NYCPHP Meetup

[Gary Mort]

On Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 8:12 AM, Donna Marie Vincent <
donnamarievincent at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Gary,
>
> I agree that we should add an About Us page (#1-3).
>
> And we do have a bio page and presentation page.  The bio page is called
> Card Exchange, for anyone who attends a meeting.  And all presenters are
> encouraged to add any materials from the slideshow to the website's
> Meetings/Presentations download section.
>
> We don't have "regular presenters" and I don't think we ever will because
> people come and go.
>

Hmm..  Hearkening back to 2007, Laura, Anthony, Mitch, and yourself
regularly presented on topics.  I define a regular presenter as someone who
does at least 3 presentations in a years time.    To me, having a page
dedicated to those people lets those looking at the group over time see what
has been happening, and it's a bennie/thank you to the regular presentors as
it does add to your resume/cover letter to be able to say you present
regularly on Joomla at the NYC meetings. :-)

>
> As far as gathering info from the RSVP and developing a presentation or
> demo around the requests, I believe that would be a job in itself.  Are you
> volunteering for the job? ;-)
>
  I believe that decisions about what presentations we are interested in
> should be done at the meeting by people who are participating in the
> meetings.  People volunteer their presentation, or volunteer to arrange for
> someone outside our group to come in and give a presentation, and we decide
> whether it is something we want at the meeting.
>
>
Not all presentations, I'm speaking here specifically of a general overview
of how to edit/maintain a basic Joomla website for new users/prospective new
users.

One thing I learned at the Dreamweavers meeting, I had a whole presentation
prepared on Joomla and I didn't get past editing content and menu's.  That
is an EXTREMELY powerful feature that I think many of us take for granted.
But new users don't really understand/realize the power.

It is also /boring/ for those of us who are already familiar with Joomla.
So it can be boiled down into a 15 mintue presentation to be done at the
beginning of the meeting only when we know there are people new to Joomla
coming[ie we have that one question on the RSVP asking if their new to
Joomla and encouraging them to RSVP so we can arrange it]

Those who volunteer to do it can have a rotation.  For them, it's a big
benefit because it means the presentor gets to talk directly at the meeting
to what are basically prospective clients.  The presentor gets to send them
an email a few days before the meeting reminding them that there is a
presentation geared specifically to them, and at the same time gets to
basically promote their own services with a brief bio of themselves.

The downside of doing these presentations is that it somewhat dillutes the
presentors reputation as more advanced users kind of associate them with
"beginning Joomla"... so it is a trade off professionally, but it does help
the group expand appeal and attract new people.

Now, this one idea does require a bit more in setup than the others - since
it requires some coding to setup the email communication functions and the
page to check on how many newbies are coming[which is also useful to others,
if you go and see that there are 5 new members coming, you know you can get
there 10-15 mintues later because there is a presentation you have no
interest in at the start of the meeting. :-)]


*From:* Gary Mort <garyamort at gmail.com>
> *To:* NYPHP SIG: Joomla <joomla at lists.nyphp.org>
> *Sent:* Fri, December 11, 2009 7:49:55 AM
> *Subject:* Re: [joomla] list sig
>
> I can shoot an email to Hans Z. asking him to make the change.  I've found
> the NYPHP folks very accomodating.
>
> As a PHP programmer first and a Joomla user second, I've always found NYPHP
> as the logical home for the Joomla email list... but based on the fact that
> many Joomla users don't even know, nor do they need to, that it is written
> in PHP perhaps it's not. :-)
>
> As for the website, I've been mulling that for a while and have a few[aka
> many] suggestions:
>
> 1) There should be an about us page with a general overview of the group
> 2) There should be a history page covering the founding of the group
> through organizing NYC's second JoomlaDay
> 3) We need to stress strongly that ALL skill levels of Joomla are welcome
> at the meetings.  One thing I recommend is strongly encouraging non-coders
> to come early to the meeting and schedule the non-techie stuff for the
> beginning and save the techie stuff for the end
> 4) Encourage people new to joomla or considering Joomla to RSVP and ask
> them to make a note that they are new to Joomla[perhaps set a checkbox] -
> and place a count on the website of how many newbies are coming.  If we KNOW
> there are 3 or 4 complete new people, than schedule a short 15 minute
> "welcome to Joomla" demo for them.  Things like "this is how you can
> dynamically change the menu"..."this is how you can edit content on the
> frontpage".."this is how you add new content"...  Really BASIC stuff.   I
> know this was one of the things I did at the start of meetings, because
> quite frankly this kind of demo is not "sexy" and it doesn't show off your
> "skillz" so it is hard to find people willing to do the basics - but these
> basics are what really really attract new people to Joomla.  The fact that
> once a site is up, they do NOT need to call a web designer for every little
> content change.  Of course, this also means you need a few volunteers to
> present this - which shouldn't be too hard, just have a standard demo site
> everyone can use and run through the basics.  If there is a page where
> people can tell if newbies are coming, then a volunteer will step
> forward[I'd also say take it to the next level and 2 or 3 days before the
> meeting, have the volunteer be able to send an email out to those newbies
> "Thanks for your RSVP, Marian Konop from Gotham Informatics,
> http://www.gothaminformatics.com, has volunteered to give you a brief demo
> at the upcoming meeting on X at Y time.  Please make sure to come or let us
> know if something has come up and you need to cancel"]
> 5) Regular presentors should have bio pages on the website.  Something
> like:
> Laura Gordon of RyTech Sites, http://www.rytechsites.com/ is a regular
> presentor at Joomla NYC.
> [brief bio]
> She has recently presented on
> X - brief description and date
> Y -brief description and date
> Z -brief description and date
>
> 6) Irregular presentors should be able to put up a bio page the month of
> and the month after a meeting.  Something like
> Rafael ??? of Dioscouri Designs, http://www.dioscouri.com/
> [brief bio]
> Demonstrating their new online shopping system Tienda on X date
>
> Most of this stuff is basic content editing, a directory component of some
> sort[SOBI2, K2, etc] and then a little coding on the RSVP side which I could
> work on during my dead week at the end of the month.
>
>
> On Thu, Dec 10, 2009 at 10:12 PM, forest mars <compustretch at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Any chance we can get the http://joomlanyc.org site on the e-list sig?
>>
>> Also, before we do that, any chance we can turn SEF on?
>>
>>
>> just wondering,
>>
>> ƒorest
>> --
>> "In theory, theory and practice are exactly the same.
>> In practice, they're completely different."
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>> _______________________________________________
>> New York PHP SIG: Joomla! Mailing List
>> http://lists.nyphp.org/mailman/listinfo/joomla
>>
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>>
>> Show Your Participation in New York PHP
>> http://www.nyphp.org/show_participation.php
>>
>
>
>
> --
> ----
> Hudson Valley Sudbury School
> What GPL is for application users
> Our school is for students
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> _______________________________________________
> New York PHP SIG: Joomla! Mailing List
> http://lists.nyphp.org/mailman/listinfo/joomla
>
> NYPHPCon 2006 Presentations Online
> http://www.nyphpcon.com
>
> Show Your Participation in New York PHP
> http://www.nyphp.org/show_participation.php
>



-- 
----
Hudson Valley Sudbury School
What GPL is for application users
Our school is for students
Help your children grow, change, and learn
Let your child direct, control, amend
Check out http://www.sudburyschool.org
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