More than 35.5 million people in the United States and Canada will go hungry during the holidays.

The Challenge: For all user groups to hold a food drive at their meeting this month. There is plenty of need, especially this year!

http://www.geekfooddrive.com/

“As a little incentive, we are offering the following rewards for those groups who bring in the most donations based on the following ratio: Total Items Collected / Number of Attendees. Prizes will be awarded on or before January 15^th, 2009 and all claims must be submitted by January 12^th, 2008.”

Microsoft Learning has released a collection of valuable offers for the INETA user group community.  Get the Microsoft Learning products that you want for less. Take advantage today of these special offers for developers by visiting:  http://www.microsoft.com/learning/offers

· Get a free “Second Shot” at passing a Microsoft Certification exam, please visit:  http://www.microsoft.com/learning/secondshot

· For free offers and learning “snacks” on Windows Server 2008, please visit:  http://www.microsoft.com/learning/windowsserver2008

· For savings on SQL Server learning resources, please visit:  http://www.microsoft.com/learning/sql/2008

· Get great savings on Virtualization learning resources at:  http://www.microsoft.com/learning/virtualization

Free Microsoft Learning “Snacks”

Learning Snacks are free, short, interactive presentations about popular topics and have been created by Microsoft Learning experts.  Each Snack is delivered by using innovative Microsoft Silverlight technology and includes various media, such as animations and recorded demos.  Time-strapped?  You can learn something new in less than five minutes!  Try a “snack” today @ http://www.microsoft.com/learning/snacks

Get a FREE Second Shot at Microsoft Certification

Second Shot is back!  Microsoft Certifications are the best way to stay up to speed on the latest MS technologies.  Now, for a limited time, you can get an extra chance to pass any Microsoft IT Professional, Developer, or Microsoft Dynamics Certification exam – free. Register for this offer before your first exam and you’ll get two shots at success.  Register now @ http://www.microsoft.com/learning/secondshot

Coming up on Oct 3 is a Deep Dive on Virtual Earth web cast on Channel 9. Learn about the next major release of Virtual Earth. Come see the improvements to the parsing and geo-coding engines, clustering, localization, and routing. Hear how the new Virtual Earth Web Services provides server-side support for building location-based applications on desktops and mobile devices.

For the new stuff, they have just released version 6.2 AND Virtual Earth Web Services 1.0. Check out Mark Brown's blog for all the details.

Also, there are some really interesting background presentations on Virtual Earth available that you shouldn't miss. Behind the Maps - UltraCam gives you a detailed look at the cameras used to photograph map images. You'll learn about the cameras and software and get an up close look at both.

Then, join Mark for Behind the Maps - Flying the UltraCam for a flight over Philadelphia to see how Keystone Aerial Surveys uses the UltraCam to capture Virtual Earth imagery.

Finally, get into the rich array of developer tools at http://dev.live.com/virtualearth/default.aspx.

The Twin Cities XNA User group is hosting a charity event to raise money for Children’s hospitals and clinics of Minnesota. It’s great to see members of our developer community and supporting sponsors giving back like this, especially through such a create event. 

http://www.charityfragathon.com/

Wednesday, September 24, 2008 (6-10PM)
Microsoft
8300 Norman Center Dr, Suite 950
Bloomington, MN 55437

The Twin Cities XNA User Group is throwing their first ever charity event! Admission to this event is $10 (ten bucks!!) and that covers entry into what just might be the biggest Halo 3 tournament you've ever seen. We'll also have a room set aside for Rock Band 2 and of course XNA games for anyone who wants to check out the new Xbox Live Community Games

We are pleased to announce the INETA Carolina Community Leadership Summit is scheduled to be held on Saturday June 21, 2008 near Greensboro, NC.  The Summit is a joint effort between INETA and the region’s Microsoft Developer Evangelists.  Everybody involved with a running Microsoft Developer User Group in the Carolinas, Virginia, and surrounding areas is welcome to attend.

The event will consist of some meeting time devoted to issues related to running a Developer User Group, as well as some quality social time to sit back, relax and enjoy the day with your peers from the user group community. This will be a great opportunity to interact with others running groups in the area, share common problems and solutions, and learn something new. The social event is open to the entire family, and our location includes a pool and plenty of space for outdoor activities.

Please RSVP if you will be able to join us by emailing noram.communityactivities@ineta.org . We’ll send a confirmation reply including more information. 

Location

Henson Farms Clubhouse
Brookbank Road
Summerfield, NC 27358
Date: Saturday, 6/21/2008

Tentative Schedule:

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM     Registration / Introductions
11:00 AM - 2:00 PM       Usergroup Leader working lunch
2:00 PM - 7:00 PM        Community Social / Dinner*
*Open to families. Bring along your spouse, significant other, or kids!
(times subject to change slightly based on feedback if needed)

Click here for a Live Earth map:

Directions

From Virginia
- Follow 220 South towards Greensboro.
- Make a right onto 150.
- After about 1 mile, make a left onto Brookbank road (see Henson Farms neighborhood sign at corner).
- Past Snow Hill drive on the left (about 1/4 mile), make a left into the clubhouse parking lot.

