Zachariah Young

Ok everybody, I want to ask everyone to create a little BUZZ for VAN.  Starting Sunday I want everyone to do something to get the word about what we are doing with VAN.  There are still thousands of people who have never heard of Virtual ALT.NET.

I feel the best way get to the word out is by word of mouth.  The following list is just some examples of what you could do.  You might choose to do all of them, or just one.  Maybe you have other ways. Be sure to include Virtual ALT.NET in your message.  Also create a Google Alert and let’s see what happens this week.

1. Write a blog about what is Virtual ALT.NET
2. Write a blog about Virtual ALT.NET becoming an INETA usergroup.
3. Write a blog about an upcoming event.
4. Write a blog about a past event you attended.
5. Send a tweet to your friends inventing them to attend the next meeting.
6. Tweet about the next meeting.
7. Tweet about us being a new INETA group.
8. Tweet, Tweet, Tweet, Tweet, Tweet anything about Virtual ALT.NET.
9. Start a discussion on you favorite email group about Virtual ALT.NET.
10. . Start a discussion on you favorite Facebook group about Virtual ALT.NET.
11. . Start a discussion on you favorite Linkedin group about Virtual ALT.NET
12.   Send out an email to your local user group.
13.   Tell someone at work about Virtual ATL.NET

What other ways can we use to get the word out about Virtual ALT.NET?

On May 21th INETA approved Virtual ALT.NET as an official INETA user group.  INETA provides structured, peer-based organizational, educational, and promotional support to the growing worldwide community of Microsoft® .NET user groups.   At first I was thinking that I would not register VAN as a group with INETA.  But after talking with a few people I respect in the community I was encouraged to register VAN with INETA.  With this recognition we will be able benefit from a few of the following items.

• We will be able to request INETA speakers to speak to our different VAN groups.  Since the current speaker bureau for North America does have a lot ALT.NET speakers currently,  I'm hoping we can bridge the gap between North America INETA and the other INETA groups to bring in different speakers cross the global.

• Currently I'm using the LiveMeeting account that was provide to our local user group.  By having our own I will be able to let others have access to our own livemeeting account.  One of the task that I have been doing is posting the recordings,  by having our own I could delegete this task to others in VAN leadership.

• The website that we have created is currently hosted on my personal account at godaddy.  One of the benefits of being an INETA user group is being able to take advange of some the free web hosting offer to user groups.  Now that we are an official INETA user group I plan on moving the site to one of hosting providers that offer free hosting to use groups.  With this I would be able to also delegete the website constructions to others.

• The overhead for maintain our VAN groups is almost at zero cost.  But we have had a few expenses, one is the domain name that I purchased.  This was only $10.00 but I would like to be refunded at some point and also be able to pay for the domain in the future.  With INETA recognition we can request funds to pay for this and other needs we might have.  I have also thought about have a graphic designer create a really cool logo.

Ryan will be doing a two part series on the Castle Project.  Mark your calendar for some Castle Project fun.

Ryan Svihla has been working as a C# developer Farm Bureau Bank in San Antonio since September 2007. Before that he worked as  a Consultant in Lincoln, NE for 3 years, where he had working experience with Php, some Perl, Python and of course C#.  Attempting Agile since early 2008 as an eager student with a focus on making programming more useful and relevant for the end user.

IoC and Dip through Castle Windsor

Ever wonder what acronyms like IoC and Dip mean? If you know what they mean do you wonder why anyone would use them in code?  This talk aims to deal primarily with those two questions through the use of Castle Windsor IoC container.  Intermediate level C# material with a couple of more advanced demos at the end for fun and pleasure.

Central Daylight Time

Start Time: Web, July 1, 2009 8:00 PM UTC/GMT -5 hours

End Time: Web, July 1, 2009 10:00 PM UTC/GMT -5 hours

Attendee URL: http://snipr.com/virtualaltnet (Live Meeting)

Web Development with Castle Monorail, Active Record and Brail view engine

Have a look at the first popular MVC  .Net based web framework. Also will be covering persistence with ActiveRecord, and view templates using Brail.  Bonus, will demo a plug-in framework for building CMS like applications.

Central Daylight Time

Start Time: Web, July 8, 2009 8:00 PM UTC/GMT -5 hours

End Time: Web, July 8, 2009 10:00 PM UTC/GMT -5 hours

Attendee URL: http://snipr.com/virtualaltnet (Live Meeting)

This session will introduce the concepts, approaches, and
considerations that DDD brings to the table.  We will define the
concepts, understand the terminology, and explore the role that DDD
plays in developing a software solution.  In the follow-on discussion,
we will be able to discuss issues such as "when is DDD appropriate for
a software solution?" and "is it possible to use just *some* of the
DDD concepts effectively without applying them all at once?".

