Hi [firstname, fallback=there],

Well...2007 was certainly a busy year for us here at FMPug and we wanted to take a little moment to share some of our highlights with you, our membership and readers. We also want to share with you some of what we have been busy working on behind the scenes for 2008.

So please, take a load off [firstname], grab a drink of something and join us on a journey through 2007 and into 2008.

A look back at 2007

New Local Chapters Across The Globe

We saw an influx of new groups in 2007. This is great to see as it means more people get a chance to network with like minded people and learn new things, share ideas and expand their collective knowledge. We heard stories of people that came to meetings after just moving into the area and found business opportunities through the local FMPug chapter.

The new chapters formed during 2007 were;

Switzerland, Central Pennsylvania, New Mexico,
Costa Rica, Maryland, Kansas City, Medford,
LA, Dallas & Atlanta.

Of these groups several were in existence before (those in italics) but have decided to join the FMPug network and for that we would like to say welcome.

I would like to take this opportunity to say "Thank You" publicly to all the coordinators of the local chapters. It is through their offering to step forward that these groups are in existence. Running a group is hard work, especially when you consider all of these people have at least one other full-time job to do. Yet they find the time to locate a meeting space, create a format for their chapter, locate speakers and presentation ideas, provide food and beverages to name but a little of what they do. So thanks go out to the following individuals from us at FMPug headquarters:

Jesse Barnum, Scott Howard, John Reed , Ferrel Beleshko, John Kimmell ,
Jason Mundok , Jeffrey Cannon, Joel Bowers, Kirk Bowman, Jim Hankins,
Dave Brown, Zanetta Wilson, Destry Hunt, David Wheelock, Matt Navarre,
Tim Dietrich, Stephen Dolenski, Laura Bowyer, Katie Strock , Mark Richman, Francis Bonvin, Chris Cain, Shin Ninagawa, Iain Pennington and John Howell.

FileMaker Feature Requests Open For Business

At the beginning of 2007 we opened a new area of the FMPug website where people could not only post feature requests they would like to see in future versions of FileMaker but also gave all visitors the ability to vote on these.

We had no idea how popular this would be, but we now have over 200 feature requests and over 6600 votes. It certainly was an eye opener to see what people wanted to see added or improved in their favorite database development tool. Of course, this list is not meant to replace the official FileMaker request area and we encourage everyone to post requests with FileMaker.

RealTech is launched with a major headline act (or two!)

2007 saw many changes in the community and we were asked, requested, begged to provide a new area of service to our membership in the form of a unified mailing list where all members could participate in open and frank discussions.

To that end on June 25th 2007 we launched RealTech -- the FMPug list serve for members to share their questions, ideas, frustrations or musings with other FMPug members from around the world. We have seen over 1200 posts since the launch day and we are extremely pleased to say that we have not received a single out of office message which have plagued many lists before us!

RealTech has been a mechanism for us to bring exclusive product announcements to the FMPug membership ahead of the rest of the FileMaker community. In fact, our opening email for RealTech announced a brand new product from our friends at WorldSync called fmDataGuard (follow the link to check it out today).

We also use the RealTech service to notify members of new membership benefits. The launch of RealTech saw us announce that for the second year in a row that FMPug had secured an exclusive $100 discount on the annual FileMaker Developer Conference (DevCon).

If you have not subscribed to this beneficial benefit of FMPug membership now is a great time. Make 2008 your year to be one of the first to know what is happening in the FileMaker community. Simply follow this link to subscribe to the RealTech list.

Speaking of DevCon...

2007 saw FMPug taking a much bigger role in DevCon. We were pleased to be one of the major sponsors this year, sponsoring the Tuesday night dinner party where we rocked out with the Beatles, gave away a brand new MacBook and a Drobo storage unit packed with drives. I want to take this moment to thank FileMaker and Advisor Media for all the hard work they do putting on this conference. And Shari, you are truly a rock star in your own right!

We also rolled out our DevCon scheduler that was designed for the then newly released iPhone. This was a great hit with attendees, exhibitors and FileMaker alike. In fact it was featured in the opening KeyNote much to our surprise (and pleasure!).

FMPug worked with 16 of the vendors in the showcase to offer FMPug members extended savings. We figure we saved our members well over $30K during the show. Taking advantage of the FMPug $100 discount and using the FMPug discount passes made a big difference to FMPug members and made the program a huge success. And I would like to again thank all those vendors that participated this year.

It was an even bigger DevCon for me as I was awarded the 2007 FileMaker Excellence award for contributions to the FileMaker community. This award followed on the heels of the 2005 Mad Dog Award and the 2006 FileMaker Excellence Award. To be nominated once for this prestigious award was a lifetime's ambition but to receive it twice and back to back still makes me stop in my tracks. And the fact that the Excellence Award is nominated by my peers in the community makes it even more important and drives me to do more for the community that has given me so much, taught me so much and let me be such a big part of it.

And last but by no means least, the FMPug giveaway for DevCon 2007

I think I can safely say this was the giveaway of all DevCon giveaway's. If you recall our giveaway of 2006 that was a huge success and being who we are we wanted to make it better this year. I am speaking of course of The Everything Reference guide. A 76 page, coil bound full color book of which we gave away 1200 copies. Yes folks, we gave away 1200 copies to all attendees of DevCon 2007.

