After the great success of WordCamp Vancouver, a friend of ours Gary Jones of BlueFur is going to host WordCamp Fraser Valley for all the WordPress bloggers out that way – very cool!

This event is for anyone that has an interest in blogging and WordPress in general. Beginner’s will learn more about what blogging is and what WordPress software can do. Expert WordPress users will be able to network and learn from other expert bloggers.

WordCamp Fraser Vally Details

When is the event happening?
Date: Wednesday – July 16, 2008
Time: 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Where is it happening?
The Cascades Casino
20393 Fraser Hwy – Langley BC

Registration
Register here or via BlueFur.

Speakers/Schedule
For Speakers, Topics & Schedule click here!

We wish everyone at BlueFur and all the attendees a very successful event. Happy blogging everyone!

Technorati Tags: bluefur, wordcamp fraser valley, wordpress, blogging

I should have made this post on Monday, but we were still recovering from the event and catching up with the lost work hours for our client’s projects.

For those of you who missed this event, it was held on June 14th in the Vancouver Public Library. To learn more you can read this blog post.

I guess the pictures from the Vancouver Joomla Day speak for themselves, we did have a great time all together. There were concerns in the past that Joomla! wasn’t nearly as recognized as Wordpress or Drupal in the Vancouver area, and this event busted the Myth! Based on the multiple counts, we had about 120 people show up. The ratio of ladies to gentlemen were about 1 to 3; we certainly hope to have more ladies involved in these type of events in the future.

Based on the community feedback, about 11 people showed up (correct me if I’m wrong) at the last Joomla Day held in Toronto, so I think it is safe to announce the Vancouver Joomla Day as being the largest one ever in Canada so far.

Thank you for the music!

I would like to thank all the following people who were involved in organizing, funding, and promoting this community driven event.

Wendy Robinson for initiating the idea, organizing the event, food, location, keeping the communication going and more.

Arash Sanieyan from Peer Globe Technology for photography picking up the projector, promoting , twittering, and blogging the event. His company offers Web Development and Integrated Mobile solutions.

Photo by Raul P-V

Jeannette (JenTekk Web Solutions) who was pretty much involved in everything from promoting and organizing the event. JenTekk has developed several web projects using the Joomla CMS.

Photo by Raul P-V – On the left Bruce Byfield, Ash Sanieyan on the right

Bruce Byfield for conducting interviews and publishing the wonderful article on Linux.com about the Vancouver Joomla Day: Vancouver Joomla!Day provides case study in community-building techniques

Raul, my hero, for Live blogging, Live Twittering, and Photographing the event:

• Starting Session
• SEO and Joomla 1.5
• Project Spotlight with Jim DeLaHunt
• Project Spotlight – Diabetic Diet Secrets
• Joomla Security, Performance, and Hosting
• Vancouver Joomla Day Recap

Chris Adam CEO of Rochen Web Hosting

Our good friends Chris Adam and Brad Baker from the Rochen Web Hosting for sponsoring the Vancouver Joomla Day tshirts.

A number of Joomla! development team who managed to fly in to Vancouver

Rebecca Bollwitt aka. MIss604 couldn’t attend our event, we really missed her. Thank you so much for promoting the Vancouver Joomla Day!

• Vancouver Social Media Scene: Vancouver Joomla Day
• Vancouver Events

And this is myself ( Rastin Mehr from rmd Studio a Custom CMS & Social Media Development company in Vancouver) in case you were wondering who’s writing this blog post

Feedbacks, Suggestions? Bring them on

If you have any feedback or suggestions, please feel free to post them here. Joomla Day events are annual, but Tazzu has organized 3 Joomla Camp events ( Bug Camp, Doc Camp, Demo Camp ) in the past, and there will be more of it happening in the future.

Technorati Tags: vanjoomladay, vancouver, joomla, cms, content management, social media, open source, community, vanocuver public library

Photography by Stephen Rees

Please give us a feedback! This was our first Wordcamp event that we’ve ever organized and decided to sort of go with the flow until we learn what the community really wants. I know the first issue that comes to mind was the lack of space and having to sit on the hardwood floors during the presentations (myself included). Perhaps a larger venue with room for more chairs? or how about using BeanBags at the NetworkHub next time?

Let’s put our minds together and find ways to improve the next Wordcamp event. We either do it by posting comments here or join the discussion on the Tazzu forum

Technorati Tags: wordcamp, vancouver, tazzu, feedback

You know when we were kids, we use to get together, bring our bags of Legos and toys, pile them up and build cities together. We did that because none of us had all the bricks necessary to build a city – so we learned to collaborate.

The Tazzu Wordcamp event felt like that. We all came together with our toys, tips, and financial contributions to connect with each other. Yes, the venue was a little small (sorry!) and we couldn’t feel our bums and legs when we got up from sitting on those hardwood floors, but boy the number of inspiring emails, twitts, facebook messages, and inspiring words that we received from the Vancouver’s blogging community was simply amazing. The reality is that, this event couldn’t have been nearly as fun without your participation and contributions. By the way, based on different counts around 80 to 90 people attended this event.

To all the people who attended this event: THANK YOU! YOU GUYS ROCKED!

