Here’s a taste of what Scott came up with - this will be used on the site home page.  In addition to this illustration, Scott created 5 variations to go on each of the site’s main sections.  I’m really happy with the vibe of these, and look forward to designing the rest of the site around them.

If you are building a site and need some illustrations done - by all means contact Scott!

No, that doesn’t quite cut it.

That’s how I start many of my announcements here and this one deserves a different introduction.

I’m still quite amazed that I get to sit here and type this.

You see - a few weeks back I had this idea that maybe there would be enough people interested in learning ExpressionEngine in a classroom setting that I could successfully put together a class.

Then I met with the local CollectiveIdea guys who had successfully done some Ruby on Rails training through their Sessions offering.  A collaboration was borne out of that meeting and the wheels were rolling with a venue and a schedule.

Some discussions with Leslie at EllisLab led to the notion of EllisLab and EngineHosting possibly sponsoring a seat.  Leslie had the idea to reach out to the EE Professional Network with the idea of possibly a few of them sponsoring a second seat.

The response was nothing short of amazing and humbling all at the same time.

Within an hour we had sold out of the first round and had to expand the program.  A day or so later and we had enough support to cover not only two seats for the class but 4 nights lodging for those people as well. 

So - I’m much much more than pleased.  I’m excited, humbled, and not just a bit nervous to announce the availability of two scholarships for the upcoming Train-ee Classroom ExpressionEngine Training.

Details and instructions for the scholarships are available here.

Once again, my personal thanks to everyone who is sponsoring.  I’m looking forward to playing host in my hometown, and showing some folks how to work with ExpressionEngine.

Turns out I fared very well.

Out of the eight photos I placed with 3 and had 2 honorable mentions.  My sculpture took a first place and an Adult Gold Ribbon.

The photos that placed are below—linked to larger versions.  The fun thing is that all of these pictures were taken on a 5 year old Canon S200 2MP point and shoot.  I love the challenge of seeing what I can get out of it.

The sculpture is my first attempt at anything like it - and came out of a need for something to put on our mantle but being too cheap to pay for anything we found locally.  I went out to the garage with task of creating something totally out of stuff I had in my junk drawer and steel scrap bucket.  Doing more junkyard art is a goal of mine for once the kids are grown and out of the house - I’d love to scour the local scrapyards for interesting tidbits and find ways to put them together like this.

Centennial New Year
1st Place, Black and White, Scenic

Dunton Ice
2nd Place, Black and White, Scenic

Dimnent at Midnight
2nd Place, Color, Buildings

Midnight Busses
Honorable Mention, Color, Seasons

VanWylen at Midnight
Honorable Mention, Black and White, Buildings

Bad Hair Day
First Place/Gold Ribbon, Adult Metal/Wood/Plastic Sculpture

Well - at least it will be traditional in the sense that there will be four days spent in a classroom learning EE hands-on from an experienced professional, with the ability to ask questions and interact with others in the room.

That’s where any similarity to off-site training you’ve had in the past will (hopefully) end. 

The first difference is the location.  This class will be held in a vacation destination - a scenic resort town nestled close to Lake Michigan and renowned for it’s beautiful sunsets, clean beaches, bikepaths and a historic downtown with home-town coffee shops and microbreweries.

The second difference is the venue.  We’ve all suffered through training in an instantly forgettable generic space.  Through Train-ee you will learn ExpressionEngine in a brand-new, funky, hip and green hotel located within walking distance of restaurants and shopping.

The third difference is the after-hours activities.  Rather than leaving you to while away the evenings alone in your hotel room we’re planning a number of events to get you out to experience the area and hang out with the others in the class.

For more information on the location, venue, course content, and schedule/cost please visit the new Classroom Training page on Train-ee.com.

If you have any questions not answered by that page please feel free to contact me directly via either Train-ee or Boyink.com

Sign up now - the conference room is only so big!

I already had a mug as a result of being on-staff, but put together a video entry anyway (it’s nice to put that ole college degree to use once in a while....).

As a way of keeping it low-budget yet fun I attempted to play off the style of the CommonCraft videos that have been popular on the web.

The video is now being used as the example video for the promotion - and you can view it on the Show Us Your Mug Submission Page.

The 2008 CIW Conference is all about connecting with peers to discuss new Web technologies and best practices in Web design and development. It will also be a place where CIW instructors can share ideas about implementing world-class Web education.

CIW is the web design and development curriculum our local high school tech center uses.  I’m on the board of advisers for that program which led to being asked to speak at the conference coming up on September 25-27 in Destin, Florida.

I’ll be speaking on content management in general and leading a workshop on using ExpressionEngine specifically.

The interview runs a bit over 17 minutes and can be found on Alan’s related CreativeXpert.com site.

Thanks to Alan for the chance to talk about ExpressionEngine and Train-ee!