Announcements Blog

Postponed: IWUG Annual Bash 2008

Dear IWUG'ers

We held off till the last minute to send you out this update in hopes of being able to still have our annual bash this month, but at this time we will have to postpone our 2008 Annual Bash for probably sometime next month.

We are working to nail the details down for the forthcoming event and should be able to update you very soon on it. We are working with some folks and hopefully this will be a great 6th Annual Bash. We are hoping to have a absolutely awesome speaker and a great charity event to mark IWUG's birthday. We really appreciate your support through all the years of IWUG and thank you for being patient with us as we work real hard to get this scheduled.

We have one more favor to ask of you. For a couple of months now, we have been threatening to send a survey your way to fill out so we could align the group better to your interests. Sometime today the survey should hit your inboxes and we request that you please take a few minutes to fill it out. As an appreciation for your time, we will put your name in a drawing for one of two $50 gift cards.

Again, thank you for your patience and we will let you know more about the event as soon as we work out the details.

Thanks,

Sumeeth Evans - IWUG President

Posted Thursday, September 18, 2008 10:14 AM by RoudyBob | 0 Comments

IWUG Member Survey 2008

Dear IWUG'ers

Please take this survey for us to better understand how to align the group to your interests.

Over the past few years, we have focused on recruitment incentives, training rebates and chapter challenges to increase our membership. To accomplish this, we need to hear from you! We request that our members complete the following survey in order to gain feedback on your perception of our organization. Plus, we love to hear your ideas and suggestions to make improvements!

With your feedback, not only will we retain our current members, but we'll have the feedback to gain new membership too. Data from this survey will be used to make recommendations for changes within our association. Your input is very valuable and important to us. Thank you very much for your time in participating in our survey.

As an appreciation of your time, you will be entered in a drawing of two $50 gift cards. Hope you enjoy it.

Click Here to Take the Survey

Thanks,

Sumeeth Evans - IWUG President

Posted Thursday, September 18, 2008 10:05 AM by RoudyBob | 1 Comments

VMware Indiana Demo Day

I received the following message from Phil Lavoie at VMware about their upcoming Demo Day Event:

This is the largest virtualization event held in Indiana

http://campaign.vmware.com/usergroup/invites/IndianaDemoDay_8-7-08.html

Finally, an event focused around demonstrations!

VMware User group members chose 12 demonstrations out of over 35 submitted.

There are over 25 sponsors participating (including: Cisco, Dell, Symantec, EMC, Wyse, and more)

This is a must attend event whether you are new to VMware or a veteran.

We hope you can make it!

-Phil Lavoie

Posted Tuesday, July 15, 2008 8:12 AM by RoudyBob | 0 Comments

Offer from ReviewNet

IWUGers-

We received the following e-mail the other day should anyone want to take advantage of this company's offer. It's not a formal endorsement, just something we thought you might want to look into!

I understand that you manage the Indiana Windows user group. ReviewNet would like to extend an opportunity to your user group members to take our new Windows, Active Directory and Security skills tests to evaluate their skill level. Individuals that complete a beta test will be credited as an advisory panel member on our website at http://www.reviewnet.net/meetexperts.cfm. Individuals receive their test results and can see where their skills compare with other test takers. Participants also qualify for our Advisor Rewards program and a chance to receive quarterly cash prizes. You can learn more by visiting http://www.reviewnet.net/advisor.htm.

I would like to extend this opportunity to you and your members. What would be the best way for me to spread the word to your group about this opportunity? Can I mail you a flyer to hand out at your next meeting?

I look forward to hearing from you soon. I can be reached at the number below or by email.

Best regards,

Michelle Bartie

ReviewNet Corporation

www.reviewnet.net

Posted Tuesday, June 03, 2008 5:36 PM by RoudyBob | 0 Comments

Message from Microsoft User Research

Microsoft User Research is inviting IT professionals to participate in a user research study. We are looking to learn from those who perform IT services for their company; such as routine server maintenance tasks, various levels of troubleshooting, daily server, network or desktop management, and the planning and implementation of technology. We want to meet at your office to learn from you, the experts, so that we can determine what needs to be improved inour software. This gives you the chance to tell us what your needs are and meet with some members of our product team. We highly value your feedback and will be offering you free Microsoft software inappreciation of your time and participation. If this is something that you or others at your company would be interested in, please reply to ms_sitev@microsoft.com at your earliest convenience. We are scheduling site visits to start in mid-April.

