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Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2006 09:59:01 -0600
From: "Al Byers" <byersa@automationgroups.com>
To: ofbiz-user@incubator.apache.org, ofbiz-dev@incubator.apache.org
Subject: Fall 2006 User Conference details
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We have been conferring on the conference and here is the latest:

We always knew that it was late to be doing anything, but we felt that the
meeting had merit as just a regional offering (we already have 6 local
signups). Discussion and a tour of David's facilities has lead us to believe
that having a quarterly mini-conference coupled with follow-on training
classes may not be a bad idea. We will always have a strong Utah contingent
and anyone else who would like to come would be welcome. Putting myself in
someone else's shoes - there are only so many people that you will get to
know at a conference anyway, so the fact that there may not be as many as
for the annual conference should not deter you from coming. There will be
plenty of knowledgeable sources at these meetings. The fact that it is small
and informal should work to the advantage of anyone who attends. Although
there are no definite plans, there will probably be a larger, annual
conference next year held somewhere else (anyone who would like to host it
should talk to David).

Another way to look at this will be as a great opportunity for a retreat for
your company. You will definitely be getting away from things. David has a
room or two that could handle your company for breakout meetings. For that
matter, you may wish to contact David directly for company retreats that are
held separately from any conference. I will be covering training below, but
I am sure that David would be interested in combining training for your
company along with lodging. That would get your team away, put them close to
expert help and give you time to focus on important tasks - like getting
your project off on the right track.

The details for this conference (which will be billed as the 2006 Users
Conference, but will really be just the first of many quarterly mini
conferences) are:

Dates: Nov 3 (Fri) 9AM - Nov 4 (Sat) 2PM

Location: David Jones' hotel/hostel. The street address is 24 West Center
Street, Ephraim, UT 84627.

Phone: My number is 801-400-5111. Others to be provided later.

Costs: Conference registration fee - $125 Includes:
 . Food - continental breakfast on Fri and Sat, sandwich lunch on Fri and
Sat, pizza or eating out on Friday night
             snacks and soda from Thu-Sat
 .Lodging - two nights in a private room at David's hotel (on Thu and Fri).
Rooms share a common bath and shower facility on each floor - one floor is
for men and the other is for women. There is a nice motel (Willow Creek Inn)
within walking distance of the meeting site for those who would like to be
more upscale. We will refund $25 for each night not spent at the conference
site.

Transportation - You will want to fly into the Salt Lake City airport which
is approximately 125 miles from the conference site in Ephraim, UT. Since we
have so many people coming from nearby, we should be able to shuttle anyone
from the airport to Ephraim. Contact me directly and we will make
arrangements. Because of the distance, you will probably want to travel on
Thu, but will will try to hold the meat of the conference till later on
Friday for late arrivers. There will be at least on local attendee traveling
down on Fri, so we may be able to accommodate late comers.

On directions, I'd recommend people come to Nephi on I-15 and then
take the highway east (exit 225 if I remember right), rather than
taking HW 6 up Spanish Fork canyon (just in case of early snow/ice).

Presentations: These have not be finalized and we would be happy to
accommodate any one's request. Since this is an informal meeting, feel free
to either request some time to be spent on a particular subject or make a
presentation of your own with group discussion to follow.

 . David Jones will be doing at least on presentation on OFBiz, with plenty
of discussion on where it is going.
 . Si Chen will be doing a remote presentation on what key OFBiz developers
are doing and on his use of OFBiz to run his company from top to bottom. (We
will entertain other remote presentations. Also, we may like to try remote
attendance using Apple's iChat. There are only 3 slots open for that)
 . Al Byers (me) will be presenting what I have learned about using Grinder
for doing system testing.
 . Amit Shinde will be making a presentation about the OFBiz climate in
India and providing some pointers on doing business with offshore companies.
There will be representatives from two separate India companies at this
conference.
 . Brett Palmer - Most likely on the use of Lazlo and/or AJAX for rich
client applications.

 More to follow.

There will be open time for user questions and discussion.

Activities:
 Thu and Fri nights will be open for informal gathering and movie watching
in the common meeting area.

TRAINING
  This is what David supplied for training info:

==========================================
As a follow-on to the users conference on the 3-4 of November, Undersun
Consulting is offering training on Apache OFBiz that will cover both the
framework and the applications of the project.

This will be meant as a supplement to the new training videos offered by
Undersun rather than a replacement. The new screen-recording based training
videos do a good job of covering the basics of the OFBiz Framework, and will
make a good foundation to build on in this face-to-face training.

We will answer questions and cover detailed examples of existing code, as
well as implement new code to help each person solidify their understanding
of the framework and how it can be applied, as well as how the most based
and universal parts of the applications be re-used.

Because of this those attending should review the Apache OFBiz Advanced
Framework Training Package materials from Undersun before the training. For
anyone that does not have these yet, please contact

The training will go for 3 days with a focus on less advanced and more
commonly needed topics for the first 2 days, and then one additional day to
cover more advanced topics for those that are interested. The cost for the
first two days is $400 per person and will include lunch and snacks. The
cost for all three days is $550 per person.
==========================================

Notes:
This is Utah and this is a particularly dry county, so if your idea of going
to a conference is an opportunity to indulge in alcoholic beverages, this
may not be the conference for you. We will not be serving or allowing
alcohol in the common meeting areas.

Suggestions:

Consider staying over to visit the local national parks - Bryce, Zions,
Coral Reef and the Grand Canyon. Extra nights at David's place will only be
$25 per night. Can't promise transportation back on Sunday, but if you let
me know your desire to stay over, we can see how many others may be
interested and we will see what we can do.

Las Vegas is 340 miles away.

Comments:

As mentioned, this will, hopefully,  be the first of many quarterly
meetings. It will be a little rough, but I am sure we will be adding value
over the course of multiple meetings. So you can expect there to be other
meetings, but don't underestimate the value of the first meeting in
situations such as this. It will be a great opportunity to get to know some
of the early OFBiz adopters and get some good pointers.

Please send any questions here to the ofbiz-user@incubator.apache.org list
or directly to me.

-Al Byers
 .

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