We would also like to take the opportunity and thank the people who have either funded this event or helped us spread the word around:

Organizers:

• Tazzu Business & Technology Community: www.Tazzu.com
• JenTekk Web Solutions: www.JenTekk.ca
• PeerGlobe Technology (Web Development & Integrated Mobile Solutions): www.PeerGlobe.com
• rmd Studio (Custom CMS & Social Media Solutions): www.rmdStudio.com

Thank you for sponsoring us:

• Automattic (the creators of WordPress): www.automattic.com
• The Network Hub (The Startup Launchpad): www.thenetworkhub.ca
• InvokeMedia (an awesome interactive & marketing agency): www.InvokeMedia.com
• The Tiny Massiv (Shop Campare Share) thank you Kate and Lauren: www.TinyMassive.com
• Citizens Bank (thank you Nancy Zimmerman): www.citizensbank.ca
• BlueFur Web Hosting (thank you Gary): www.BlueFur.com
• Culinary Copik Multimedia (thank you Liesa): www.culinarycopikmultimedia.ca

Thank you for spreading the word:

• Raul Pacheco (hummingbird604) thank you for the posts here , here and the great pictures: hummingbird604.wordpress.com
• Rebecca Bollwitt (Miss604) thank you for live blogging the event and being one of the presenters: www.Miss604.com
• Amanda Abrams for the beautiful photographs: www.AmandaAbrams.com
• Jeremy Costin (Infinity) for creating the videos: weblawg.costinmedia.com
• John Biehler for this review, and for these great photos: www.johnbiehler.com
• Lisa Bettany thanks for announcing the Tazzu WordPress Camp: www.mostlylisa.com
• Andy Peatling from Automattic for this blog post, and for the photos: www.andyinlife.com
• Monica Hamburg for your presentation and blog post: monicahamburg.wordpress.com
• Phillip Jeffrey for the WordCamp announcement: www.fadetoplay.com

PS: Did we miss you?! If you have blogged or flickered this event and your name isn’t listed as a media sponsor, please let us know and we will add your name to the list.

~

Technorati Tags: wordcamp, tazzu, vancouver, 2008, networkhub, socialmedia, blogging, wordpress, automattic

• Amanda Abrams: Vancouver Tazzu WordCamp 2008
• Raul (hummingbird604): Vancouver Tazzu WordCamp 2008
• John Biehler: Vancouver Tazzu WordCamp 2008
• Ianiv & Arieanna: Vancouver Tazzu WordCamp 2008

Update 8:30 PM: John Chow did a fantastic presentation and we all headed to the Flux bar for a drink.

Update 7:53 PM: Greg Andres didn’t show up, I hope he is somewhere safe and happy. I tried to steal his spot to talk about blogs and blogospheres, but people really wanted to listen to John Chow instead, and who am I to steal the spot light from John Chow? I mean not yet.

The notorious John Chow is presenting now, and I’m sure many wished to be here.

Update 7:32 PM: Bruce Byfiled is presenting on joys of Amateur blogging. I am not the only one who has noticed that everyone here is using a Mac. Hey I just got a link from Jeremy. Watch the live presentation here:

http://www.justin.tv/jeremycostin

The password is: tazzu-test

I wonder where Greg Andrews is. He is our next presenter and I can’t find him in the room.

Robert made a great comment. When we use our own blog installations once we stop paying our rent (hosting cost) it could evaporate but when we use a service like www.WordPress.com we can hope that it will last forever and our grandchildren could learn about our observations.

Update 7:12 PM: Kulpreet Singh is presenting on using WordPress to create a custom library, catalog, or other mashup-type sites. Internet connection got a lot faster all of a sudden. Kulpreet’s presentation was quite impressive I must say.

Update 6:55 PM: taking a 20 min break

Update 6:35 PM: Duane Storey is presenting. about WordPress and mobile blogging ( mostly iPhone ). Rebecca (604) is wondering if there is a power outlet close to her, I guess we can relocate her seat after the break close to the power bar. The Internet connection is really slow here. Our friend Jeremy (Infinity) is recording or creating a steaming video. It would be nice if he could share the link with us so we could post it here.

Update 6:14 PM: Rebecca Bollwitt is presenting, and I’ll do my best to cover it. We had a little bit of issue with the projector connection.

Update 6:10 PM: Monica Hamburg was presenting using my laptop which is why I couldn’t blog . Her presentation was awesome.

Update 5:37 PM: Jeff Kee is presenting . Miss604 and I are live blogging the event. She is doing a far superior job than I do.

If you are uploading pictures of the event on the Flickr or Videos on the YouTube please tag them “tazzuwordcamp” so everyone would be able to find them.

Thank you

Technorati Tags: tazzuwordcamp, vancouver, tazzu, wordpress, networkhub

Instead we are going to the Flux Modern Bistro (162 Water Street – 604.678.8800). Our friends at the Automattic have paid for the first round of beer for all the attendees. You’ll learn more about the after party at the Tazzu WordPress Camp.

Technorati Tags: wordcamp, wordpress, camp, tazzu, vancouver, flux, bistro, gastown

The reality is that we were essentially planning the Tazzu WordPress Camp event for maybe 35-40 people, and had no idea that the concept would prove to be this popular. Especially, since the number of attendees suddenly peaked just recently, making it too late for us to switch venues.

In short: yes there will be shortage of room. We sincerely apologize for this. Please come early if you require a seat! There will probably be just enough seats for half of us. Although last week I had a phone conversation with Minna at the Network Hub and she told me that they’ve had events with more than 100 people at their location.

What is certain is that Jen, Ash and I will be at the Network hub ahead of time to move furniture around, gather every chair available to us, and perhaps maybe push the walls out a bit!

For the next Tazzu WordCamp, we promise to get a larger venue because now we know that a lot of us out there are quite interested in the concept.

Thank you for your understanding, patience and participation! See you there!

Once again the Network Hub address is:

3rd floor – 422 Richards Street
Vancouver, B.C.
V6B 2Z3