Yes, this weekend it's time for Joomla Day New England held in Vermont, U.S.. Before the event, we spoke with Jen Kramer who's helping to organize the Joomla Day. Click here for more about the event.
1) Tell us a little about yourself and your background
I've been building websites for 11 years now, and building with Joomla since the Mambo days. I have 4 major jobs:
- I'm the co-owner of 4Web, Inc., with my partner, Heidi Stanclift. (In theory, this is my full-time job.)
- I'm the program director for the Master's of Science in Information Technology (MSIT) program at the Marlboro College Graduate School. I'm currently teaching there this term.
- I write books for Wrox Press, a division of Wiley. My second book/DVD bundle, "Joomla 24-Hour Trainer", is due out in late April.
- I create online video training for lynda.com. My most recent title is "Joomla 1.6 Essential Training."
2) How did you get involved in Joomla?
I was working for a local firm who used Mambo. They later transitioned to Joomla. When I left the firm, I continued to build sites in Joomla and teach students how to use it. I finally looked into the project behind Joomla in 2008, and that is when I started to give back to the project.
Joomla User Group New England was founded in March 2008, and we held our first Joomla Day in 2009. I taught the first Joomla course at Marlboro in May 2008, and prior to that, I advised students using Joomla and Mambo in their master's thesis projects.
3) Tell us about the event that you're holding
Joomla Day New England is a one day event, held on April 2, 2011, at the Marlboro College Graduate School (which has generously donated space for the event). We have terrific speakers for this event, roughly 50/50 men and women, and roughly 50/50 local user group speakers and those from out of town. We'll be focusing on Joomla 1.6 and on some fairly advanced extensions for Joomla (like CCK's and shopping carts).
4) Who should come to the event?
We're looking for two types of participants this year.
First -- we're looking for relatively experienced Joomla developers in the New England area. Three of our tracks are oriented towards fairly experienced Joomla developers, who are interested in expanding their Joomla skills.
Second -- we are looking for non-profits who need new websites or who want to redesign their websites in a CMS like Joomla. We have a special beginner's track this year for people just learning Joomla, who do not know HTML, CSS, and have never built a website before. Our non-profit track, detailed at http://www.joomladaynewengland.org/non-profits, offers a full day of hands-on training to selected non-profits, plus 2 months of free hosting, courtesy of our friends at Rochen. Apply soon, though -- we're taking applications through March 18.
5) What are the precise details we should know?
- Date: April 2, 2011, 9 AM to 5 PM
- Location: Marlboro College Graduate School, Brattleboro, VT
- Schedule: http://www.joomladaynewengland.org
- Price: $70. $150 for non-profit track.
- Breakfast, lunch, and snacks provided, as well as a goodie bag. Come down on April 1 and join us for Gallery Walk, a walk through Brattleboro's downtown arts community, 5:30-8:30 PM.
Many thanks to our gold sponsors: JoomlArt, RedComponent, JoomlaShack
