I'm excited, and I know some great things are going to happen at the CMS Expo in Denver.  This morning I started to think, "It would be worthwhile to try to put into words - what is it that makes the CMS Expo so worthwhile?" I came up with my top three reasons and I begin today by sharing Reason #3: Discover Joomla Trends Nationwide.

Even though Chicago is the center of the known world (ahem!) I occasionally must admit that somethings are happening in other places, too! One of the reasons I love going to events like CMS Expo is that it gives me an opportunity to rub elbows with folks from other parts of the country. It's a great way to make sure I don't miss the boat on big trends emerging in California or New York or Texas . . . .

For a quick example: I used the Google Insights tool to make a chart of the frequency of searches on the word "joomla" in recent years. One look at the chart makes it clear that something's happening out west and I want to know what it is!

By the way . . . I compared searches for the words "joomla," "drupal," and "sharepoint" in Illinois, Texas, Colorado, and California. Clearly the world is evolving in different ways in different places!

One last example: if you think the Joomla market is evolving in interesting ways in the U.S., take a look at a comparison between the US, Germany, the Netherlands, India, and South Africa. Joomla is on the move worldwide!

The moral of the story for me: get out and find out about trends in other places, so that I can get ahead of the wave and get maximum advantage for my business!

Joe Scarry is head project manager for Chicago Joomla web developer and web design firm Arc Technology Group.