Earlier this week I was in NYC and had a chance to attend the New York ColdFusion User Group meeting hosted by UG managers Ben Nadel and Clark Valberg. The NYCFUG seems to be a very active group with lots of members and have consistently had great speakers and topics.

This months speaker was Rob Gonda who spoke on how to "AJAXify Your ColdFusion Applications".

After Robs presentation there were lots of cool prizes given away, including a pass to CFUnited! It was definitely an enjoyable meeting, I got to see some familiar faces and lots of new ones. If your a CF'er from the NYC area and haven't been to one of the NYCFUG meetings I recommend you check it out!

For speakers theres a nice perk to presenting at the NYCFUG, Clark and Ben are known to take you out afterwards for a nice dinner :)

If you are near Cleveland, Orlando or Atlanta, be sure not to miss the Flex 3 / AIR Pre-Release Tour. Ben Forta will be speaking at the following User groups shortly.

Cleveland Adobe User Group Jan 10, 2008

Orlando Adobe User Group Jan 21, 2008

Atlanta Adobe User Group Jan 22, 2008

There will be lots of excitement, networking, and prizes being given away including CFUnited swag & a free pass to CFUnited 2008! Be sure to RSVP if you plan to go because seating is limited.

Clark Valberg and Ben Nadel will be running the new and improved NYCFUG.

I'm sure NYC is looking forward to great things from these new co-managers. Clark and Ben, Good luck in 2008!

See the full announcement here: http://www.bennadel.com/blog/1116-The-Fresh-Face-Of-The-New-York-ColdFusion-User-Group-NYCFUG-.htm

http://ugmm.cfunited.com/

Are you a User Group Manager?

Share ideas, tips and tools with other User Group Managers. CFUnited has a lot in store for you this year at the UGMM (User Group Manager Meeting).

Listen to Amy Brooks talk about Best Practices for Hosting Virtual UG Meetings via Acrobat Connect and Eddie Sullivan will tell stories of some of the best things managers do to make their group high impact.

We also have tips on How to get members involved, Tools to Manage a User Group Efficiently, and Learn about free methods to get your group out there.

Speakers include Adam Bell, Michael Smith, Eddie Sullivan, Amy Brooks, and Oguz Demirkami.

Only $29.95 and that covers lunch and a free drink afterwards in the bar.

User Group Managers are an important part of the user community and we want to make sure you get access to everything offered to UGs everywhere.

Like CFUnited's UG care packages? UGMM attendees will get care packages from CFUnited upto 3 times a year! And they will include items from all our sponsors!

We hope you will join us June 26th, 9am in Forest Glen on the lower level of the Bethesda North Marriott Conference Center.

http://ugmm.cfunited.com/

Two new topics for the User Group manager event

Michael Smith - How to get members involved

Are you the only person running your group? Would you like to get some members to help you? Learn how can you encourage members to get more involved and take some of the pressure off you, the group manager.

Michael has been running MDCFUG since 1998 with regular help from many members.

Oguz Demirkapi - Tools to Manage a User Group Efficiently

Communication is important, and we need to be more proactive in our communication to be more efficient. Tools are very important to create good communication in a group or individually. But what tools would be interesting specially for the user groups? What is the best way of collaborating? How can we improve our communication? Do we learn from other user groups to generate more efficient tools and environments?

I would like to share my experiences in these fields not only being an old CFUG manager, but also being an active person at open source user communities.

Calling all User Group Managers! This is going to be a fun event. Have a beer and a fabulous lunch on us and listen to great talks from experienced User Group Managers and Adobe professionals.

ONLY $29.95 !!! Register now http://ugmm.cfunited.com/

Speakers for UGMM

Adam Bell: Riding the User Group Free-way: Using free ways to get your group out there.

Michael Smith: TBD

Oğuz Demirkapı: TBD

Eddie Sullivan: Case studies from the front lines - Ed's stories of some of the best things managers do to make their group high impact.

Amy Brooks: Best Practices for Hosting Virtual UG Meetings via Acrobat Connect.