This is the third expo you've held. What have you learnt about the cms community and how has it changed over the year that you've been running the events?

That old saying that "Only change is constant" could not be more applicable to the CMS sector this past year.

What in your mind are the top reasons why people should choose open source over proprietry cms solutions?

They shouldn't. The first determining factor should always be, "Which solution best solves the problem, given my limitations." There are some excellent proprietary solutions for less than $500 too, so budget, while a factor, isn't the only factor.

Whats been a stand out for you from previous expos?

This Expo builds on the past two, re-doubling in size (again). This Expo will feature THREE CORE CMS solutions (Joomla, Drupal and Alfresco), whereas in the past, we focused 100% on Joomla. The reason for this is strategic for us, and for our soon-to-be-launched CMS Association. Our mission is to serve the entire CMS Community with the best learning programs around, put on by the absolute best trainers and businesspeople. What is sorely lacking in the CMS world is exactly what we are delivering, and God willing, will continue to deliver; there is a great deal of common foundational knowledge CMS community members need to be exposed to, and learn from one another, from folks OUTSIDE their comfort zone.

That means, Drupal folks can and should learn from Joomla fans. Alfresco "enterprise" solutions providers have a lot to learn from Joomla and Drupal when it comes to grass-roots and community-first authentic growth; Proprietary vendors had best brush up on how Open Source works, or they'll be eating Ramen Noodles for the next couple years; and some who have gravitated from the lunatic fringe in the Open Source movement to realize that business isn't out to get them could learn a thing or two from some of the consultant-speaking suits too. We ALL have a lot to offer, and CMS Expo is truly the only place on the planet trying this little experiment (and so far, succeeding!).

Where is the biggest hole in the cms market that you can see?

A couple major holes:

1) Amazingly, fifteen years after "Web 1.0," the biggest issue I see is usability. "Web 2.0" standards succeeded in confusing an already confounded marketplace, rather than simplifying it. Standardization led to politicizing the process, and putting the developer squarely in the driver's seat, with no designer in the co-pilot's seat.

2) Open Source Business Models That Actually Work: Right now, EVEN in the shadow of a huge bubble burst from y2k and a major bust in the global economy, our business minds are swayed to believe in vaporous business models. We resort to giving away our services in order to build market share, not realizing that market share does not fund our bank accounts. "What we lose today we'll make up in volume" is a recipe for disaster. I'm concerned that intellectual property has thus become a defacto commodity. Photos are free. Logos are twenty bucks. Code which would have been $1,000 US a year ago is now pennies, or free.

We need to work on viable business models in the Open Source business world which take into account the new world market we must all compete within, but also, the work which we love needs to also pay the bills.

Where to next for CMS Expo?

We'll be in Chicago this spring and Miami in the fall, for our two North American learning and business conferences. The year-end event will feature the CMS Awards Banquet again, and we'll celebrate one hell of a great year in 2009 as a CMS Community that is truly coming together and achieving some great success.

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