[Usergroups] Outreach Advice

Chris Calloway cbc at unc.edu
Fri Mar 6 21:54:31 UTC 2009


On 3/6/2009 10:45 AM, Darci Hanning wrote:
> Hey User Group leaders and whatnots :)
> 
> My partner in crime (Jon Baldivieso of One/NW) and I are getting ready to relaunch the Portland, OR user group next month (yay, us! ;-)
> 
> Since there a relatively few number of Plonistas in our immediate area, we're exploring ways we might do outreach into other tech-related interest groups. In addition to email and attending other meetings in person, what are some other ways we can stir up interest and keep people coming back each month?
> 
> We will, of course, be taking advantage of Plone World day next month :-)

I kinda watched Portland Plone implode from afar with some dismay 
because it seemed due to ignoring a some user group lessons that it just 
doesn't do to ignore.

1) For people interested in having a user group, you have to take the 
bull by the horns and call the meeting. You don't have meetings by 
posting on your email list, "Hey, who wants to have a meeting this 
month?," and then proceed to have a month-long interminable discussion 
which predictably includes a bunch of "i do's" and "i can't's." Because 
this will invariably be followed by yet another month-long interminable 
discussion which predictably starts off "where should we have it?," 
which then is followed by a couple of suggestions which are then 
followed by many objections about how that's not close enough for me, 
it's not on my bus stop, it starts too early, it starts too late, blah, 
blah, blah. If this brain-dead process ever results in an actual meeting 
happening, it will usually be decided the day before, way too late to 
actually stir up interest and keep people returning.

Unfortunately, about three fourths of all user groups use this model, 
because most people think it's democratic, and it's not. It fact, it is 
specifically anti-democratic. It just hold your group hostage to the 
indecisive and those who don't mind publicly objecting to anything 
anybody else wants to do. I would say ninety percent of *successful* 
user group avoid this model and ninety percent of failed user groups 
embrace this model. The world is full of failed user groups as a result 
of this model.

If you want to have a meeting, then it is *your responsibility* to *call 
the meeting.* You decide where it's going to be. You decide when it's 
going to be. You let everybody else know. Why is this democratic? 
Because *anybody* is free to do this. What if two people do this in the 
same month? Well, wouldn't that be a great problem to have? And what 
would be wrong with two meetings if you've got that many people 
interested in hosting one? There's all this wasted effort in a lot of 
user groups just to avoid what would be a good problem to have. And the 
result of that wasted effort is either no meeting or late notice for a 
meeting.

When TriZPUG had the problem of three people wanting to call/host a 
meeting, those three people, and those three people alone, simply got 
together and decided on a monthly schedule for dividing up the hosting. 
It didn't require a vote or a bunch of debate. After all, it's those 
three people doing the work of calling and hosting the meetings. In a 
free society, they shouldn't have to answer to anyone else for what they 
want to do. So we now have meetings in three cities which rotate each 
month. There are people who go to meetings in all three cities. And 
there are people who only go to meetings in one city. And that's all 
fine. Everybody wins. It all works when you respect that it's the people 
who do things freely who get things done.

This is another great thing about open source. This would never work in 
an organized business. And that's a good reason your user group should 
never be a business. It should just be a gathering of people. 
Incorporated user groups blow. They're one set of people telling another 
set of people what to do, instead of people doing what they want to do.

I've also seen a some cities/areas where there are two, three, and even 
four Python/Zope/Plone user groups because people didn't agree with when 
or where the meeting is. There's nothing specifically wrong with this. 
It's a good problem to have (because it has such a simple solution if 
anyone thinks it's a big problem). And it's a problem that's not worth 
the downside of taking measures to avoid by trying to satisfy everyone 
and no one at the same time.

It's kind of like inviting people to your house for a dinner. If there 
are people who can't make it, that's fine. It's for the people who can 
show up. It would be rude to send out a group invitation to your house 
for dinner and then have individuals say they'd rather you have your 
dinner at Nancy's house, or they'd rather your invitation was for Monday 
instead of Tuesday or for 8pm instead of 6pm. If someone were rude 
enough to do that, you'd likely just say, "I'm sorry you can't make it. 
Maybe next time." Because any other way would just deny a nice dinner to 
all those who are going to come when you do invite them.

