Plain Black Announces Revised 2009 WebGUI Users Conference

In tough economic times more organizations are realizing the benefits of open source software solutions. For Plain Black Corporation, this means business has never been better. For WebGUI, it means healthy growth in the community and an opportunity to truly put the WebGUI Users Conference in the hands of the users. With this in mind, Plain Black is announcing a revised 2009 WebGUI Users Conference schedule.

Many clients, and the community at large, have expressed concern over decreased training budgets due to the recession. Since Plain Black is growing faster than ever, they feel the responsibility to do whatever possible to help ease the burden for attendees. The new schedule includes two days of presentations from September 10-11, with each day divided into three tracks. With this shortened schedule comes cost savings, which Plain Black is passing along to conference attendees. First, attendees will save one night worth of hotel costs. Second, Plain Black is lowering the ticket price. The 2009 WUC ticket price is $400, which is a savings of $100 compared to last year's conference fees. Attendees will still receive the same amount of swag, and popular after-hours sessions are still being planned. Plain Black believes that the heart of the conference is the personal time spent with community members, and hopes these changes help those of you who are feeling the strain of current economic conditions.

WebGUI's community has grown to the point that this conference will be powered almost entirely by community efforts. The 2009 presentation schedule is packed with speakers from around the globe representing a variety of government, education, non-profit and business sectors. This is the first time the conference has ever featured so many presentations by community members, and the goal is to continue the community focus in the future. Traditionally, Plain Black has been the sole conference sponsor. Going forward, Plain Black hopes to gain other sponsors to further lower conference costs and encourage greater attendance.

The vitality of a community is founded in its ability to support one another and work towards a common goal. With this year's renewed focus on community efforts the WebGUI Users Conference will truly belong to the community who gives so much back to it. Plain Black hopes its efforts to alleviate the stress of conference costs for attendees will encourage community members to attend and take advantage of each other's expertise. For more information about the conference, including schedule and ticket information, visit the WebGUI Users Conference website at www.webgui.org/wuc.