It’s time to say goodbye to xRMVirtual. We set out to build a community for developers using xRM and we succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.

In 2009 xRM was just getting started. We had high hopes for the platform that we now all know as Power Platform. Shan McArthur, David Yack, and I started a new user group for developers that we called xRMVirtual. Why virtual? Well, at the time the idea of developers on the CRM platform was new, there were not enough developers in any given physical place to hope for an in person traditional user group. With a virtual group our potential reach was limitless.

We always ran on a $0 budget. Sometimes when we couldn’t secure a donation from a provider, Shan or I would pay out of pocket for things. But consistently over the years we have had what we needed to run our group provided to us, even if one time I had to corner a (now) former VP on stage at an event to get a corporate sponsor for us. From day one we always practiced what we preached, always running the group using an xRM backend and an ADX portal (our portal was quite the Frankenstein of tech back in the day before the Power Apps Portals grew into what we know today).

While Shan and I were certainly the driving forces behind launching the group and the first several years of day-to-day running of the group, we have seen a steady stream of contributors along the way. Several folks served for a few years and moved on like Daryl LaBar, Colin Vermander and Jim Novak. And there are countless others that helped by jumping in to host a meeting at the last minute and other random things needed to run a user group this long.

We have hosted hundreds of meetings and many virtual events. We have had speakers that are brand-new to public speaking and speakers that are now corporate executives at Microsoft. We never charged anyone to attend, and never required attendees to register. Show up, learn, move on. By the community, for the community.

While I know that at the time Shan, Dave and I were hopeful to share the gospel of developing with relational databases to the masses, we could not have dreamed of the Power Platform as we know it today.

The current generation of user groups covers the globe in a way that a single group cannot do. I feel that the world of xRM is in safe hands and the community will continue to grow and thrive.

While we are saying goodbye to xRMVirtual I assure you that I will remain an evangelist for the platform that we all love.

It is not a time to be sad to say goodbye, it’s a time to celebrate our success and the impact we’ve had over the years.

What’s next for our members? Our sponsors and friends at 365.Training will continue to host our recorded events, and they will also host occasional community events like Power24. Many of you are already users there, but just in case you are not a user there, fill out this form and sign up for updates. They have loads of free learning content and don’t fill your inbox with loads of marketing email.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Julie Yack
April 4, 2022