I can still see the queue of people at the FMPug booth at 11:15am on the Monday, 30 minutes before the showcase was due to open. I had just grabbed a little something to eat before the showcase opened and was walking to the tables when I looked up and saw the queue. My jaw practically hit the floor. Fortunately Heather and Stephen of FMForums had gotten a bite to eat already and they rushed over and started stamping tickets and handing out books. To see people walking around reading your book is a very humbling experience.

Of course I couldn't mention the book without mentioning the advertisers. We worked hard to get advertisers that offer products and services that would benefit the community as a whole and so to those that advertised I say Thank you (I will be calling you in a month or so to get you signed up for the 2008 edition --wink, wink!)

Then things got quiet...or did they?

Following DevCon we decided it was time to take stock and look at where we wanted FMPug to go. It became so apparent to us at DevCon that FMPug was now so much more than just a user group. It was a community and a network. A network of people, of discounts, of products, of reviews and incredible resources. We decided it was time to really set a direction for FMPug and so we invested in creating a set of strategic marketing and communication plans. These have helped us focus our ideas and are driving the direction of FMPug into the next couple of years.

Our goal with FMPug was to create a strong community with teaching and learning at its core. FMPug has exceeded our goals on many occasions; but we know the goal posts are always moving and so we continue to expand on the services already offered. It is you the membership who have helped shape FMPug. Without you, our membership we would not exist and so we are always striving to move FMPug forward to benefit you.

You may have noticed that we have not sent any newsletters out since Devcon. It is not because we did not want to but more that we have been busy working on some exciting changes to come to the FMPug network.

A look into 2008

So now we are going to shift gears and look into the future and what we have in store for you.

The Everything Reference - ( Edition One & a Half!)

We got some great feedback from DevCon on the book and have just about wrapped up the changes. This means that you will be able to own your very own copy of this great book very early in the New Year.

We have also updated the plug-in section to include many more plug-ins as well as show if they are Server or Leopard compatable.

We think the book answers a great New Year Resolution for many FileMaker Users and Developer's -- having the right information to hand right when you need it. FMPug members will have a dedicated link where you can save on both the print and PDF version of this book over the regular price. Watch for a special notice to go out on RealTech before the general public announcing the availability of this great resource.

A new look for the site

One of the first things we will be launching in 2008 is a brand new look FMPug website. Now this is not just a simple skin job on the site but a complete redesign. We have not only changed the look but also the underlying code.

As you know, we use FileMaker to power the FMPug website. Well, now that the FileMaker PHP API is out of beta we have been busy rewriting the code that makes FMPug.com tick -- every single line of it is brand new. Thanks to our infrastructure provider dbDom.com we now have a dedicated server running FileMaker 9 Server Advanced to power the back-end of FMPug. However we did not just move the existing databases over. We decided that seeing as we were rewriting the front-end it may be a good time to make some changes on the back-end. We have learned a lot in the past year of how our own systems tick and so we are using this opportunity to really clean things up.

I don't want to spoil all the things we have in store but I wanted you to at least get a little taste to whet your appetities.

Navigation Streamlined

One of the things we became very cognisant of was the fact that our navigation was growing and becoming harder for people to... well, navigate. So we spent a lot of time trying to streamline the navigation and we think we are onto a winner. As you can see from the picture above, we will have 6 primary areas to the site. We think this will make it easier for you to find what you are looking for on FMPug.com

For our chapter members...well, at least to start with!

We have been in cahoots with our very good friends at SeedCode. If you did not know, SeedCode produce some fantastic templates for FileMaker developers, allowing them to get a jump start on development. One of these templates is their foundation product, the SeedCode calendar.

I started chatting with John about the new site and mentioned that I was interested in using the SeedCode calendar to drive the FMPug calendars, not only for the chapter meetings but also for the training schedules. He of course was downright giddy at the thought and shot me over a copy.

Now, one of the coolest things about the calendar is the ability to generate iCal's from the FileMaker data and this gave me one of those flashes of inspiration I get from time to time. So I call John and tell him what I wanted to do and he of course is giddier (go ahead...google that. It's a word!) than ever.

The end result of this giddiness and inspiration flashing...

When you RSVP for any FMPug meeting you will now be able to subscribe to a dedicated iCal calendar for that chapter. With a chapter calendar subscription you will get updated calendars automatically each time the coordinator adds a new meeting. You will also be notified ahead of the meeting at specific intervals automatically. Oh, and each meeting in the calendar will show realtime notifications of all RSVPs. You will be able to see the people that are going and those that cannot make the meeting. So if you are hoping to catch up with John at a Seattle meeting, just check your calendar to see if he has RSVP'd.

Collective savings

We have merged the discounts and special offers together at the request of members. We have also added a simple registration link for you to share not only with us but also the rest of the community what discounts you are acting upon as a whole. Doing this has a couple of impacts. Firstly, you will be able to see how much you have saved from your FMPug membership and we at FMPug HQ can use this information to get even more benefits and discounts for you as a community. If we can show potential discount providers that the FMPug membership has acted on [x] discounts for a particular company it may encourage them to participate.

And so I would like to take this opportunity to thank you

Thank you for your continued support in FMPug. It is with you that we continue to grow and we hope that 2008 will bring more of what we saw in 2007.

To all the companies and individuals who have sponsored and or contributed products, discounts and so much more for the benefit of members we thank you.

And to all those who just stopped by to see what this dog was all about. Well, we hope you enjoyed your visit and would love to see you back in the New Year. Hey, maybe we can even entice you to join soon.

Again, Happy New Year and we look forward to 2008.

Cheers

Andy Gaunt
FMPug Founder