From Other Locations
- Follow route I40 to RT68/North (towards Piedmont-Triad airport).
- Follow 68N for about 5 miles to 150 East.
- Follow 150 East for about 5 miles to sharp right onto Brookbank road.
- Past Snow Hill drive on the left (about 1/4 mile), make a left into the clubhouse parking lot.

Amenities on site: bathroom/showers, pool, kiddie pool, soccer field, basketball, tennis court, playground, air conditioned clubhouse, covered patio.

You are cordially invited to the INETA TechEd 2008 Community Leadership Summit, Monday June 2nd, 2008 3-6 p.m. The Summit will be a gathering of Community Leaders, INETA Volunteers, and INETA Speakers.

The Summit will be an informal gathering, allowing attendees to meet each other, socialize, and discuss the topics related to the user group community. There will be several panel discussions on various topics of interest. This will be a great opportunity to interface with members of INETA, your peers from the community, as well as to talk with our sponsors on how they can get involved to support your user group.

Please RSVP if you will be able to join us by emailing noram.communityactivities@ineta.org. The Summit location in the Orange County Convention Center will be sent to you after registration.

In an effort to better support User Groups worldwide, Microsoft is rolling out UGSS User Group Support Services. We at INETA have been, and will continue to be, working closely with this team to better serve the user group community…

Consistency and scale in the services we provide to User Group Communities has been a challenge and a source of consternation for all of us over the past years.

Microsoft is pleased to announce that as of last month's User Group Leadership Summit and based on global feedback, we have a model that delivers progress that can be universally appreciated and used by your local User Group Communities.  Our pilot, User Group Support Services, launches today May 8!

The pilot emerged from community feedback, efforts from UC and Windows and from work led over the past 2 years by the US Subsidiary with their rollout of Codezone in the US.  Thanks to their work and bolstered by the great feedback from the community, we have taken on the commit to build and sustain UGSS as a part of our global offering.  The pilot is available at this time for English speaking regions – but stay tuned as in early H1 FY09 we will have additional language offerings. If you wish to be among the first to pilot this program in your region, please contact mfleming.

WHAT IS USER GROUP SUPPORT SERVICES?

First of all, User Group Support Services (UGSS) does not replace local engagement and local investment. These tools enhance corp-to-user group engagement and have the capability to enhance your engagement with your local Microsoft field. UGGS is a  platform with an underlying framework which drives consistency in how we engage UGs across our Technical Audiences and enables the community to participate in a direct dialog with Microsoft.  The focus of this platform is on providing a process and a portal that helps improve the quality of content available to User Group Leaders for their events and tools that help them manage their groups.

This platform has two distinct offerings:

1. Access to content built specifically for User Group events by Microsoft Product teams
   UGSS has partnered with Microsoft product teams to provide content built specifically for User Group events (demos, discussion presentations and other content). This content will be free to User Group Leaders and available through the UGSS Connect portal. In the future, User Group Leaders can access community led launch event content as well as explore other Beta Connect program opportunities.

• How do I know what's available to me? A user group specific content editorial calendar is available through two interfaces:

  • Public planning interface for Developer through Codezone
  • Public planning interface for ITPRO Culminis – JUNE 2008

• Where can I go to download the content? UGSS Connect portal (user group content download center) is accessible from:

  • MSDN
  • TechNet
  • Codezone
  • Culminis (ITPRO) – planned release for JUNE 2008

• Online user group tools wrapped in a consistent UI
  UGSS framework offers a free set of tools specific to user group management. In the pilot, these services continue to be surfaced through: Codezone (Developer & INETA supported), and for ITPRO will be released through Culminis – planned for JUNE 2008. These services include:

  • Speaker's repository
  • Sponsorship Repository
  • Event management & attendance tracking
  • Member management and communication
  • Consolidated User Group Management Interface
  • User Group Kits: Available in supported regions
  • Study Groups

ADDITIONAL USER GROUP BENEFIT

• Free Live Meeting Accounts for User Group Leaders (contact livemeeting@ineta.org for more details)

Across North America and around the world, user groups will be hosting their own Community Launch Events focusing on technical presentations of Microsoft Windows Server 2008™, Visual Studio 2008™, and SQL Server 2008™. Community leaders have been trained directly from Microsoft and empowered to host technical launch events locally.

Ask your local User Group Leader or {Go here} to find a Community-led Launch Event in your area.