Posted Monday, March 17, 2008 2:17 PM by RoudyBob | 0 Comments

IWUG on CS Techcast

IWUG makes an appearance in the "Meet your Local User Group" portion of the latest CS Techcast. Visit http://www.consortioservices.com/podcasts.aspx and check out Episode #4.

CS TechCast is a podcast series released every Wednesday and is hosted by the Consortio Services experts Eric Johnson, Eric Beehler, and Josh Jones. Each week they discuss the latest IT trends, news, and bring you interviews with key members of the IT Community. Frontline information technology professionals should find the information both helpful and relevant to their careers.

Posted Tuesday, January 01, 2008 12:54 PM by RoudyBob | 0 Comments

Sharp Business Systems Tech Expo

Gary Sobczak, IWUG member, wanted me to pass along that Sharp Business Systems is holding a Technology Expo event at the Colts Football Center on October 17th, 2007. Information for the event can be found in the attached PDF.

Posted Friday, September 28, 2007 8:33 PM by RoudyBob | 1 Comments

Attachment(s): ColtsShowInvite.pdf

MSFT IT Professional Survey

Culminis has contacted our user group asking for input on how the Microsoft Windows Client team can better support us as IT Professionals. They would like you to complete the short survey at http://survey.culminis.com/takeSurvey.asp?surveyID=14 no later than June 26th. PLEASE INCLUDE OUR GROUP NAME AS IWUG.

If we have 10 or more completed surveys, we will be eligible to win an Xbox 360. This is a great opportunity to tell Microsoft what you really think regarding the desktop and deployment, so I would encourage you to take part.

-Bob

Posted Wednesday, June 13, 2007 9:09 PM by RoudyBob | 0 Comments

Perpetual Technologies Microsoft Fast Track Seminar

I don't know how many folks would be interested as this is developer-focused, but I received the invite and thought I would pass it along. This isn't an IWUG-sponsored event so you'll need to contact the folks at Perpetual Technologies if you're interested in attending.

I would like to invite your members to attend a free Microsoft Fast Track Seminar on Thursday, April 12^th. Attendees can choose their own fast track, SQL or .Net, to enhance what they do best.

Perpetual Technologies, Inc. and presenters from various local users groups have coordinated this one-of-a-kind event as an open learning opportunity. We hope you will share this information with your members. I believe they will find the sessions informative and useful.

To register, or for more information, please visit www.perptech.com/events.

Posted Saturday, March 24, 2007 9:41 AM by RoudyBob | 0 Comments

Windows Connections Discount for IWUG Members

Culminis, in conjunction with Tech Conferences, has arranged a special discount for you and the members of Indiana Windows User Group to attend the Microsoft Exchange Connections, Windows Connections, and Office Connections on April 1-4 at the Hyatt Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando.

Microsoft^®, Windows IT Pro magazine, and Tech Conferences all come together to produce this essential conference on Windows, Exchange, and Office technology for systems administrators and IT managers.

Each member of Indiana Windows User Group who uses the discount code "CULMINIS" when registering will receive $200 off the price of admission.

To register, click here

Co-located with Windows Connections this spring will be: Microsoft® Exchange Connections and Office Connections each with their own set of tracks and speakers. As an attendee of Windows Connections you may attend the sessions at any of the concurrent events for FREE!

Attend in-depth sessions on Exchange, Vista, and Office. There are over 100+ sessions to choose from and 60+ industry experts presenting in-depth sessions and hands on labs. If that is not enough there is the expo hall with exciting new products and the great networking receptions.

If you are not familiar with this event or if you would like more information, please visit http://www.winconnections.com/

Posted Thursday, March 08, 2007 8:45 PM by RoudyBob | 0 Comments

IWUG 2007 Board of Directors Voting

Voting for the IWUG 2007 Board of Directors is now open and will remain open until March 14th at 12:00am ET. Please visit the site below to vote - it takes only a couple of minutes and requires no registration or signup. You are limited, however, to voting once.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=227823292884

Posted Monday, February 12, 2007 10:04 PM by RoudyBob | 0 Comments

Windows Server Product Team User Group Survey

The Windows Server Product Team would like to hear from the User Group Community. This is a direct anonymous survey, with the goal to improve services targeted towards User Groups. We want to know what your experience is with the community resources and information that is available to you today as a member of the User Group Community. We also want to know what you think could be done to improve your Community Experience. Please take a couple of minutes to provide us your candid feedback via this survey so we can provide the most effective experience possible.

