Joomla Day Nigeria 2009 Report

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Joomla Day Nigeria 2009 Report

The 12th of December was a remarkable day to remember as various developers and interest groups across the country (Nigeria) made their way to Finicky Restaurant, Jibowu, Yaba, Lagos for the third edition of Joomla Day Nigeria. This year’s turnout was quite impressive as a huge number of people endorsed the venue with great expectations. The total count from the online registration totaled over 100.

joomladay2009group

On the D-day of the event, registration confirmation was made to ascertain that all users were given adequate attention throughout the event. The pre-events started from 5pm as guest arrived and engaged in Networking sessions.

The event proper kicked off by 6pm as stipulated with Bolatito Coker acting as the Compere for the event. A short introduction and welcome address was taken by Bade Adesemowo , the head of Joomla! User Group , Nigeria.

This was followed by presentations....

“The power of Joomla” was the title of the first presentation by Emenike Christian (event manager). He highlighted some of the basic features of Joomla, what makes it so useful and some of the major projects that run joomla in Nigeria. Participants was impressed to learn that gtbplc.com , the web portal of one of Nigeria’s leading financial institutions run on joomla, amongst others.

Then came the turn of the eloquent, Seye Kuyinu, the CEO of Nysteria, a leading web development firm in Nigeria. His presentation was about installing Joomla. He showcased the easy to use installation process and also showed some of the basic features of a typical Joomla site.

The supposed third facilitator, Mr. Mudiaga was unavoidably absent and so the anticipated presentation on “Joomla and the future of web in Nigeria ” was not held.

The final presentation was by Bade Adesemowo, the Deputy Group Head [Development ] of Bincom ICT Solutions (the company that put the event together). Bade showcased some of the new features of the upcoming Joomla 1.6 , which is in Alpha 2. The presentation , Joomla! Moving forward with new features left some participants wondering , what Joomla! could not do.
Please find attached links to each of the presentation slides. Also attached is programme of event.

The presentations were followed by Questions and Answers directed at all 3 facilitators on various aspects of the presentation including questions on whether Joomla! or Drupal was better. The panel generally agreed that choice of CMS is based on specific needs.

During the ‘Speed Talk Session’, we received a number of suggestions and critics that would help enhance other editions of Joomla Day Nigeria events in the nearest future. Other factors affecting Web development in Nigeria were also discussed.
Foundations for the JUG (Joomla User Group) Nigeria was officially discussed. Structures are under development to put the group in order. Bade explained that all registered participants are automatically members of JUG. The website www.joomlang.com would also be the defacto web presence for the group.

As the program was coming to an end, the various prizes (donated by endorsees) were given out to various individuals . Participants were first divided into 3 groups (“Beginner Group”, “Intermediate Group” and “Advance Group”) based on their prior knowledge of Joomla. Prizes that would be most useful for their group was then distributed to random winners in the group.

The gift items received from some of our sponsors including:

Beginner Group:

Joomla University Nigeria (facilitated by Bincom.net ) - 2 Full Scholarship to Joomla Beginner Class (Jan 9, 2010)
Nysteria Solution – Hosting solution for beginner

Intermidiate Group

RS!Joomla – 5 RS!Forms Licences
Compojoom - 1 Big Smalls Commercial Template

Advanced Group

iJoobi – Joobi PowerPack PRO & Acajoom PRO & 1 Visitor to Buyer.
Azrul – 1 JomSocial community licence

Facilitators

Oreilly UK : 3 Books donated by Oreilly UK and 2 Magazines

We are so happy that this third edition of Joomla Day Nigeria went successful without hazels. Over 30 participants were physically present at the event with lots of apologies from absentees. Participants complained on the choice of Saturday for the event.
We would like to add here that more sponsors and endorsements are required for upcoming events as their presence will boast the event to a large extent. Financial support is also needed as we would love subsequent events to be free also .

We would like to extend our profound gratitude to the following companies and group that added value to the event and provided facilities that enrich the event in general. They include the following:
Azrul.com, Visible impact, Joomla University Nigeria, Bincom ICT Solution, Compojoom, jomSocial, Nysteria, RS!Joomla, Oreilly, Platform to mention a few.

I would like to also thank the team at Bincom (www.bincom.net) for the commitment they had towards the event.

You can find pictures of the event at :

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=141984&id=503597006 (Pictures from Possicon)

Flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/34657283@N07/ (more pictures coming soon)

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