Summary: Windows PowerShell MVP, Teresa Wilson, talks about Windows PowerShell user groups in this edition of PowerShell Spotlight.
Microsoft Scripting Guy, Ed Wilson, is here. Today is the last Saturday of the month, and that means it is PowerShell Spotlight time. Here is our guest blogger for the day, Teresa Wilson, with information about user groups...
Greetings everyone,
I hope you are off to a great start with your weekend, and thank-you for allowing me to be part of your day. I would like to shine the spotlight on user groups today. I realize that there are many places where attending a local user group meeting is not an option, but we have ways of dealing with that scenario. Stay tuned...
First, let me give you two webpages to look at to see if there is a user group near you or near a place you plan to visit:
Ed and I have attended user group meetings all over the world. Any time we plan to go out of town, we always check to see if there is a user group on our path. If possible, we contact the user group lead to verify the meeting. Whenever possible, we attend.
For example, I am headed to Philadelphia the last of March for an MVP event. I contacted the leaders of the Philadelphia user group and explained that I would be in Philadelphia. I asked if they would be conducting a meeting around that time. They changed their normal meeting date to coincide with the date I will be in town. The cool part is that MVPs, Jim Christopher and Steven Murawski, are also planning to attend.
If anyone is interested in attending the Philadelphia meeting with us, it is Thursday, March 26. The webpage to follow is Philadelphia PowerShell User Group. The meeting on March 26 is not their normal meeting date, so I am sure they will update their webpage after their normal meeting on March 5.
Speaking of March 5...
That is the next scheduled user group meeting in Charlotte. Ed and I will be there. Jason Walker will be talking about DSC here is a link to the meetup page: Charlotte PowerShell Users Group. At our last meeting, our guest speaker was Terri Donahue. She spoke about IIS. I did not get to hear it because I was sick and stayed home, but Ed liked it and asked her to write a guest blog. That blog is scheduled right here for tomorrow.
As I mentioned earlier, if you do not live in an area that has a user group, and your area is not populated enough to make it feasible to start one, you may want to get on board with one of the user groups that broadcast their meetings.
Obviously, the Virtual PowerShell Group is, well, virtual. It is led by MVP, Joel Bennett. The Mississippi user group is headed up by MVPs, Mike Robbins and Rohn Edwards, and it is virtual. Some user groups meet live and also broadcast their meetings. For example, the Arizona user group does this.
I am thrilled to say that I used to know more about the workings of each user group. But now we have broadened our horizons, and we have more than 40 user groups, so I cannot keep up with all the details for each group.
I am always available to help. Please let me know if you want to start a group or if you need any ideas or assistance. I had some IMs this week with @chri_tea. He is starting a group somewhere exciting! You may want to follow him on Twitter so you know the latest and greatest news.
I am out of time here, and that’s the most important info I have about user groups. See you next month.
~Teresa
I invite you to follow me on Facebook. If you have any questions, send email to me at scripter@microsoft.com, or post your questions on the Official Scripting Guys Forum. See you tomorrow. Until then, peace.
Ed Wilson, Microsoft Scripting Guy