Looks like I got into terms with Microsoft on hosting the Agile Israel user group on a monthly basis at the Microsoft Center in Ra'anana. The next meeting is now being scheduled for the 23rd of March. I'm trying to see if we can have Johanna Rothman there, speaking about managing Agile projects.
One of the concerns raised in the group was that as this was a Microsoft and INETA sponsored group, the content would obviously have to be Microsoft-centric. Not necessarily. I agree that there *might* be operant cause for concern here but I'm pledging here that I will personally make an effort to make the topics in the group diverse and interesting to most (if not all) ranges of developers and technology in Israel today. You don't really have to be a .NET developer to come and listen to a lecture about Agile Concepts, project management, eXtreme programing experience and so on. At most, we'll have technical sessions that most likely will use .NET as the basis for the explanations.
If push comes to shove, there's always a *backup* location for the user group to meet in, which could be considered "neutral" territory. If and when the time comes, the group will move there. for now, we can enjoy the nice hosting of the nice folks at MS, with room for 60+ people and free food :)
I'll update you all more when I have mailing list ready and add stuff to the site.
In the meantime, if you'd like to present a topic at the upcoming user group meeting, feel free to contact me at Roy at TeamAgile.com and tell me about it. The idea is to have a larger number small sessions (0.5-1 hours) in each meeting, so that we can cover a broader range of topics.