Central Standard Time (CST)

Start Time: Web, June 10, 2009 8:00 PM UTC/GMT -5 hours

End Time: Web, June 10, 2009 10:00 PM UTC/GMT -5 hours

Attendee URL: http://snipr.com/virtualaltnet (Live Meeting)

Find more details at virtualaltnet.com

Just read this blog post from Julie Yack.  Which sent me to this blog post by John McClelland.  From this I learned, that Microsoft has a site called Community Clips.  This site host videos training for Microsoft Office products.

The following 16 videos, available today on Community Clips, will help improve your overall experience with Live Meeting as you connect more often with us and your customers online.

1. How to use WebCam Video in a meeting

2. How to share your desktop in a meeting

3. Troubleshoot : Live Meeting 2007 Add-In toolbar doesn't show up in Outlook

4. Meeting Attendee : How to Join a Meeting

5. Meeting Presenter: How to manage Q & A feature

6. How to upload content in a meeting

7. Join Meeting Error : The meeting has not started yet OR The meeting has ended

8. Join Meeting Error : Unable to download or Page could not be opened or displayed

9. Steps to install the latest Windows Console for Live Meeting 2007

10. Meeting Presenter: How to use chat feature

11. Meeting Attendee: How to use handout feature

12. How to use Shared Notes feature in a meeting

13. How to use collaborative slide that help you collaborate with other attendees

14. Live Meeting 2007 Recording with Telephone Conferencing for Audio

15. How to manage participants in Live Meeting 2007

16. Live Meeting 2007 Address Books

RSS Feed for Community Clips for LiveMeeting

This time, we’re doing a regular presentation. Mark Nijhof, one of the
contributors of FubuMVC, will shed some light on this Front Controller
style MVC framework for building web applications. Here are the
details:

Start Time: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 06:00 PM GMT

End Time: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 08:00 PM GMT

Attendee URL: http://snipr.com/virtualaltnet (Live Meeting)

Please join us then as this is going to be an awesome presentation.
I’m personally looking forward to this one.

One of the issues I was running into with the current prompt format was the long file path like below.  So I wanted to change the format to look more like a unix prompt.  I did not find any good examples on how do to this so I thought I would write a quick blog on how do to it.  I would also suggest reading the gettingStarted guide that comes install if you have not done powershell before.

Before

After

The first thing that must be created is a profile.  I figured out how to create a profile by reading the gettingStarted.rtf document that comes installed with PowerShell.  The section “Creating a Profile” provides the following steps.

1.  The $profile command shows you were your personal profile should be.  But if you navigate to this file path you will not find the folder or file.  Another way to check to see if the file is created is buy running test-path $profile.

2.  To create a profile you can run the following command. 

new-item -path $profile -itemtype file –force

3.  The next step that is not covered is setting your execution policy.  The policy is set to Restricted by default and must be changed.

set-executionpolicy RemoteSigned

4.  Next you can run notepad $profile at the prompt.  This will bring up your profile in notepad.  This will be a blank doc.  All you need to do now is copy the following script into your profile.

function prompt
{
    $(get-content env:computername) + "$ "
}

Speaker Bio for this week. Who is and what makes this Billy McCafferty guy tick?
Well he is a long time developer and a hopeless romantic when it comes
to writing beautiful software. Billy currently leads a double life
between helping to run a small training and consulting company known
as Codai (which will be getting a new website very very soon) and
filling the role of lead developer and architect with Parsons
Brinckerhoff. After Billy gets his life back – which should be after
the release of S#arp Architecture 1.0 – expect to see him soon at
ALT.NET and other development conferences.

He will be demonstrating the latest cut of S#harp Architecture 1.0
with a 45-50 minute non-PPT presentation.

Bring your opinions and attention. Questions and Answer will be served
also. The drinks as usual are up to the participants.

Should be a fun evening. See you all there.

Meeting details.

