So Cal .NET Developers Group

Of the many things I love about my job at ComponentOne, one is I actually get paid to attend User Groups, interact with the attendees, make new friends, get caught up with old ones, and give stuff away.

On Wednesday, August 4th, 2010, I attended the monthly meeting of the So Cal .NET Developer's Group. This is one of the liveliest groups I know of (except for the IEDOTNETUG), and I had a great time. When I arrived the meeting room was setup, the books for raffles were lined up nicely, and there was a certain efficiency to the registration process. The leaders - James Lin and Janet Chung - really do a good job of getting things setup. Even a list of the sponsors and raffle prizes was listed on the white board. This group meets on the first Wednesday of every month. Go to the web site and they have a nice calendar of upcoming events for themselves and other local user groups. They are really great at building and maintaining community.

The meeting started promptly at 6:30 and I was introduced. I talked a bit about C1, how we are building up our Evangelism and User Group Support efforts and that C1 would now be sponsoring the group with a Studio license per month to raffle. Lots of applause and cheers for that little announcement!

My longtime evangelist friend, Woody Pewitt, was the presenter and talked about the different protocols for sending and retrieving data over the internet, specifically HTTP. I've been a web developer since 300 baud modem days, and I learned a few things. Woody is now working for a Mind Touch, which allows him to present in an even more offbeat way than usual. A few "interesting" phrase popped out of him, and he became totally relaxed by going barefoot!

The meeting ended at 8:35 and the raffle began and attendee Wong Lionel won his choice of a Studio license from our product line. After the raffle I announced our "2nd chance Twitter contest" where we choose two entries from those who tweeted "@componentone <3's SOCALDOTNET". @woodyp and @operknockity

This is a great group with a real down to earth, "this is my group and I'm proud of it atmosphere." I can't wait to go back.

James