From The Inside May/June 2011

User Group Members Wanted!

Are you looking to meet up with MultiValue Professionals in your area? Well, so is everyone else in your area. I talked with several people that wanted to start User Groups again, but they didn't know who else would be interested.

For those who have been in the market for a few years, remember the user group meetings that had 30 or more people attending? Then over time, the meetings seemed to get smaller and smaller, until people stopped planning the new meetings.

Ok, so you are saying that is proof that the user groups are dead? I disagree. Many of the people who attended the meetings in the past, would be interested in attending again now. They are just waiting for someone to tell them when and where the meetings are.

There are two road blocks many people find to starting or restarting a user group meeting: location and time. Some might say attendance, but in reality, that is just an issue with the location and/or time.

Let's start with the location issue. Many of us work in buildings or for companies that have conference rooms that can hold 10 to 20 people easily. Check with your boss to see if you can use the conference room for one evening. This allows you to set a location to start with. If you get a large turn out, you can always talk it over with the people that attend to see if they want to do it at another location that you may have to pay for.

I've talk with a lot of people over the last couple years that would love to be part of a User group again, and they would be willing to contribute $10 to $20 to pay for a room and/or food.

Now for the time question. Set and plan your meeting one or two months in advance so people have time to schedule. You'll also find that if you schedule two or three meetings over the next six months, you'll get different people each time. Some people can't make it for the first meeting, but will able to make the second one, or the third, if they know when it will be. We all live busy lives, so don't expect a major turnout every meeting.

You don't have to have a meeting every month, but you should always have the next two meetings marked on the calendar.

Once you have decided when and where, advertise it to the community. How you ask? Well, send me an e-mail, and I'll included it in the eXtra newsletter and post it in the social media outlets so that others know.

Now, the question of topic? That is the easier part. Talk about why your company uses MultiValue, or how your company implements a particular product or type of hardware, or what your company does on a day-to-day basis. It does not have to be anything extravagant. Talk about how you just upgraded your system, installed new hardware, or hired a new employee. You can even talk about what your company does and how MultiValue technologies have made it successful.

The trick to the user group is keeping it going. It really isn't very hard, and it only takes about one hour a month (outside of the meeting of course). If you need additional help, just ask. International Spectrum is here to help the community.

Featured:

May/Jun 2011