We Did It!

Oh my gosh!  Can you believe that JoomlaDay Chicago is done! 

Despite the drop in temperatures, the (literal!) roadblocks and other stumbles, it turned out to be a GREAT day! 

From the Keynote to the sessions and finally the social event, it was an all-around fantastic day.

The Goal

When the planning started for this event eleven months ago, the  goal was to create an event that would continue to grow, as well as connect and advance the Joomla! Community. 

Measuring Success

Thinking about what a successful JoomlaDay Chicago would mean, the criteria came down to having:

1. Fantastic speakers with great topics
2. Room(s) full of Joomlers
3. Costs covered of the event

Our Speakers and Topics

From the moment that the call for speakers went out, submissions began coming in for great topics that would appeal to different types of Joomlers, those looking to grow their business, those who were more backend coders and those who are building their websites on their own.  

Initially, the plan had been for one room of sessions and one for the exam cram/exam. But there were so many great sessions there were not enough slots in the day to accommodate them all.  Fortunately, our venue, DePaul University, Loop Campus, had space available to add another room nearby.

Our Speakers Included:

• Robert Jacobi
• Jason Nickerson
• Olivier Buisard
• Nicole Warner
• Joe Sonne
• Randy Carey 

The Presentations included:

• KEYNOTE: The State of Joomla! with Robert Jacobi
• Building a Successful Joomla! Based Business with Joe Sonne
• How I Built a Membership Site with Joomla! Components with Nicole Warmer
• jQuery and How to Replace with Vanilla Javascript with Olivier Buisard
• Hands-on: Making Sure jQuery Code Ready for Joomla! 4 with Olivier Buisard
• Optimize Everything with Jason Nickerson
• The Joy of Subforms with Randy Carey
• The Future of Web Design with Jason Nickerson
• InvisibleCMS! with Robert Jacobi

Kendall Cabe ran exam cram and joined the other speakers to participate in the Panel Discussion.

The presentations will be posted on joomladaychicago.com in a few days. 

Room(s) full of Joomlers

Sign-up was slow and worry began to set in.  Were the sessions as appealing to other Joomlers as they were to me? Was moving from September to October a bad move? 

Then, registrations began to come in, whew!  Many of the registrations included comments about looking forward to the this presentation or that presentation. FANTASTIC!  We had JOOMLERS!

Covering the cost of the event

Events like JoomlaDay and JoomlaCamp are possible through the hard work of volunteers, registrant admission fees and sponsorships.

The funds go towards room rental, audio/visual, catering, marketing, and more.  This year’s event was generously sponsored by: cPanel, the Platinum and Lanyard sponsors; gold sponsors JoomlaShine and JoomShaper; silver sponsor and supporters OpenSourceMatters, and Danico Enterprises.

The Outcome

All three (3) of the stated goals were met!  There were phenomenal speakers with topics that really connected with the attendees.  We had Joomlers in every room, engaging with the speaker and each other.  It seemed that everyone took part in Robert Jacobi’s 3x3 challenge he introduced during his Keynote Address.  The 3x3 challenge was to leave having made 3 connections, identified 3 actions and come up with 3 ideas. 

JoomlaDay Chicago ended at The Exchequer Restaurant and Pub, a short walk from DePaul University with appetizers, drinks and more conversation.  There was contact information being exchanged, laughter heard and lots of fun conversation. 

A BIG thanks to: Robert Jacobi, Jason Nickerson, Olivier Buisard, Nicole Warner, Joe Sonne, Randy Carey, Kendall Cabe, cPanel, JoomlaShine, JoomShaper, JoomlaShack, OpenSourceMatters, Danico Enterprises, DePaul University Events & Conference Services, The Exchequer Restaurant and Pub, DJ-Extensions, … and of course our ATTENDEES!

SD Williams, JoomlaDay Chicago Coordinator