folders into DNN
  • Seamless Integration into Mobile Devices – being able to face your DNN sites on any device, and allow any device to have apps built for DNN
  • DotNetNuke adopted as the official standard for CMS’s in the State of Kentucky

There of course was an hour of content in the keynote, but it was streamed & tweeted out to everyone that morning.  Overall, I think Shaun did a great job, and it appeared from the applauses and the buzz that everyone was extremely happy over the keynote.

The Sessions

I went to many other sessions by DNN notables such as Bruce Chapman (of Ifinity fame), Cuong Dang (of r2Integrated), Chad Nash (of Data Springs), and even those of the newer faces, such as Beatriz Oliveira (of Bind).  The thing that appeared to be consistent all the way through was QUALITY.  These were all top-notch speakers, and they all delivered top-notch presentations.  I especially enjoyed Beatriz’s presentation and speaking style.  I wish that Bind was in the US, as we’d all be raised to a higher standard. :)

My session went pretty well.  I had been pretty nervous about it ever since being picked to speak – mostly because I’ve never spoken at a paid conference before.  When you speak predominantly at code camps and user groups, you can fallback easily on the thought that “so what” – they didn’t have to pay for anything mentality.  Not true here.  However, once the people began to filter into my room, and after speaking to some of the people there, I was put at ease.  I had a whole list of possible demo-able things to do, depending on how the crowd interest swayed.  Interestingly though, they appeared to really enjoy my SEO tips, so we never made it to the more complicated portions of my demo.  Thank you SO MUCH to all of you that came to my presentation!  I’m just sad that I forgot to ask someone to take pictures of me presenting.  It was my first time speaking at a DevConnections / DotNetNuke Connections.

Closing Panel Discussion with DNN Corp Leadership

My favorite presentations is nearly a tie between the Community is Good Business talk by Joe Brinkman and Scott Willhite, and the closing panel discussion.  I simply LOVE the DNN community, so I am quite biased there, but the closing panel discussion is invaluable to those who want to know about the inner-workings of DNN and DNN Corp, upcoming features, business strategy, preferences, code processes, and so much more.  It even re-sparked the debate on whether the core code should be in C# or VB.  Shaun’s answer was pretty surprising to most, as he didn’t rule out there being a C# version one day.  The reasoning wasn’t a religious debate type of answer, but rather one that centered mostly around hiring.  The truth is, that when you look at the two languages today, the only differences these days is the syntax.  Peter Donker has written a pretty good post recently, highlighting that.

Media from DNNCon

You can find plenty of media from the event at the DNNCon r2iSmash portal, and through the DNNCon Flickr group.  And of course my DNNCon Flickr set, shown below.

In closing, I just want to say thank you to those who choose the DNNCon sessions.  I was chosen before I was hired at DNN Corp, so it is still very fulfilling to know that I was worth having at the event.  I am equally thankful to DNN Corp for allowing me to continue to go.  Sometimes business gets in the way of things, so I was a bit scared when I was first hired.  I also want to thank those who attended the event.  You made this a very fun event to be a part of.  Every day and night was more fun than the average person could handle.  We could tell as soon as people began peeling off to their rooms.  :)  Lastly, I would like to thank DevConnections for having us.  Despite me being disappointed in the amount of cross promotion that our track had, it is nothing short of an honor for them to think that DNN is worthy of its own track at such a prestigious event.  Thank you!

The header image of me was taken by Chris Hammond.

Peter Donker
11.02.10

I returned from my trip to OpenForce Europe to find out I had been made a DNN trustee.

Peter Donker
10.21.10

DMX 05.03.02 has just been released. And next week is the primary European DNN conference.

DNNDaily.com
10.07.10

If you’ve never been to the annual DotNetNuke convention in Las Vegas Nevada your first time there you are going to be overwhelmed. The Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino is enormous, if you’re staying in the Mandalay Bay or THEHotel, plan on giving yourself 10-15 minutes to walk to where the convention is each morning, you won’t go outside, but you’ll definitely go for a hike.

