About JoomlaChicago CMS Group

All Together. Right Now.

JoomlaChicago is a User Group which meets on the second Wednesday of every month, from 11:00 AM - 1:30 pm. There is a half-hour warm-up with "Joomla 101," then, we switch to our advanced topic of the day - be it content organization, search engine optimization, Joomla extensions, business models, etc. At 1:00, it's time to network and socialize. Hang around to ask questions, or make career/business connections!

Membership is free and lunch is provided, thanks to one of our generous sponsors. We meet at the offices of The Acquity Group, 500 West Madison Street, on the 22nd floor.

Non-profit, commercial and solutions providers are all invited to be a part of JoomlaChicago. Just as the word "joomla" means "all together" in the Swahili language, this group is very much about coming together - both live and online - to learn, share and explore this exciting open source CMS software.

How Did This Begin?

JoomlaChicago was started in October, 2007 by a Chicago area marketing and fundraising consultant who used Joomla extensively to meet the needs of his clients. Attracted in 2005 by its easy-to-use interface, he quickly realized the deceptively simple interface was masking some rather complex and powerful capabilities of Joomla (then called "Mambo"). Unlocking and unleashing those powers was by no means an easy task.

He figured there were other people in the area like him who were interested in staying "In the Loop" on Joomla. So, rather than going it alone any more, struggling to get his head around Joomla's immense and growing powers, in October, 2007, he put out the word in online forums around the world that a Chicago group was going to form.

Low and behold, about twenty other Joomla users came to the first meeting in November, 2007. It was, and is a diverse and curious group. There were developers, writers, designers, entrepreneurs and even a curious investor or two. They shared, and continue to share a common desire to come together to learn more about Joomla's capabilities. In October, 2007, a user group "for the rest of us" was born.

Become a JoomlaChicagoan.

So we in turn, invite you to come together with us, to learn more about Joomla's capabilities, compare it against other CMS options and explore its exponentially-growing powers to communicate, activate and educate. Together, we can work on solutions to your challenges, and work as a team to achieve positive results. Come share your insights and be a part of JoomlaChicago!

The main website is at www.JoomlaChicago.com - get involved in one of our groups and sign up to be on the Pro CMS Network too!