Here is the link to the survey: User Group Community Survey

Posted Monday, December 18, 2006 9:05 PM by RoudyBob | 4 Comments

IWUG Board of Directors Elections

Fellow IWUGers:

We've been threatening to do it for some time now. It's just we haven't made the time to actually follow through with it. It's time for us to elect our IWUG Board of Directors. This is the formal governing body for the group - the folks who are "officially" responsible for IWUG. Four dedicated geeks have been serving in this capacity since the group's formation and have done a wonderful job - but it's important that the group be led by a team of individuals who have been truly elected by the membership. Which is why we're kicking off this process and hope that we'll have it wrapped up in Jan.

This is pretty simple, actually. The first step is to make sure that we have a list of nominees which the group feels is complete - this is your chance to either nominate yourself or nominate someone who you feel will do a great job in leading IWUG over the next year. Once the nominations are in, we'll have a web-based voting period during which everyone can make their voice heard. There are five members of the Board of Directors so you'll be able to vote for up to five people from the list of nominees. The Board of Directors is important - it's the group that choses IWUG's President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer and appoints folks to the Steering Committee. So, make your nominations and votes wisely!

Here is the current list of nominees:

Sumeeth Evans
Sumeeth is IT Director for Collegiate Housing Services. He's been very involved as a Steering Committee member for almost 2 years and is also serving as the current IWUG secretary.

Jimmy May
Jimmy is one of the founders of the group and has been involved with it since its inception in June of 2003. He is currently employed by Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) and is also involved with many other groups around town including the SQLPass user group.

Bob Roudebush
Bob is a former Technology Specialist for Microsoft and is now working with Double-Take Software. He has been involved with the group since its formation in June 2003 and has served as the IWUG president. Since it has been vacated for the last several months, Bob has also served as the IWUG vice-president.

Ben Smith
Ben is a local Technology Specialist for Microsoft Corporation. He has been involved with the group since its formation in June 2003 and has served as both IWUG secretary and IWUG treasurer.

Please feel free to send your own nominations to info@iwug.net. Or, feel free to post them as comments to this blog entry. Nominations will end January 18th, 2007 at 12:00am. We'll release the final slate at the January meeting and provide details on how you can cast your votes then.

Your Fellow Geek,
Bob Roudebush - IWUG President

Posted Sunday, December 17, 2006 8:23 PM by RoudyBob | 2 Comments

Site Updates / Additional Features

We've finally gotten around to uploading all of the available pictures from past meetings to the IWUG Photo Gallery. You should be able to find them by browsing to http://iwug.net/photos/default.aspx. It may take the system awhile to process everything as it was a pretty massive upload of new JPGs. Don't forget that this page shows you the most recently updated galleries - to see all the galleries scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the link for "All Galleries"

Community Server also supports user blogs as well as user photo galleries. Until now, we hadn't turned that functionality on. Today, after the upgrade to v2.1, all new user accounts that are created will automatically be provisioned a blog and a photo gallery. If you already have a user account but would like a blog or gallery, please send an email to info@iwug.net. We'll create one for you. Here is an example of what the functionality looks like:

My weblog: http://iwug.net/blogs/roudybob/default.aspx

My photo gallery: http://iwug.net/photos/roudybob/default.aspx

What's neat is that all blog posts and photo galleries for IWUG.NET users are aggregated to the blogging page so if we get enough people posting you'll be able to see what your fellow IWUG members are finding of interest. To get to the blogging page, go to http://iwug.net/blogs/default.aspx or you can just click on the "Blogs" link in the navigation bar at the top of the IWUG page.

Posted Sunday, December 10, 2006 5:03 PM by RoudyBob | 0 Comments

IWUG.NET Upgraded to Community Server 2.1

The site was upgraded to Community Server v2.1 this weekend. Everything seems to be working just fine after the overhaul, but send any issues you find along to info@iwug.net.

Posted Sunday, December 10, 2006 2:25 PM by RoudyBob | 0 Comments

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