Via the the just-discovered Rapid Growth website, here’s a quick video from BarCampGR:

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending BarCampGR and I tell you - it’s really got me thinking about professional conferences/seminars, and my involvement at them.

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As many of you know, I’m putting together the first Classroom Training for ExpressionEngine.  I’m elbows-deep in books about ice-breakers, group activities, and becoming an “instant trainer”. 

Trouble is, most of the resources I was able to get from the local library are a bit aged - at least in terms of the internet era.  While many of the fundamentals are still solid, many of the ideas and examples are showing their age (like - forming a line and giving a shoulder massage to the person in front of you...).

So I’m looking for your stories and comments.  If you’ve been to any kind of training - software training especially - recently, what do you remember from it?  Were there exercises or class activities that really drove the point home for you? 

Conversely - was there anything that had you furiously writing a small novel on the feedback form?  Total disasters, train wrecks, equipment failures, awkward moments—dish me some dirt!

I’m pleased to.....

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.

We just returned from the final night of the local county fair.  We had a quick bite to eat at a food tent, and next door was a booth for this local campaign.  As I looked at the large poster and t-shirts people were walking around with I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Here’s the deal—Ottawa County, MI (where I live) is dry on Sunday.  Well, sort of.  You can buy hard liquor at a restaurant, but can’t pick up a 6-pack of beer from the local party store.  The law is a vestige of the conservative Christian heritage of the area and the desire to keep Sunday set aside as a holy day.

I don’t have strong feelings one way or the other on the actual issue.

What I was just amazed by was the marketing campaign.

You see - if they are successful in getting the issue placed on the ballot, Michigan law requires the proposal to be written such that if you want to change the law to allow Sunday beer and wine sales, you have to vote “No”.

But No is so......negative sounding.  You certainly don’t want make posters and t-shirts and website banners with the word No in big honking letters, right?  So let’s do that spin game where we try to say the same thing in a more positive light - so hence was born the “Say Yes to Sunday” campaign.  The image I have here is the one they have on all posters and t-shirts.

So what?

Look at that image for the 3-5 seconds you’d see it on a poster or t-shirt.

The final call to action ("Vote No on November 4") is almost invisible on this design, lost in the the Yes language, and casual viewers of it will walk away with completely the opposite understanding of what they need to do to support the campaign.

This campaign is effectively eating its own tail.