First things first, THEHotel is another hotel (a fancier/pricier one), attached to the casino that is Mandalay Bay, you can think of them as being on opposite corners of a square. The convention center is on one of the corners between the two, if you consider that corner stretched way the hell out of place, and a long way away from the other corners :)

Tags: DotNetNuke,Conference,DNNCON,Connections,Las Vegas,Vegas
Category: Events
Category: Community
Category: Development
Joe Brinkman
09.14.10

starting_block[4]Have you ever installed a piece of software but weren’t sure where to go from there? Have you struggled to find that feature that you know is there, but you’re not quite sure how to turn it on?  Have you occasionally had problems just getting some complex piece of software installed?  These are challenges faced by the average user of almost every piece of software ever created.  Few software applications are so straight forward and simple that no documentation is required.  As software becomes more and more complex, the documentation and training requirements increase as well.  You need documentation and training that caters to the beginner as well as the expert.

I have heard many DotNetNuke users recite these same challenges.  Like every content management system or application framework I have ever encountered, DotNetNuke is a complex system, so it is not unusual that some new users will find it challenging to get started.  It is also not unusual that many experienced DotNetNuke users and developers will find new features and capabilities that they never knew existed.  The biggest hurdle for many users is the perception that DotNetNuke is not well documented or that the only place to find information is in the forums.

Over the last 8 years, the DotNetNuke team, and the DotNetNuke community has created a wealth of documentation, videos and books covering all aspects of DotNetNuke.  As an Open Source project, DotNetNuke has relied heavily on community members not just for coding and design skills, but also for providing much of the documentation that is available for the platform.  Unfortunately, we have not always done a very great job of making that information easy to find for users.  Some of the information is available on DotNetNuke.com, but often you may need to venture out to other websites to get information provided by the broader DotNetNuke community.

My purpose with this post is to provide a good starting point for anyone who is new to DotNetNuke, and even for many long-time DotNetNuke users, administrators, designers and developers.  This list is far from exhaustive, but will provide a very solid foundation that should answer a lot of questions.  I have used everyone of these resources and know that they are all provide high quality material that is fairly up to date.  If you have been using DotNetNuke for any period of time, I am sure you have your own list of resources that you find valuable.  Feel free to leave a comment and tell me what documentation and training resources you have found helpful.

Documentation

There are a number of documents, both free and commercial, that are available for DotNetNuke.  All of these documents are kept up to date with the latest releases of DotNetNuke and are extremely valuable to new and experienced DotNetNuke users.

  • Installation Guide – This basic installation guide should get you started with installing DotNetNuke.  It assumes that you already know how to setup SQL Server and IIS and focuses entirely on the DotNetNuke side of things in order to keep the guide short and simple.
  • Quick Administration Guide – At 375 pages, the Quick Administration Guide is not all that quick, but it does provide information on practically every feature in DotNetNuke making it a very valuable resource.   Of course, compared to the 1700+ pages that is the full SuperUser Manual, the Quick Administration Guide is a quick read.
  • DotNetNuke User and Superuser Manuals – Before there was a book, or online help, or really much documentation at all, there was the User Manual created by Lorraine Young.  This is the grand daddy of all user guides and is well worth the cost if you really must have a portable version of the documentation.  If you are a DotNetNuke Professional, Elite or Enterprise subscriber then you already have access to these manuals.  If not then you can purchase them on Snowcovered.
  • Online Help – If you want the information in the User and Superuser Manuals but don’t really need it to be in PDF form, then checkout the Online Help.  It is the same documentation, except that it is not portable.  The really good news is that it is FREE!
  • DotNetNuke Core API Help File – This documentation is brand new on the list.  The DotNetNuke Reference Team has been hard at work this year trying to pull this together, and starting with DotNetNuke 5.5 we finally have a Windows Help file that contains the complete core API.  This is a work in progress so some sections of the API will contain much greater details than other sections.

Free Videos

Some people have an easier time understanding content that engages both their visual and auditory senses.  To help those individuals there are a number of free videos available which cover a wide range of topics.

