While a few of us live in other states, DNNDev.com is headquartered in Arizona. If you live outside the state, it may surprise you to know that it isn't 100% desert. Believe it or not, we have lakes and trees and even snowcapped mountain tops periodically throughout the winter. It's also far from a desert when it comes to hi-tech. There is a very active .NET user group, for instance, and Microsoft always seems to be sponsoring some event (can you say free food?)

I've enjoyed going to some of the .NET events locally and have learned a few things too. I've always wished there was something similar in the area when it came to DNN. So, when the DotNetNuke site first opened their "Group Around It!" forum, I started checking around to see if there was a user group in the state. I wasn't surprised to find that no DNN user group existed, though I did discover there seemed to be some pent-up desire for such a group. So, I took the plunge and decided if it was going to happen, I couldn't stand on the sidelines waiting for someone else to take the lead.

While we aren't yet a DNN army, we're off to a pretty good start. For a state that is pretty sparsely populated, the AZ group ranks among the top groups in terms of membership on the DotNetNuke site. I was also happy to discover that there are two DNN project Team Leads in AZ: Alec Whittington (Links) and Sanjay Mehrotra (Feedback). Both are slated to participate. We're having our first, organizational, meeting tonight. Hopefully, the early interest that members have expressed will translate into participation. That's what we'll find out tonight and over the next several months.

The point, though, is that you, too, can establish your own DNN user group or help support someone else who's putting one together. All you need to do is visit the DotNetNuke Community page to get started.

Here's some links to get started:

DotNetNuke Community Page: Here you can run the User Group Wizard and discover if there are any groups in your area. If not, start one yourself.

Group Around It! Forum: Want to try and gauge interest for a group in your area? Check out this forum.

Meetup: This is a good alternate place to see if there are others interested in a group. I use the site to help communicate with others who may not be aware of the groups area on the DNN site. They've also got some great tools to help organize and work with your membership. It's a good site to start with if you don't yet have a website for your group too.