Mininterview with Nina Meiers

Just to know some of the DNN Experts on this site, we introduce a mininterview. A short list with questions and answers about the Expert and his DNN. This interview is done with Nina Meiers , you can find her profile here

Where are you from?

Australia - Downunder from the Mansfield High Country in a small drive by town called Barjarg, situated between Strathboie and Samaria, overlooking Lake Nillahcootie, just off Donkey Hill Road. :-).  I love telling people where I live because it has so many interesting words.

What was the first DNN version you are working with?
DNN 1 in 2003

What is the DNN project (public url) where you are the most proud of?
I have hundreds, and I would love to stick to one, but I have two because they are the focus of much of my time, research and ideas.
VAL (Victorian Athletic League). http://www.val.org.au 

When I met them 4 years ago, there was an offline Access db., on a computer hidden in the corner that someone had accidently turned off and corrupted the whole db., it had to be rewritten.  I came in a year after that event and worked with them to convert Access to SQL and then connect their membership with DNN and utilising CataLooK shopping cart this site has done hundreds of thousands of transactions and helped raise the profile of this association.  They have run the world recognised Stawell Gift where talent such as Huisan Bolt has participated in.  I am very proud because I've been instrumental in taking an insecure offline environment with no backup, to an online presence that now generates significant income, protects their IP and helps them further the sport.  When I met them, their membership was in severe decline, and since working with them, membership has been rising at more than 10% per year as well as more club events.  It's a win win.

The next one, truly is an example of the power of DNN, and in particular, the multiple portal, content sharing and utilisation of modules to make this site fairly self-sustaining in reference to content.

The Australian Motorcycle Club - Ulysses - https://www.ulyssesclub.org.
I built this site along with a reseller 5 years ago and the cost of ownership has been significantly reduced as the years go on with streamlined upgrading.  There is a primary website and about 160 websites which are all managed by the branch volunteers.  The content is designed to feed into the primary website. I believe this has helped change the profile of the club and build credibility as they expand their branches and the website with the data feeding in from the branch sites makes it a dynamic website without the complexities of role management.  The upgrade process has been very cost effective and it's quite a pleasure to upgrade a website successfully knowing you've made changes to 160 websites at once.

Which module do you like the most?
I love the Ventrian Property Agent module.  The ingenuity of what can be done with this makes it truly the most flexible and versatile module I've ever used.  I love how it allows the clients to manage a variety of different functions from a consistent interface even when used in several different ways, such as online directories, calendars, classifieds.  I think Scott McCulloch has been a genius in how this has been put together and made so flexible in its use. 

What would be your wish for DNN (f.i. extension, function)?
I wish there was an awesome api connector that allowed me to utilise cloud items such as zapier, ifttt, leadpages, or other items that have apis.  I learnt xml in 1999 and understood that this was the way of the future to connect elements of data together, which were agnostic to platforms.  I think other CMS apps seem to be better represented because they have such good api configuration and 

Are you visiting DNN related events?
Alas, being on the other side of the world makes things a little impractical although I did attend some MVP events in Seattle when I was an MVP, and I did work with Microsoft to hold events that talked about DNN in its earlier days.  I am hoping that in the next couple of years, I can get to some in the US and Europe.