  • Installing DotNetNuke – This video is a great place to start if you are new to DotNetNuke and want to get it installed.  Chris Hammond spends some time explaining how to install DotNetNuke and how to deal with some of the issues you may encounter along the way depending on your specific machine configuration.
  • Basic DotNetNuke Administration – In the second video in the DotNetNuke Basic series, Chris covers the fundamentals of DotNetNuke and shows how to perform many of the common administrative tasks.
  • Basic DotNetNuke Module Development – This is the third video in the DotNetNuke Basic series by Chris Hammond.  If you are interested in creating modules for DotNetNuke, then this video will help you get started.
  • Basic DotNetNuke Skinning – In the fourth video in the DotNetNuke Basic series, Chris covers how to create your own custom DotNetNuke Skins.  The DotNetNuke Basic series contains over 6 hours of instruction and provides a wealth of information to help users get started with all aspects of DotNetNuke development and administration.
  • DNNHero Tutorials – Aderson Oliveria has over 130 videos on various aspects of using DotNetNuke.  Each video is 5 to 10 minutes in length.  In these videos, Aderson covers a wide variety of topics that span both configuration and administration of core DotNetNuke features as well as discussing 3rd party modules and extensions. 
  • PSDtoDNN Tutorials – Like Aderson, Rick Beddie has created dozens of videos that cover many different administrative tasks in DotNetNuke.  These videos are much shorter than those from DNN Hero and often only run between 1 and 5 minutes.  Don’t let the length fool you, these are still very useful videos when you are just trying to find that one button or dropdown box to enable or disable a feature.
  • DNNProfessor Tutorials – Before Aderson and Rick started creating their videos, Buck Anderson had created a number of terrific videos on DNNProfessor.com.  While Buck has been somewhat quiet in 2010, there is still a lot of useful information in these videos and they are well worth your time to review.  If you have purchased XMod, then Buck has a number of videos covering that particular module.

Paid Videos/Webinars

The free video content is great, but sometimes you just need more information or you need very specific information that is more targeted to your particular needs.  In those cases, you should checkout some of the paid video options.

  • Advanced DotNetNuke Webinars – DotNetNuke Corporation provides a number of paid webinars that go in depth on every aspect of DotNetNuke.  If you don’t see a scheduled webinar that specifically addresses your needs then speak with Chris Hammond and he can customize a training course specifically tailored for your organization.  These training courses go well beyond the free webinars and videos available online and are offered for those looking to take the next step into the world of DotNetNuke.
  • DotNetNuke Creative e-Zine – Lee Sykes has created a large number of videos and articles covering most aspects of DotNetNuke.  These videos fall somewhere between the 10 minute videos provided by DNNHero and the 90+ minute comprehensive training videos and webinars created by Chris Hammond.  Like the DNNHero videos, each DNN Creative video is generally focused on a single task, feature or module.

Books

While the community continues to churn out more and more free documentation, sometimes a book is the best resource for the job.  If you want to know how to package your module or you want to know what a specific skin object does, then chances are that you will find that information in one of the many reference books available for DotNetNuke.

  • DotNetNuke 5 User’s Guide: Get Your Website Up and Running – In this book is a good beginning reference for people wanting to get a DotNetNuke website up and running quickly.  Chris Hammond and Patrick Renner focus on those tasks commonly faced when installing and configuring a DotNetNuke website without bogging the reader down with all of the advanced options and settings which are rarely needed by most DotNetNuke users. 
  • Professional DotNetNuke 5: Open Source Web Application Framework for ASP.Net – If you really need more in-depth coverage of the features in DotNetNuke 5 then this is a good book for you.  Written by some of most active members of the community, this is a well researched book which goes into great detail about all aspects of DotNetNuke including, installation, administration, development and skinning.  The only downside to this book is that it is starting to get a little dated.  Originally written for DotNetNuke 5.0, there are many features which have come out in the last 18 months that are not covered in the book.  If you are looking for a great reference book on DotNetNuke then this is the one to get.  When supplemented with the current user guide and API Help file, it provides a solid foundation for fully understanding DotNetNuke.

Community Generated Content

DotNetNuke has a very large and passionate user community.  That community is constantly creating great content that is made freely available to other members of the community.  If you need a question answered – check the forums.   Want to get the latest scoop on a feature that was just released - read the blogs of the developers who work on the platform.  Want to find out what kind of sites you can create with DotNetNuke – browse through the sites on the DNNGallery.  These sites are just a few of the ways that the DotNetNuke Community gives back to others in the community.

