While I have been a Joomla user, website builder and non-ending promoter since before Joomla was even called Joomla, this past Pizza, Bugs and Fun of February 24th, 2024 was the first time that I hosted a community event for and with the Joomla community.

Since I have come back to Europe, after some 25+ years in the United States, I had wanted to get involved in 'some' capacity with the vibrant European Joomla community but didn't know quite how. I connected to Mattermost, and went through some different channels and thanks to some friendly dialogue and recommendations found my way to the OR PBF channel where a certain Benjamin (bembelimen) had made a few useful comments. I had the sense that he would be able to help me get set up or at least point me in the right direction and I couldn't have been more right. He took the time to guide me and in a few minutes, my PBF 2024 location was 'official' on the map and everything...

I then went onto 10+ Facebook Groups, different Joomla related forums, and even NextDoor to let everyone know, if you're in or near Paris, you could come and participate, at my home, where I was hosting the event. A few people came, and even though it was my first event, everyone that we met and talked to from Metz to Vienna, Hamburg, New Jersey, Chicago etc was delightful and helpful even with some of my noob questions...

The day went by so fast 🚀, but some good work was done:
we squashed some bugs 🐛, ate some delicious pizza 🍕 and had fun 🎉!

For myself, I really appreciated the opportunity to help the Joomla project and the community and I thank all those that made the process easier and the community the vibrant place that it is. ❤️

The next PBF 2024 is in August, I'm already signed up to host the next one with hopefully even more people to meet and enjoy some pizza and bugs with 😉 Can't wait! and until then, I'm already signed up to participate in JoomlaDay USA in April, maybe i'll see you there?