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Whether you want to start a new group or enhance the quality of your existing user group, the following guides can help. In addition to these guides, be sure to take advantage of all the resources we provide on the Mindshare site, including the product review program, online chats with Microsoft product managers about their product lines, and product demos.
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Start and Build A Successful User Group
Starting a user group requires time, leadership, dedication, and vision. It can be well worth the effort, though, if you are a person who enjoys technology and wants to share what you know with others and get new ideas from users like yourself.
Some of the many reasons people start or join user groups include:
- Building a computing community with people who share a common interest or professional background;
- Identifying and providing affordable tools, training, and resources to individual users within your community;
- Consolidating the voices of individual users to have a more influential voice in the development of products and technologies of the future.
There are many things to think about before you start a group, among them how you will define membership in the group. You might define membership in your group by product interest, geographic area, or professional affiliation, for example.
You also need to think about how you will fund your group. Events, meeting space, and newsletters all come at a cost. One option, of course, is to charge an annual membership fee or to charge a fee for attending monthly meetings. Other possibilities include holding annual fundraisers, selling advertising in your newsletter, or asking for financial support from local computer businesses.
For more information about how to start a user group, visit the Association of Personal Computer User Groups. This organization is dedicated to assisting groups in fulfilling their educational missions and activities. You’ll find some very useful guidelines for getting started, including how to develop a governing body and bylaws for your group, on the APCUG web site at http://www.apcug.net
Once you have started a user group, your next goal should be to keep your momentum. You don’t want to expend energy establishing a group only to let people fall away from lack of activity or poor communication. There are several steps you can take to ensure that your group continues to grow and thrive:
- Offer a free six month trial membership to people through a local computer dealership or an appropriate professional or local publication. This is a great way to build membership when your group is just starting out.
- Be sure to register your group with Mindshare and other user group support programs. By registering with Mindshare, your group has access to exclusive product demos, special deals on software, and chats with product managers. To register your group, visit http://www.microsoft.com/mindshare/UserGroup/RegistrationAddGroupInfo.aspx
- Publish a newsletter. Next to meetings, newsletters are the most popular service of user groups. Always include a calendar of upcoming events for your group in the newsletter, along with product reviews, and tips & tricks for using products. You’re welcome to publish information from the Mindshare news archive or our Tips & Tricks page in your newsletter.
- Plan at least 1-2 meetings a year dedicated to product demonstrations and discussions. These can be extremely helpful to members as demos can help them make purchase decisions and learn more about the software and hardware they already own. To download product demos for one of your user group meetings, visit http://www.microsoft.com/mindshare/demos.aspx
- Develop leadership and a spirit of volunteerism within your group. You can’t do it all, and you won’t always want to do it all. Try to get all members of your group involved in the planning and execution of your group activities, so that you have experienced and committed members willing to take on governance positions within your group as the need arises. One way to ensure a positive experience for all is to plan a volunteer appreciation event once or twice each year.
These are just a few suggestions for starting and sustaining a healthy user group. If you have any questions or suggestions that you think may be of benefit to other groups, please let us know through our contact page.