  • Forums – The DotNetNuke forums are the hub of the DotNetNuke Community.  This is where the most active community members hang out.  If you need a question answered, chances are pretty good that someone in the forums knows the answer and is willing to provide the assistance you are seeking.  Just remember that everyone in the forums is there as a volunteer, so be nice.  We were all new users at some point and have not forgotten some of the challenges of learning a new system.  As long as you approach the forums with a little bit of respect for those who are volunteering their time to help you, then you should have a pretty positive experience.
  • Blogs – The blogs on DotNetNuke.com are written by members of DotNetNuke Corporation and members of the Core Team.  If there is some new feature in DotNetNuke or some major community event, chances are pretty good that you will read about it here first.  Some of the blogs are pretty technical and some are more social in nature, but all of them provide a lot of insight for the community into what is happening with the platform.
  • DotNetNukeBlogs.com – Originally created by Chris Hammond, DotNetNukeBlogs.com aggregates blogs from many of the leaders in the DotNetNuke Community.  There is some overlap with the blogs on DotNetNuke.com, but there is quite a bit of unique content that is aggregated from the blogs of various community members like Mitchel Sellers, Cuong Dang, Will Morgenweck, Bruce Chapman and many others.
  • DNNGallery – The DNNGallery is a great site to checkout some of the top websites built using DotNetNuke.  All of these sites were submitted by various community members to help show off the great capabilities of DotNetNuke.

Conferences and Community Events

Every year, DotNetNuke users across the globe get together to discuss DotNetNuke.  We meet at local and national conferences and user groups.  This is a chance to get a little more direct contact with key community members and learn from some of the best minds in the DotNetNuke community.

  • DotNetNuke Connections – The DotNetNuke Connections conference is held every year in Las Vegas in conjunction with the DevConnections conferences.  This conference is the premier event in North America for DotNetNuke developers, administrators and designers.  With attendance by most of the major DotNetNuke vendors, DotNetNuke Corporation engineers and DotNetNuke Core team members, if you have a question about some aspect of DotNetNuke, you are guaranteed to find someone here who can answer your question or at least put you in touch with the right person.  This is the place to be if you want to find out about the new features that have come out this past year, and those features that are being worked on for 2011.
  • DotNetNuke OpenForce Europe – OpenForce Europe is the counterpart to the DotNetNuke Connections event and is the place where Europeans come together to learn about the latest with DotNetNuke.  Attendees tend to be predominantly from Europe but still include a number of high profile DotNetNuke Corp employees and DotNetNuke Core team members.
  • Day Of DNN – The Day of DNN is a series of community driven events that started in 2009 with Day of DNN – Orlando.  This year there was a Day of DNN – Europe in Paris this past spring and there is also an upcoming Day of DNN – Chicago that is coming up on October 2nd.  Much like the Connections and OpenForce events, DayOfDnn provides a great opportunity to meet some of the leaders in the community.  These events are generally well attended and provide great content but are mostly regional events.

DotNetNuke is a great platform, with a great community.  If you are really interested in learning how to use DotNetNuke to its fullest then there is documentation, videos and websites that can help you.  If you know of other websites or content that didn’t make my initial list, then just leave a comment below and I’ll be happy to review any additional items that you think are worthy.

R2idnn
09.09.10
You probably have heard that R2i won two distinguished DotNetNuke Community Choice Awards from an awesome project we did called http://Rehab.com at OpenForce North America in Las Vegas last year. Yep, the community has spoken and recognized our great work! Many people voted http://Rehab.com to be the Best Informational and Best Overall site.
The Mighty Blog
09.09.10

DotNetNuke Connections 2010: Will Strohl

I feel a bit overwhelmed right now.  I haven’t presented at any community events in at least a couple of months, and I have somehow found myself committed to 7 different public presentations at 4 different events in 4 different cities over the next 2 months – and that’s not including 2 huge presentations that are not public.

I am not complaining though.  I wouldn’t agree to any of them if I didn’t enjoy it.  I just didn’t realize how quickly they all sprung up on me!  :)

Bay Area DotNetNuke User Group

Date: Sept. 16th
Location:  DotNetNuke Corporation Corporate Office, San Mateo, CA
Cost:  FREE
Registration:  http://baydug.org/

Page One: All of the SEO Hooks in DotNetNuke that YOU Need to Know
It's one thing to be an "SEO expert" and it's another thing to know how to implement the varying search engine optimization techniques.  Many CMS solutions claim to be SEO-friendly, or "the best at SEO," but this session will show how DotNetNuke has the most built-in SEO hooks out of any CMS platform available today.  You don't need to be a programmer or a skinner to benefit from this session - but you do need to be ready to be inspired to increase your search engine results page ranking at the end of this session!

