Some ideas about User Groups for 2005
I've been thinking about ways to increase the visibility of UG's in 2005 with
the idea that, through increased visibility we will be able to increase
membership numbers. Much of this
comes from my exposure to both the Adelaide and Brisbane UG's. I thought that I'd take this opportunity
to jot down some of my thoughts.
Partnering
I
think that, at a grass roots level, we should look toward "partnering" with
organisations that we gain synergistic benefits from. The industry which springs immediately
to mind is the recruiting industry.
I've spent the past week in discussions with a recruitment firm in
Adelaide - ChoiceIT - about the opportunity for them to foster a more retentive
climate by pushing their clients towards our group. It will show that they are interested in
the skills and knowledge development of their candidates. I also suggested that ChoiceIT could
gain exposure by having a delegate attend the meeting to meet'n'mingle.
This
idea was very well received.
ChoiceIT currently have approximately 50 current dev's on their books -
over half of which are VB and C# users.
It
would be good to also have some cards - like business cards - which outline our
Groups details:
Group
Name:
Adelaide
.NET User Group
Meeting
Location:
...
Meeting
Dates:
every
N Wednesday of the month
Meeting
Format:
pizza
+ drinks : cost x
Group
Contacts
Group
President
...
Website
...
Email
...
We
could leave decks of these cards at various recruitment agencies for them to
hand out to their .NET clients.
More
Options
An
emerging community activity is "Geek Dinners". I think that it would be good to explore
new options such as these in the hope that the variety will help with the
"richness" of community.
My
experience has been that there are 2 types of users which would embrace this
idea:
1)
The member who is already attending meetings but has a yearning for deeper
discussion of topics and ideas.
2)
The non-member who doesn't attend group meetings because either, a) a perception
that nothing interesting happens at UG meetings; b) time is inconvenient.
Member
Numbers
Now,
this might be a bit of a left-field idea but... I think that we could look to
increase the visibility of our successes both between UG's and also internally
at Microsoft. I wonder how UG's
will feel about exposing "member activity data" on a regular basis?
NOTE: this might ultimately get covered by the
MsdnConnection program anyways???
Member
Boards
As
per my previous blog entry about member boards I think that this will be a great
"ice-breaker" feature which will give members some insight into what other
people in the room get up to.