2006 has seen some important changes for VANTUG and I am pleased to say that our plans to make VANTUG a better UG are coming along nicely. After dropping the membership fee in July our numbers have grown from around 500 to well over 900. We all know that it isn't about numbers but quality of events and services. However, the numbers do help to attract more sponsors who are needed to offset free membership and to go on trying to improve our offerings.
On that score I am very pleased to tell you that TOP PRODUCER Systems of Richmond have very generously agreed to help sponsor VANTUG during 2007. Our aim, of course, has to be long term stability through sponsorship and more is always better :). Our sincere thanks to TOP PRODUCER Systems for their support.
I would like to take the opportunity to remind you about our upcoming GM on January 11th at SportBC. If you haven't registered yet and wish to attend please take a moment to do so. Something new for 2007 will be a Security SIG. Bob Wiles has volunteered to act as co-ordinator for the SIG. Look for more info in the new year. Dana Epp, who is a MSFT MVP for Security and is speaking on January 11th, has been very helpful in working with other local security groups to position the VANTUG SIG appropriately within the community as a whole. I am also hopeful that Dana can be a great help with the SIG itself. Many of you will know Bruce Cowper, who now has a security role with MSFT Canada, and he is also very supportive.
A couple of other events of note are the Community Launch in February (exact date TBD) and TechFest 2007 (February 24th) which is shaping up to be a very good event covering a wide range of Developer and IT Pro interests. I am helping to organize and run the IT Pro track, where we will be aiming to at least try and cover Security, Vista, Exchange 2007, SBS, Longhorn and Virtualization. I am trying to get people up from Redmond to cover Longhorn and Virtualization. So go to the website and sign-up today.
It only remains for me to thank you, our members, for your support. Ultimately it is the members that make the group regardless of all else. VANTUG has established a first rate reputation with MSFT Canada and with your help we can go from strength to strength.
Ordinarily I don't pick out individuals because it is a team effort and the eforts of all are greatly appreciated, but I would like to recognize the consistent effort that Peter Martin from the LDB puts in to help VANTUG. The use of the LDB facility has been very useful for our study groups, which incidentally I hope will continue and grow in the future, and without Peter we would not have achieved anything like as much in that respect. The LDB has also been used for SIG meetings in the past and I hope, with Peter's help, can continue in the future.
I look forward to a productive, enjoyable and successful 2007.
Complements of the season to you and your loved ones.
Graham Jones
President, VANTUG