The .NET Developer Community is very active this spring with an incredible number of Code Camps taking place. Code Camps are a great way to learn a variety of new skills, while at the same time meeting great peers in your local developer community. These free events offer a range of topics and speakers that give most conferences a run for their money. If you attend any of these events, please send us some comments, photos, or videos!

3.22.2008 Orlando, FL www.orlandocodecamp.com

3.29.2008 Atlanta, GA Atlanta Code Camp 4

3.29.2008 Woodbridge,VA  NovaCodeCamp (South)

4.5-6.2008 Waltham, MA New England Code Camp 9: I Came, I Saw, I Coded

4.5.2008 Bloomington, MN Twin Cities Code Camp 4

4.12.2008 Pittsburgh, PA Pittsburgh Code Camp

4.12.2008 Columbia, MD CMAP Code Camp

4.26.2008 Indianapolis, IN Indy Code Camp 2008

4.26.2008 Richmond, VA Richmond Code Camp

5.3.2008 Iowa City, IA IowaCodeCamp.com 

5.17.2008 Charlotte, NC Charlotte Code Camp

5.17.2008 Philadelphia, PA Philly Code Camp

5.17.2008 Austin, TX Austin Code Camp

Other developer events to note:

4.19.2008 Wilmington, OH Central Ohio Day if .NET

5.3.2008 Jacksonville, FL SQL Saturday

5.3.2008 Dallas, TX Dallas Tech Fest

5.12-16.2008  Toronto, ON DevTeach

Please contact us to have your event listed.

Are you thinking about going to Tech Ed in Orlando this June? Do you have topics you'd like to discuss with other attendees?

Submit your ideas as topics for Birds-of-a-Feather (BOF) discussions and volunteer to be a moderator!

According to some of last year's attendees, BOFs were one of the 3 best things about Tech Ed 2007. While it may seem far in the future, it's time to start thinking about topics for the Birds of a Feather sessions at Tech Ed Developers in June.

With the conference split into two consecutive Tech Ed events for the first time this year, INETA is organizing the Birds-of-a-Feather sessions at Tech Ed 2008 Developers in Orlando June 3-6, 2008 while our sister organization, Culminis, is organizing the BOF sessions at Tech Ed IT Professionals, June 10-13.

If you're not familiar with the concept, a Birds-of-a-Feather session is an open discussion lead by a moderator who is not a Microsoft employee. The sessions are not presentations, there are no projectors. Unlike the Keynotes and Breakout sessions which are mostly one to many communication, Birds-of-a-Feather sessions are many to many communication and don't necessarily focus on Microsoft products or technology.  They are about people talking with people - connecting, sharing, networking, and creating community. It's that simple, and that's what we do best.

Over the past several years Birds of a Feather sessions have become fully integrated into the Tech Ed agenda.  This means you'll see them in the online scheduling tool and they'll be listed in the mini-guide.  There will be daytime sessions along with the other conference technical tracks, as well as an All-BOF Night on Wednesday, June 3rd from 6:30 to 9:00 PM.

As a result of this integration, BOF Submissions and Voting close on March 19th!

The BOFs are all about community participation, and community is a critical part of their success. INETA and Culminis solicit session proposals - you submit topics you would like to have discussed - your peers vote on they you want to see as BOF sessions - and then the organizers select, schedule, publicize and organize the Birds-of-a-Feather sessions.  If your BOF topic submission is selected, you are then asked to moderate the session.  You are welcome to submit more than one topic!!  Anyone attending a BOF can contribute to the discussion.

Do your part to continue the community tradition and get involved now!  Here's how you can participate:

1. Get the word out.  Blog about the Call for Topics, or post the Call in forums you participate in.  Let folks know about the voting and about your favorite topics.

2. Propose a Topic. If you're going to be at Tech Ed - if there's a topic you'd like to discuss with your peers and you'd be willing to moderate that discussion- click through and submit the topic.

3. Vote.  Check the Tech Ed Developers BOF Voting Page and as you see topics appear that interest you, vote for them!

4. Stay Tuned. As BOF session ideas come in, they will be added to the Tech Ed Developers BOF Voting Page for you to select. When the Tech Ed Schedule Builder goes live in April, mark your calendars and plan to attend and join in great discussions. We'll also have more to say about how you can volunteer to be a Host at one or more BOF sessions in the next INETA newsletter.

For Instructions check out: http://www.ineta.org/newsletters/misc/2008-02/bof_instructions.pdf

Bob Goodearl
co-chair, Birds-of-a-Feather sessions for Tech Ed U.S. 2008 Developers

Code Camps have always been an exciting opportunity to learn about the latest Microsoft .Net development technologies and related topics from some of the finest speakers available. These events are different from many traditional tech conferences in that they are put on my the local developer communities. They are both extremely fun and highly educational. Check out one of these events taking place near you!

If you would like us to help promote your .Net community event, please email noram.communityactivities@ineta.org the details.