Re: User groups in decline? -- BPCS-L



Charles,

What the Local Users Groups (LUGs) are seeing is a nationwide phenomenon.
It's not improving.  And the reasons are several and sometimes vary
between groups. QUSER that you refer to is about average.  The *BEST*
thing to do to help bolster your LUG is to get active.  I know that QUSER
has a few officer positions open, talk to Jeff Colgrove about what kind of
help he might need... MAYBE with the I400 marketing blitz we're all hoping
for, we'll see interest coming back to the box, provided, as has been
eluded to on other lists, that IBM's intent isn't to migrate all of us to
Netfinity or RS/6000 servers...

Also, ALOT of people don't know there's a LUG in their back yard...ANYONE
interested in knowing of a user group in your area, check the
midrangemagazine.com or as400network.com web pages for user groups...if
you can't find what you're looking for, email me...

Also, since IBM hasn't of late seemed to care about the 400, neither have
users.  It's a direct relation to the way people feel about the product.
Also, keep in mind that people are LEAVING the AS400 because their CEO's,
CIO's, etc., are CLUELESS about the 400..ergo, less user base...  ALOT of
the user group drop I blame on LACK of IBM marketing presence! (see my
"state of the midrange" at www.wash-midrange.org).

Also, with the ubiquity of the internet, what WAS the purpose of a local
user group has evolved...education...and with that people's priorities on
how they handle their time...

There are MAJOR metro areas (Vegas, Pittsburgh....etc...) that don't have
a users group...anyone interested in starting one, let me know...:)

Don Rima
Secretary, Past President, Washington(DC) Area Midrange User's Group
Chairman, COMMON Local User Group Committee


------------


On Wed, 4 Oct 2000, Barnard, Charles wrote:

> <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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