Where and When
Start Time: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 9:00 PM GMT/UTC - 5:00 (CDT)
End Time: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:00 PM GMT/UTC - 5:00 (CDT)
Attendee URL:http://snipr.com/virtualaltnet  (Live Meeting)

In this blog, I would like to outline the recipe for hosting a user group meetings with LiveMeeting.  LiveMeeting is a great tool for hosting virtual events.  I have hosted several of our user group meetings and have experienced all the issues that can go wrong with hosting a virtual meeting.  Hosting a virtual meeting is like cooking biscuits from scratch.  There are a few important ingredients needed for making biscuits, and with the right amount of preparation you can make mouthwatering biscuits.  The recipe for making a virtual meeting a success requires that you prepare ahead of time.  The following ingredients will allow you to have that mouthwatering virtual meeting too.

Audio

I think one of the most important ingredients in hosting virtually is audio.  I have experimented with different types of audio input for LiveMeeting.  First I started with letting the speaker provide the audio input.  One option that I tried was to have the speaker use a USB headset for audio.  The speaker would simply hook up the headset to their computer and run the audio through their computer.  Two issues that I had with this option was the speaker always needed a headset, and most speakers like to move around when they speak.  With the headset on, the speaker was unable to move around.  Another option that I tried was to use the microphone on the computer for audio.  This does not work, because again a speaker likes to move around and the quality of the sound on a computer microphone was poor.

During the time I was experimenting with doing audio for LiveMeeting, I volunteered to do sound and lighting at my church.  This experience opened up another option that I think is the best solution.  If your meetings are held in an auditorium with a sound system, you're in luck.  What I suggest is working with the local sound person.  What you want to do is provide the speaker with a wireless or wired microphone, and by running the sound through the soundboard you should have an audio output on the sound board.  Depending on how sophisticated the sound board is, you will connect the audio output from the board into your computer via the 1/8 audio input on your computer.  I purchased a 6-Ft. Shielded Cable, 1/4" Plug to 1/8" Plug from RadioShack to connect the sound board to my computer.  The sound board at my church already has a computer attached to the sound board.  We use this computer to record the sound and run the projector.  If this is the case for you, you can run LiveMeeting on this computer for the audio only.  The speaker will still need to control the projector from their computer, because they will be sharing their desktop on LiveMeeting.  Doing this allows the speaker to focus on their presentation and not worry about the audio.  The audio will be managed by the sound board.  If you do not have the sound board, the next option works well also.

About the time I had figured out how to use the sound board at our venue, we had to move to a smaller room.  This smaller room did not have a sound board and I was back to square one.  So with a little research and a trip to a few music stores and RadioShack, I was able to come up with the next best option.  At RadioShack, I purchased a Wireless Lapel Microphone System.  This systems comes complete with a wireless transmitter and receiver.  What I will do is clip the wireless microphone onto the speaker and connect the receiver into my computer.  The receiver comes with a RCA and 1/4” (MICROPHONE JACK) audio output.  I purchased a 6-Ft. Shielded Cable, 1/8" Plug to RCA Plug cable to connect the receiver to my computer.  The Wireless Lapel Microphone System will run about $50.00 plus tax.  This wireless microphone system is probably the cheapest one on the market, but it works.  

Internet

I think the next most important ingredient is internet access.  Depending on your venue, you might want to call ahead to ensure that wireless internet is available.  I have had situations where I showed up and the wireless internet was not working.  In this situation, there is not much you can do.  However, you should at least let your members know that the meeting will not be hosted via LiveMeeting.  What I have done is just send out a tweet with my cell phone to let everyone know about the issues.

Speaker

I believe that it is always a good idea to let the speaker know ahead of time that you will be hosting the meeting with LiveMeeting.  This will give them some time to experiment with LiveMeeting and install the LiveMeeting client.  The only thing the speaker needs to have is LiveMeeting running.  With the wireless microphone attached, the audio is run through the facilitator computer.

Facilitator

The facilitator role is very important during the meeting.  His or her job is to set up the LiveMeeting, coordinate with the speaker and set up the audio.  I have been the facilitator for our user group meetings.  I always plan on getting to the venue about 30 minutes before everything starts.  I also ask the speaker to arrive a little early also to get everything set up.  The best place to be is in the back to watch everything.  You also want to make sure the speaker repeats any questions that may be asked by the attendees of the meeting.  You will also have attendees via the LiveMeeting asking questions, so be prepared to repeat them for the speaker.     

Attendee

There is not much the attendees need to do for the meeting.  They just need to mark their calendar and plan on attending.  The only thing they will need is a good USB headset.  I have found that using just a microphone and speakers, you get a lot feedback.  I would suggest the following headset - Logitech ClearChat Pro USB Headset .

If you have any questions or comments please add a comment below.