On Thursday November 13, 2008, a group of OpenX publishers gathered in the beautiful Laranjezaal at the Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam for the first ever OpenX community event in The Netherlands. In addition to Dutch users, there were also delegates from France, Austria and Monaco. I had the privilege of hosting the event, organized in close cooperation with OpenX.org London.

We started the day with a quick overview of OpenX, for the benefit of people evaluating the software. Then we focused on some of the new features in the recently release version 2.6. Single page call got a lot of praise, as did page URL targeting. Then Joan Blaas, managing director at MobzMedia, presented an intriguing case study about how they used OpenX as the ad server for the mobile edition of the world wide soccer site Goal.com. I want to thank Joan for presenting this case and giving us some insight about the technical challenges of showing ads on mobile devices.

After lunch, we started with some advanced features in OpenX, like geotargeting, page URL targeting and various techniques and features to target ads based on content classification and member data. We also briefly touched on the feature in OpenX that allows for dynamic replacement of placeholders with site data, conversion tracking and delivery of ads in e-mail newsletters.

The second half of the afternoon had a focus on the future. The new OpenX hosted and OpenX Market were greeted with enthusiasm. Since OpenX Hosted runs on the 2.7-beta release of the software, I could give the audience a sneak preview of the improvements in the user interface, and I could demonstrate how easy it is for a publisher to participate in the OpenX Market.

We also discussed the API that was introduced with version 2.6, allowing external systems to manage inventory and pull statistics. After a short discussion about options for scaling was followed by a questions and answers session.

One of the objectives of these community events is to bring OpenX users and publishers together. This seems to have worked well. I saw many business cards, phone numbers and e-mail addresses being exchanged. And I noticed people were comparing their best practices and industry insights.

Looking back, I can say I really enjoyed hosting and presenting this event, and I felt very fortunate to meet so many OpenX users. I want to thank all community members for participating, and for making this event a success. I even had some requests to make this into a yearly event, and I’ll certainly consider doing just that.

If you were unable to make it to the event, but still would like to talk to me about what OpenX can do for you, why don’t you visit my OpenX pages here on the site or contact me. It would be my pleasure to talk to you!

Together with OpenX, I’m hosting the first OpenX community-led event on Thursday, 13th November in Amsterdam. It’s a free event and everyone is invited.

Judging by the registrations so far, on the day you will meet a really interesting mix of new and experienced OpenX users, along with people evaluating the software.

A quick reminder of the event details:

• When: 9am to 5pm (13th November)
• Where: Hortus Botanicus, Plantage Middenlaan 2a, Amsterdam (click for map)
• Cost: Free!

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Today marks a special day for OpenX, because of the launch of two new offerings: OpenX Hosted and OpenX Market.

OpenX Hosted is a mostly free, hosted version of the well known ad server, available over the web, saving publishers from installing, configuring, maintaining, upgrading and worrying. OpenX Market is a new way for publishers to monetize their web site through an open market place of advertisers and publishers.

Both of these new services have been in the making for some time, and I’ve had the privileges of sneak previews, demos and actual beta testing. It was as far back as September 2007 when Scott Switzer, the founder of OpenX first told me about both ideas when I met him in Amsterdam.

Scott, congratulations on the launch today! This brings OpenX into a new phase, and I’m really excited for you and the OpenX team.

You can read more about OpenX Hosted and OpenX Market on the OpenX website. And of course, you can still download your own copy and install it on your own server, just as usual.

I’m very pleased to announce that the next OpenX community event will take place in Amsterdam, on Thursday, November 13, 2008. You’re all invited for an informative and fun day, to be held in the beautiful Laranjezaal of the Hortus Botanicus in our nation’s capital.

Not only is this the first ever OpenX community event in The Netherlands, it’s also the first time that OpenX and an independent consultant organize an event together. We hope to meet many OpenX users, but also people looking to learn about OpenX and what it could do for their website and business.

Registration is now open! Based on what you tell us you want to learn, we will put together an interesting program with presentations, demos, and Q&A sessions. But there will be plenty of opportunity for informal talks with fellow OpenX users, community consultants and OpenX team members.

I’m looking forward to this event next month! See you in Amsterdam…

In the last week of August, I flew to London, UK, to present two training courses about OpenX. Thomas Telford Ltd., the knowledge business of the Institute of Civil Engineers in the UK, had asked me to come over.

The first session was with a group of developers at Thomas Telford. They had been using OpenX for a while, but wanted to know more about the advanced features in the latest versions. We discussed various subjects, including all the different types of invocation code and their advantages and disadvantages. Then we spent time on techniques for targeting ads using page URL targeting, source parameter, and geotargeting. At the end of the session, we turned our attention to the future of OpenX, tackling subjects like the API.

The second session had a different focus. This time a group of traffickers from inside Thomas Telford and from one of their clients wanted to learn all about creating the ad inventory in OpenX. We talked about setting up advertisers and campaigns, and all the settings one can use to tweak campaign delivery. We also went over the various types of ads that can be defined in OpenX, and how to run creatives from external sources like ad networks. At the end of this session, we briefly touched on targeting again, this time from a campaign management perspective.

I would like to thank Matt Pull at Thomas Telford for asking me to come over. I had a great time in London. Judging from the responses from course delegates, it was time spent very well.

If you’re interested in a similar training session for your company or team, why don’t you contact me to discuss your requirements. I’d be happy to put together a training program just for you.