In the space of five days in January, I found myself catapulted into Joomla! gatherings around the globe in some unexpected ways. All of them left me feeling grateful for this wide and wonderful community, and marveling at technological advances, as we all celebrated the launch of Joomla 1.6

Less than a week after the launch, I struck up a conversation with Hagen Graf in the 1.6 launch chat room, who was celebrating with some release party attendees in the south of France. Within moments we were connected via Skype, where I could see them as they gathered, as one does in France, around a table with good food and wine. We spoke in French and we spoke in English. The contact was spontaneous and fun, and I enjoyed sharing a virtual 1.6 launch toast with them.

Two days later, I was once again beamed via Skype into the Cape Town JUG (Joomla User Group) launch party. Jacques Rentzke, my fellow OSM board member, had asked me to pop in to approve their blue launch party cupcakes and say hello. My connection was very good and it was fun to see the faces of several folks I've had the opportunity to speak with over past months, but because of the distance, have never met. I could feel the exuberance of the group all the way to Paris!

Seconds after hanging up from that call, Herman Peeren connected to project our video call on the wall of the Rotterdam JUG release party. This one was content-rich, as Herman had asked me to think about some specific questions ahead of time. I was honored to be invited, and to share the screen in the same evening with Nicholas Dionysopoulos.

I recommend listening to the JoomStew podcast from last week entitled "Celebrating Joomla 1.6 Around the World" to hear about these and other fun launch party interviews.

Two days later, Matt Lipscomb asked me if I was going to be around to make the connection on Livestream to stream JoomlaDay Chile on the Joomla Community Channel. I'll never forget working with Ryan Ozimek from the stage in Chile, as he coordinated with the dedicated team there to get the image and sound clear and sharp. All efforts were successful and this was the first all-day streaming event from the Livestream.com/joomlacommunity channel, and no doubt the first of many more to come. Thank you, Matt, for bringing Livestream to the point where it is now ready for prime time!

Truly, a new era is dawning. With the launch of 1.6, Skype, and now the ability to participate in JoomlaDays all over the world, the events described above leave me looking forward to many more connections in 2011. I for one will be following JoomlaDay India on Livestream, and look forward to actually attending in person JoomlaDay France on April 2 and 3.

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