There is one thing for sure; you can't attend a Joomla! Event and leave without learning new things. One thing that has keeps Joomla growing is the community. At Joomla events like the JAB, everyone sees him/herself as family and hence, the Joomla Love is shared. You feel this strong sense of belonging which makes you feel at home and because you are now carried along, the event becomes fun! COLOGNE was exceptionally AWESOME!

It was indeed a great experience to meet so many different people from around the world who came to attend JandBeyond (JAB) 18 Conference in Cologne, the conference took place at the Maternushaus Hotel in Colognes, from 11-13 of May 2018. As a tradition of the conference, there was a pre-event that took place at "Paeffgen" where beer lovers had some good time together. However, I and some of my friend opt for a Turkish Restaurant downtown Cologne.

JAB is a great place to meet old friend, make new ones especially share and learn new things about Joomla Project, and what is has to offer in future. Despite Joomla having various events like the the popular Joomla Days, JAB has been one of the most interesting of all; which takes place every year in different countries. JAB18 in Cologne was my second attendance of such conference, with the first in Krakow, Poland.

JandBeyond in Brief

JandBeyond is basically an international conference for Joomla Developers, administrators, site integrator, students and even Joomla Business owners who come from around the world to meet at a venue to network, learn and share what Joomla has to offer. The most recent of JAB was in Cologne, Germany. This conference is in it's 9th year, and the conference attracted at least 200 Joomla users in the Joomla Community from different countries and continent.This Conference brings the best brains on Joomla, including founders, co-founders, and early users of Joomla to share their experiences with new participants.

The Joomla LOVE!

One thing that has keeps Joomla growing is the community. At Joomla events like JAB, everyone sees him/herself as family and hence, the Joomla Love is shared. You feel this strong sense of belonging which makes you feel at home and because you are now carried along, the event becomes fun! Additionally, everyone you see at a Joomla event has something to offer which benefits others. Like i said earlier, the J-Love is shared irrespective of where you come from. One fact is that you can never be alone at any Joomla event especially JAB, because; Joomla does not understand "being alone or doing things alone" - it has and will forever be togetherness!

There is one thing for sure; you can't attend a Joomla! event and leave without learning new things.

JAB comes with many things to learn, discover and share. Sessions are conducted by international speakers who are not only experts on Joomla but in the whole ICT and business world, so you tend to gain more from different angles when you attend a Joomla Event.

The Bond!

It was really great to get connected with other "Joomlers" (Users and lovers of Joomla) during the conference. The Techjoomla co-founders, Parth & Ashwin who were among the sponsors of JAB offered a nice snack from India, it was delicious but SPICY :)

I also visited the PixPro booth. Together with the C.E.O Sarah Watz, i was lucky to have gotten the Swedish Chocolate :)

What happened to the boat?

It was not only attending session at JAB, we had a wonderful time on the boat ride with one of the finest and delicious buffet dinner.

Overall trip experience in Brief

... the People where very friendly right from the airport, down to the city. Asking some people how to get to my hotel, i could see how happy they were to help an obvious stranger to their beautiful city.

... food was less of a challenge, although, i am not used to eating much of bread and cheese, Germans seemed not to compromise "Bread and Cheese"..hahaha

Being an African from Nigeria but living in Asia-Malaysia, it is almost now impossible to ever live for a day without eating RICE. But seriously, i missed the Bread and Cheese experience. Thanks to my good friend Benjamin Trenklefor making sure i got to eat RICE.

... there was also a tour of Cologne, organised by David Jardin - Well appreciated tour!