Re: User groups in decline?

Charles,

I noted this same problem over seven years ago at our own LUG.  My former 
boss used to make me go to represent our consulting company.  The food 
sucked, the presentations rarely did any better, and what consulting was I 
going to provide to a group of other consultants, vendors, and poor companies 
that thought the meal was fantastic when I couldn't even hand out my business 
card?  Never won the argument, but it was a point well taken in _your_ 
argument.

I've seen the trend, and quite some time ago at that.  Your stated attendance 
rate based upon membership, except for the last one, was actually much better 
than typical.  Consultants and vendors will always show up as long as people 
like my old boss run the business.  To get more users to respond, I'd suggest 
the following:

1.  Have decent food and an enjoyable venue.  Don't skimp in order to reduce 
fees, _REAL_ users _WANT_ to eat out at a good restaurant and are willing to 
pay for it.  Consultants and vendors eat out all the time and could care 
less.  One of the downfalls of _our_ LUG before it changed was that we met at 
the same venue all the time.  The introduction of a chicken choice over prime 
rib was a _MAJOR_ event.

2.  Have interesting and engaging speakers.  Vendor presentation after vendor 
presentation grows tiresome quite quickly.  Many industry icons will appear 
for very little money.

3.  NOTIFY the local midrange community of your meetings.  Get your local IBM 
or software vendor involved.  No new system or package should be sold without 
the user knowing about your LUG.

4.  Remain proactive.  A LUG is a living thing that requires nourishment and 
adaptation to changing needs.

Don (in DC) Rima is a _HUGE_ proponent of LUG's.  Write to him for advice 
better than mine at dr2@cssas400.com.

HTH,

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
E-mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please
everybody." -- Bill Cosby

In a message dated 10/4/00 4:10:47 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
cbarnard@nicoletbiomedical.com writes:

> <slightly off topic>
>  I've recently become aware through discussion within the Wisconsin BPCS
>  Users Group and the Minnesota Midrange Users Group that there seems to be a
>  radical decline in attendance to UG functions in general, and I am VERY
>  interested in trying to reverse this trend.
>  
>  Now, part of the problem (in the WBUG, anyway) seems to be that very few
>  USERS are actually involved in the group, the majority of the attendees at
>  meetings seem to be a) Vendor reps, b) consulting company reps, c) MIS 
types
>  from companies running BPCS. Actual users seem to be an extinct species.
<<snip>>
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