User groups in decline?

["Barnard, Charles" <cbarnard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

<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.

The take I got from the MMUG people is that while they have 150+ corporate
members, only about 30-50 people routinely show for a meeting (the Sept.
meeting I attended had 3, including me - which is probably an anomaly.)  But
these same 150+ companies send people routinely to pay-for seminars @
$500+/head.  And the only way they are getting any attendance increases at
meetings is to bring in high-profile speakers.

Two questions:

1) Anyone else seeing this sort of trend?
2) Anyone got any ideas about how to reverse it?

Charles Barnard
Nicolet Biomedical
608-441-2347

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