SF TYPO3 Camp Wrap-up

We wrapped up the first San Francisco TYPO3 Camp last week. It was a whirl-wind, we had five events in five days. The presentations and trainings were outstanding. As usual TYPO3 does not fail to impress whether you are a new user or a seasoned integrator. A variety of people attended from a variety of organizations: designers, developers, integrators and business development people from local universities, design firms and businesses running TYPO3. There were people we knew and some new faces. The format was relaxed and there was plenty of time to ask questions and share experiences.

The event was made up of a couple of evening presentations covering specific extensions and new features coming up in 4.4. During the days we had a terrific three-part training here at the Infield Design office that gave a comprehensive overview of TYPO3, starting with topics geared towards admins and editors then progressing to topics geared towards developers. It was well-paced and offered entry points to all levels of users without being overwhelming. On the last night we finished with a quick tour of Anchor Brewing Company and a sampling of some of its beers; the people at Anchor are truly a GREAT bunch!

Huge thanks to both Joachim Mathes (punkt.de) and Bennie Mack for their time and effort, none of this could have happened without them. They really went above and beyond the call of duty to help introduce people to TYPO3. Their presentations were well-planned and very high quality. We were all blown away. Terrific job. Thanks guys!

Looking back, I would say the community is on the right track. We are having regular events, creating awareness and getting a few new faces at each meeting, and slowly creating a local network of TYPO3 people. So what did we learn and what is next? Keep doing the users groups regularly. Start promoting meetings and events early and try to sync them with other local events. But, over all, keep doing what we are doing and inspire people to share.