Day of DotNetNuke Chicago

I will be presenting 2 different sessions at the first annual Day of DotNetNuke Chicago.

Date:  Oct. 02
Location:  Northern Illinois University, Chicago, IL
Cost:  FREE
Registration:  http://chicago.dayofdotnetnuke.com/

Programming Your Way into Your Designers Hearts
All to often, we as programmers, paint our designers into corners. Unfortunately, our designers may also be our customers. This session is meant to teach you how to develop your DotNetNuke modules using basic methods and standards to enable your designers instead of making them angry. Using what you learn here, your designers and customers will be able to change your modules to fit their designs with the greatest of ease. Before you know it, if you follow my advice, Fridays will be "buy your programmer a beer" day at the office! (One can dream, right?)

Installation and Upgrading of DotNetNuke and DNN Modules
There are quite a few misconceptions out there about the level of difficulty when installing and upgrading DotNetNuke. This session is intended to walk you through the entire installation and upgrade process, outlining some of the common problems and solutions. As an add-on, we will also go through installing modules on DotNetNuke. At the end of this session, you will walk out being inspired to install DotNetNuke right away, and install all of your favorite modules. After we're done, you too will think it's easy!

Silicon Valley Code Camp

To be honest, this code camp format really confuses me.  I have 3 sessions submitted.  I have no idea if I will be presenting one or all of them.  I will be ready though.

Date:  Oct. 09-10
Location:  Foothill College, Los Altos Hills, CA
Cost:  FREE
Registration:  http://www.siliconvalley-codecamp.com/Register.aspx

Introduction to DotNetNuke 5
Have you heard of DotNetNuke (DNN) and don't know what it is? Have you used it, but just don't know where to start with it? This session is designed to show you how to get started with DotNetNuke, and give you the tools and information to leap forward to be able to use it for your websites and company. First, we will show you how to install it, and then give an overview of the features that the newest version of DNN has. Finally, we will give you guidance on how to move forward with DNN in your company, consultancy, or personal endeavors.

DotNetNuke 5 Administration: Tips & Tricks
It is one thing to install DotNetNuke, but it is an entirely different thing to manage it. Oftentimes, the person who manages a DotNetNuke website is not the person who installed it, and may not have the skill set to know how to manage their DotNetNuke website effectively. In this session, we will walk through some of the more common DotNetNuke management and administration scenarios, showing you how to be a POWER Administrator and overcome administrative challenges.

Using Advanced jQuery Techniques to Enhance Your DotNetNuke Modules
You may know how to build a DotNetNuke module. You may know jQuery pretty well. But do you know how to use jQuery to really punch up your UI to wow your clients and website visitors? Do you know how to leverage jQuery UI to make your module UI more flexible? This session aims to get you in the right direction by providing you the techniques and tools to answer those questions. The next module you build will have that extra something that you never knew was missing!

DotNetNuke Connections

I am more excited about this speaking event then nearly any other speaking event I’ve been lucky enough to present at!  This is also my first time going, so I really hope to see every single one of you there!  :)

Date:  Nov. 1-4
Location:  Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, NV
Cost:  $1,595.00 (discount available for user groups)
Registration:  [link to site]

DotNetNuke 5 Administration: Tips & Tricks
It is one thing to install DotNetNuke, but it is an entirely different thing to manage it. Oftentimes, the person who manages a DotNetNuke website is not the person who installed it, and may not have the skill set to know how to manage their DotNetNuke website effectively. In this session, we will walk through some of the more common DotNetNuke management and administration scenarios, showing you how to be a POWER Administrator and overcome administrative challenges.

** PLEASE NOTE: This session will be updated specifically for this event.

I hope to see you at one of my upcoming presentations.  Please make it a point to tell me hi, and tell me how much you hate my blog!  :)

DNNDaily.com
09.04.10

If you haven’t been to Las Vegas Nevada for the annual DotNetNuke Conference you are definitely missing out on a good time! I look forward to going every year, and to be honest, I get the most enjoyment out of seeing all the people and talking outside of the sessions than I do in the sessions themselves. That being said, the sessions are well worth the price of the conference! But where else are you going to get to meet the big names in the DotNetNuke World each and every year?

DNNConnections_In_N_Out

Tags: DotNetNuke,Conference,DNN,Vegas
Category: Community
Category: Events
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