Tag Archive for 'FMPug'

FileMaker User Groups: Thoughts and resources on getting started (Post #2)

Published on September 8, 2010. 4 Comments

You might have said to yourself after reading my last cheerleading post on starting a FileMaker User Group (Why User Groups Matter), “Well, that’s all well and good, but you’re not the one trying to start a group in a virtual vacuum.  Cheerleading’s easy.”  Fine, point taken.

I realize that many of you are in regions that, on initial consideration, might not seem fertile ground for a user group.  You may feel that being located in a smaller metropolitan area or rural region is an insurmountable roadblock to getting a group started.  What’s the point of holding a first meeting if there’s no one else around?

Your first step is finding the 2 or 3 or 10 people you can connect with and agree to meet in person. We’ll get into the meat and potatoes of managing the group later; there’s no point talking about it until you’ve got enough interest to fill at least the seats around a kitchen table or bar booth. Finding people is, admittedly, hard.  Luckily, there are plenty of online resources to datamine for prospects.

I ask for forbearance from those of you for whom all of this is painfully obvious.  It’s not obvious to everybody, and this suite of blog posts is oriented to those at the beginner/intermediate stage of social networking (remember: user groups were perfecting social networking when Twitter’s founder was still in diapers). Continue reading ‘FileMaker User Groups: Thoughts and resources on getting started (Post #2)’

 
Published in FileMaker Inc., Other User Groups, Tips and tricks and Uncategorized by Colin Keefe. Tags: Tags: , , , , , , , .

FMPug discounted memberships – with locked rate

Published on July 29, 2010. 0 Comments

FMPug is offering discounted memberships at a LOCKED in rate, in perpetuity.  As of this moment, the rate is $50.00 US, which I believe is half the usual annual fee.  There are only a limited number of discounted rates available, after which a lesser discount tier becomes available.  When those get used up, it’s back to to the regular rate.

Here’s how it works:

“Your locked in rate is based on the number of COMPLETED transactions. To avoid losing the current promotional rate” (ed: currently $50), “we urge you to complete this transaction sooner rather than later. Wait too long and it could be gone! ;-)

** YOU’RE LOCKED-IN FOR LIFE! ** Here’s where things get really exciting! By signing-up now, the promotional price is your rate for life! That’s right, providing your membership never lapses, the promotional price will be your annual FMPug renewal rate for life! Whether you’re a new member or a renewing member, you won’t pay a penny more. It’s just that simple.”

Go here:

https://www.fmpug.com/signup

Is it worth it?  You bet.  But if you need more than the product discounts, mailing lists and so on, here’s an extra perk:

The all new iPad!

Er…wait, I mean this:

I meant THIS iPad.

Yeah, that’s it.

FMPug will be giving away four iPads to FMPug members – two at the FileMaker Developer Convention in August, and two to FMPug members who couldn’t attend DevCon.  I hear there’s some kind of FileMaker GO thingy that runs on iPads now too.

 
Published in FMPug and Other User Groups by Colin Keefe. Tags: Tags: , , , .

Peachpit Press User Group and Apple User Group affiliations – Lending Library and discounts

Published on February 17, 2010. 0 Comments

Since we set up affiliations with PeachPit and Apple  via their respective User Group programs back in December, we now have some additional member benefits available.

In order to take advantage of benefits associated with either of these affiliations, you must have attended a meeting in the past 3 months.  I’d also like to remind folks that FMPug membership is the hands-down best resource for FileMaker-specific member benefits and discounts – and I recommend joining today.

PeachPit User Group Affiliation

Through our Peachpit User Group membership, we receive monthly additions to a PFUG lending library.  If there is a Peachpit title you’d like us to acquire, let us know.  There’s not much to speak of yet in the Library, as we only started this program two months ago.

You can check out any of these titles at a user group meeting, and return it by the next meeting.

Currently available:

Paperless: Real-World Solutions with Adobe Technology (J.P. Terry)

Web Anatomy: Interaction Design Frameworks that Work (Hoekman & Spool)

The permalink to the Lending Library is here:

http://www.phillyfilemaker.org/index.php/members/lending-library/

And a link can always be found in the right sidebar of this blog; look for the yellow Peachpit logo.

Apple User Group Affiliation

The Apple User Group program offers us a number of benefits, but the most immediately germane is the discount program.  Discount offers on many products are available here:

http://appleusergroupresources.com/?cat=12

Note that you’ll need to contact me directly to get the discount code for a particular item.

Colin

colin.keefe@itsolutions-inc.com

 
Published in News and Other User Groups by Colin Keefe. Tags: Tags: , , , , , .

Pausing in Portland: a written recap

Published on February 3, 2010. 0 Comments

Check out the following blog post for a written recap from Pause On Error, the FileMaker unconference in Portland. This has a little more info about the back story and where the movement itself may be headed. This post is available on an IT blog that is hosted by IT Solutions: http://bit.ly/aIzZkx

 
Published in FileMaker, IT Solutions Consulting and PauseOnError by Jason Mundok. Tags: Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

FMPug: 12 Days of Giveaways coming soon!

