It’s hard to believe, but this month, the Phoenix Connected Systems User Group reached a significant milestone: 3 years in service.
Todd and I started this group because we both share a passion for distributed computing, particularly on the Microsoft platform. While other groups focus on broad .NET topics, ranging from presentation technologies to mobility, CMS and the web, we wanted to specialize on the Microsoft Application Integration stack, namely BizTalk Server, AppFabric, WCF
and WF for two main reasons.
First, we believe in this platform. We’ve worked with countless clients and have seen how these technologies coupled with the right architecture and patterns can transform business operations. Secondly, we understood that middleware isn’t sexy. To be frank, attendance at many meetings is sometimes as low as 5, and our average is about 15 (once we had 24!). But those are 15 developers, architects and aspiring architects that can take the knowledge we share each month and begin to have a deeper, broader impact at their place of business and start thinking at enterprise scope because as we believe, middleware forms the cornerstone for delivering business outcomes.
In addition, the middleware landscape is always changing, and it can be very hard for someone who doesn’t eat, live and breathe this stuff to keep up. What’s more, as companies rationalize cloud computing, we believe that middleware will serve an even more prominent role in the future of cloud and hybrid solutions. So, our goal today is the same as it was in August 2008: To educate and inform the community about the direction in which Connected Systems Development (distributed computing) is going, and how developers and architects of various, yet intersecting disciplines can start to prepare for what is ahead while serving the community through knowledge sharing and evangelism of current shipping technologies.
Thank you to our Leadership Team and Supporters
Starting and running a user group is a lot of work, much more than Todd and I probably realized when we decided to do this in the spring of 2008. There are many things that need to happen each month to put on a meeting:
- First and foremost, we need to attract good speakers that are going to draw attendance. Working for a premier Microsoft Managed Partner and National Systems Integrator certainly helps on the speaker recruiting front, but one of the things that Todd and I were very mindful of when we started this group was ensuring that we were very vigilant in preventing any perception that this group was a shill for our employer. While in the true spirit of community, none of our speakers have ever used this platform to push a corporate agenda, it is something that we’ve protected diligently and as a result, we worked very hard to ensure that we created channels for other sponsors (be they competitors to our employers or otherwise) as well as really diversifying our speaker base. Another core goal has been to provide the community with an avenue to begin learning the art of public speaking. User groups are where I got my first start speaking about software development over 10 years ago and I’ve never looked back since. We are proud to say that in 3 years, we’ve only cancelled 2 meetings due to lack of speakers or logistics issues. You can find our full speaker/event portfolio here: http://www.pcsug.org/Home/Events
- In addition to good speakers, and providing speaking opportunities, there is a ton of marketing that must take place each month to drive attendance. Ordering giveaways, getting the website updated, sending out the newsletter, scheduling tweets and posting to our user group pages on LinkedIn and Yahoo Groups (please, join the groups for the latest news and updates!) can sometimes be a full time job. Fortunately, with the help from our friends like @zannabanana, @danweinmann, @chrisconeybeer, @chadwatson and @rockysanders, we’ve been able to continuously deliver sessions and speakers in a consistent manner year over year.
One thing we learned early on is that location is essential to building a community and consistency in terms of meeting time each month is absolutely key.
Our first year we met at the Microsoft Southwest District Office in Phoenix which had become a great hub for other user group meetings. Microsoft, specifically Michelle Radford and Don Hiatt were extremely gracious in keeping the office open until 7:30 or 8:00 pm for several months. The other thing we knew is that nerds like pizza and if you want to start a user group, one way to get folks to attend is to feed them. In our first year of operation, Neudesic, namely @sonnyhorton, was kind enough to sponsor most meals.
Throughout the last 3 years, we only moved once, from the Microsoft Southwest District Office in Phoenix to Interface Technical Training just across the street. This move was a great one as it allowed us to remain very close to our base. On the 1st Wed of every month, a great community comes together at ITT with user groups ranging from Silverlight to SharePoint and PowerShell all coming together at one location each month. Mike LaGioia, the owner at ITT has been extremely generous to open his business to us each month, and in addition, each month Mike orders tons of pizza for all of the user groups which provides a very nice social interaction before each group starts while Robin Gully keeps the office open late into the evening. I’d like to thank Mike and Robin at ITT for your warm hospitality, as well as @palermo4 for making the introduction and your support each month in coming out and saying hi to the group.
We’re Moving to Tempe
As we began planning for our 4th year, we learned that the vast majority of our regular PCSUG members either live or work in the East Valley, including a large majority of the leadership team. As a result, we put it up to a vote and almost unanimously decided that it was time to make a move back to Microsoft in Tempe. This was not an easy decision since ITT has been so fantastic to us, but it makes sense from a utilitarian perspective and I won’t lie when I say that living in Ahwatukee along with the highly anticipated move of my employer to Tempe made this decision a little bit easier.
You’re Invited!
To celebrate our 3rd birthday, we’d like to invite you to our celebration on Wednesday, September 7th at 6:00 pm at Interface Technical Training. We will start by conducting a retrospective of the year’s past as well and hold an awards ceremony to recognize our sponsors and supporters such as Sonny, Mike, Robin, Michelle, Michael and Don over the years and wrap up with some cake. No session will be presented, but every attendee will take home a special gift prepared by the leadership team (that you can celebrate with at your own leisure, hint, hint 
) so come on out and celebrate with us.
And remember, starting Wed, October 5th, we’ll be meeting at the Microsoft Southwest District office in Tempe.
Thank you again for your support and we look forward to seeing you throughout our 4th year!