Virtual Team System User Group
So if you are like me, you want to be involved with User Groups, whether its speaking or just attending. And also, if you are like me, there isn't a user group anywhere close to you. The closest one for me is 1.5 hours away, and with rising gas prices, it just isn't feasible to make it there every month.
Well, two good friends of mine (who also happen to be Team System MVPs as well), Paul Hacker and Dave McKinstry, have come up with a great idea that helps out, not only people like me, but people everywhere. They have create a virtual Team System User Group. Here are some details, stolen directly from Dave's blog:
Chewing Glas (aka Paul Hacker) and Daven Finesmith (aka Dave McKinstry) are proud to announce a new users group forming in your area: the Team System User Group (Virtual Edition)!!!! In addition to the few user groups focused on Visual Studio Team System in major cities, now all Visual Studio Team System enthusiasts and users can join together to share stories and learn. Like most user groups, we will meet on a monthly basis, socialize a little, and have presentations. We plan to have demo-rich presentations and support an interactive format allowing attendees to participate and ask questions.
Unlike the ‘classic’ user group, you will be able to participate regardless of your location! You no longer have to live in one of the handful of cities world-wide to join and participate in a Team Systems community! In addition, we can now pull from a broader pool of excellent presenters from around the globe!
Our initial meetings will all be in English and are targeting an Americas-friendly time zone. But other times and places are possible. If you are interested, visit our web site: http://www.tsug-ve.com/. Sign-up and we’ll contact you with additional meeting information. It is free to join and none of the underlying technologies require fees beyond what you already pay for your computer and network access! We will not use your contact info for anything other than user group communications (approximately once per month). Our first meeting is September 18th at 6PM (Pacific Time / SLT). We hope to see you there!!
I am VERY excited about this. It's going to allow people from all over the world to come together and talk about Team System. And I can do it from the comfort of my home office.
The first meeting is September 18th, 2008 at 6PM Pacific Time. Make sure you hit the Team System User Group - Virtual Edition website before then though, and read the Before The Meeting instructions. The user group is going to use a combination of Second Life and Live Meeting, so you will want to make sure you have both configured before the meeting time. Also, feel free to tell them that Team System Rocks! sent ya!