Published on December 7, 2009. 0 Comments

FMPug is launching its annual “12 Days of Giveaways” in about 6 days:

http://12days.fmpug.com/

http://www.fmpug.com/

Now’s a pretty good time to support what FMPug does for the developer/user group community at large and for our own local group.

For the Philly FileMaker group, FMPug provides:

  • Meeting Announcement Listings and management
  • Meeting RSVP services
  • Mailing List Management
  • Product discounts for FMPug members
  • Pawfolio pages with work samples for FMPug members
  • and a percentage of every FMPug member’s annual fee goes directly to support PhillyFileMaker.

In a more general sense, FMPug provides a sense of community and cohesion to the dozens of user groups scattered around the world.  It provides us opportunities to share with each other and learn from each other outside of conventions and conferences.  I know I’ve cribbed many ideas for user group sessions from looking into the Schedule to see what other people are up to, and have often learned about new techniques in the pipeline before they make it into a DevCon presentation just by poking around the FMPug site.  It’s also an excellent way to get your feet wet before jumping into your first FileMaker DevCon.  Andy Gaunt is a great resource and asset to the community.

Why join now?  Well, the “12 Days of Giveaways” event is a big one – tons of free products from your favorite FM vendors means you stand a very very good chance of winning something – which would more than cover the cost of an annual FMPug membership (if the discounts weren’t already enough).

So head on over to FMPug and join or renew today!

- Colin

 
Published in FileMaker, FMPug and Other User Groups by Colin Keefe. Tags: Tags: , , , .

“The Everything Reference 3″ available as a free download

Published on October 8, 2009. 0 Comments

The kind folks at FMPug have made The Everything Reference 3 available for free as a PDF download. The Everything Reference series was created to bring together the most needed reference materials for FileMaker developers into a single easy-to-use source. The Everything Reference 3 is completely compatible with FileMaker 10 and includes such useful tools as a modifier key cheat sheet, Unicode charts, FileMaker error codes, a FileMaker functions quick reference, and much much more. There are even articles from some of the top names in the business, such as John Mark Osborne and Steven Blackwell.

Visit http://ref.fmpug.com/ to download your free copy today!

 
Published in FileMaker, FMPug and Tips and tricks by Jason Mundok. Tags: Tags: , , .

PhillyFileMaker Blogging from DevCon

Published on August 11, 2009. 0 Comments

The FileMaker Developers Conference 2009 in San Francisco is fast approaching – PreCon sessions start Thursday August 13 at 8 AM, and the official opening session is 6:30 PM that night!

Since the release of FileMaker 10 in January this year, best practices for a number of techniques, practices and design patterns have changed drastically due to script triggers, the toolbar, and myriad other new features, and many of the scheduled sessions reflect this change in the FileMaker programming landscape.

So the 2009 DevCon promises to be an exciting time…and the Philly FileMaker User Group will be there.  Jason Mundok of IT Solutions will be on the spot and posting to this blog whenever he can pry himself away from a session.  We have some ideas in mind that are still in the works, so watch this space on Friday, Saturday and Sunday!

Other resources for following what’s going on at DevCon this year:

NEW: Chris Kubica’s blogging the DevCon here

NEW: Rick Stringer’s blogging the DevCon here

#fmdevcon hashtag on Twitter

@phillyfilemaker on Twitter (will be tweeting links to blog entries)

Adatosol will be podcasting; you can subscribe to the podcasts in iTunes or look for them here.

There’s no official word from FileMakerTalk (Matt Navarre & Matt Petrowsky) that I know of, but I’m expecting them to podcast as well.

If you’re lucky enough to be at DevCon, then FMPug’s DevCon Scheduler is indispensable and FREE; find it here.  You can not only view session schedules; you can see how many people plan to go to each session – know which ones are popular, and which ones you’re likely to find a good seat in.  As a bonus, it includes a Friend Locator and a Message Board!

Finally, FMPug is also offering sponsor discounts on a slew of products during DevCon, whether you’re at DevCon or not. All that’s required is that you be an FMPug member in good standing.  Go here.

- Colin

 
Published in Conferences, DevCon, FileMaker Inc. and IT Solutions Consulting by Colin Keefe. Tags: Tags: , , , , , , .

For those who can't make it to the meeting tonight…online video

Published on April 28, 2009. 0 Comments

Just a reminder that for those of you who’re just a bit too far to attend in person:

FMPug has been posting selected presentation content on the FMPug site, available for FMPug members.  You can access it here:

http://www.fmpug.com/fmpugtv/

Ernest Koe’s ProofGroup presentation is up at this URL, as well as Jess Barnum’s presentation, both filmed at the Orlando FL FMPug chapter.  Kudos to Andy for putting this together.

Note that you need to join FMPug to access most of the content, but you can see a free 12 minute video introduction by Jesse to get a sense of how it all lays out.

If I haven’t harped on it enough, online videos aren’t the only reason to join FMPug.  Here’s a grid of benefits:

http://www.fmpug.com/join.php

A virtual membership will get you into the FMPug site and its benefits; a portion of a Chapter membership goes to support us at PFUG (since we’re a local FMPug chapter), plus eligibility for FMPug member giveaways at meetings (like tonight’s, for example).

- Colin

 
Published in FileMaker and FMPug by Colin Keefe. Tags: Tags: , , , .