What's worse is trying to have a group decision about whether, where, 
and when to have a meeting drives people away from your email list as 
well. Because instead of your email list being about Plone, local Plone 
people, and local Plone projects, it ends up being about meeting 
politics instead. Who has time for that? (People who probably shouldn't 
be coming to your meeting, that's who.)

So, just decide the time and place yourself and let everybody else know.

This is the number one thing that will keep your user group going. 
Because it insures your user group will always have at least one person 
who shows up. :)

2) Don't ask for RSVPs. Your commitment as host is to show up and be 
there for whoever else shows up. Don't clutter you email list with 
RSVPs. Clutter it up with Plone instead. RSVPs make people feel like 
they have to RSVP in order to come. That's a blocker, not a helper. Many 
people won't even have the opportunity to decide to come to your meeting 
until right beforehand. They just have jobs or family situations that 
don't permit them to plan that far in advance for something as optional 
in their lives as a user group meeting.

3) Some people request RSVPs because they have scheduled their meeting 
at a time and or in a place where either the place requires an advanced 
list of attendees for security purposes, or because the building may be 
locked at meeting time or requires some special access requirements that 
would be enhanced by either knowing who is coming or how many are coming.

If that is the case with your meeting time and place, *then you have 
chosen the wrong time and place*.

Only choose to meet in places which are free and open to public meetings 
without security or access hassles.

Are such meeting places hard to find? Well, in many places at least in 
the U.S. where public gatherings are inhibited by lack of public meeting 
spaces, yes. But not as hard as having meetings in a 
convenient-to-schedule but unsuitable-for-hospitality meeting place.

Persevere. Keep looking. Make contacts. Forge alliances.

Good meeting places will be public yet have privately available rooms 
with seating, have a presentation projector and screen, and a publicly 
accessible internet connection. It's a plus if they allow food and/or 
beer to bring in. But you can always go out for food and beer after the 
meeting (and that's usually desirable; the after-meeting is the real 
meeting more often than not).

Good places: libraries meeting rooms, university conference rooms.

Meeting in restaurants is only so-so. Restaurants are businesses which 
need your tables and need you to order. Not everybody wants to come to a 
user group meeting to spend money on food and booze. And many people 
have dietary restrictions. They don't want your pub food, thank you. 
Restaurants are noisy places which don't lend themselves to user group 
presentations. I've tried to make a presentation to a user group which 
meets in a restaurant. I won't try that again.

If you want to have an after-meeting at a restaurant, that's great. If 
you want to have user group socials which meet in a restaurant, that's 
great. My user group does that often, but we also have meetings. I know 
of one user group which only meets for socials at a coffee shop. That 
user group has become a closed clique of consultants type of 
kaffeeklatch comparing clients, jobs, and billing rates. Newcomers feel 
like they are crashing a party.

Meeting at private companies is a no-no. Private companies have 
competitors who might be interested in Plone who would shy away from the 
meeting. Private companies have conflicts of interest which might tempt 
them to try and control what your user group does. You might think it is 
innocent enough. But to other people, even the appearance of it in their 
heads which they would never tell you about is intimidating. Private 
companies usually have secure or locked facilities which are 
inhospitable to drop-in guests. User groups which meet at private 
companies tend to become about the private companies' work or business 
prospects. I know of one Python user group that meets at a company 
headquarters and I can't recall a meeting they've had where the meeting 
topic wasn't about one of the company's Python-based products or a 
Python library used mainly by that company's products.

4) Do not cancel announced meetings for any reason.

Period.

My Father died the day before the January TriZPUG meeting. I got 
somebody else to carry the meeting forward. Canceling was not an option.

Do not cancel your meeting because the scheduled speaker suddenly became 
ill and can't come. The best user group meetings don't even have 
scheduled speakers. I always try to have a scheduled speaker just to say 
the meeting will be about X. But the best meetings have always been 
impromptu group show and tells about what you did with/what you learned 
about Plone in the last month.

Do not cancel your meeting because there was a big snow. I know of 
people who traveled hundreds of miles in the snow to go to a user group 
meeting only to be met with no one at the meeting place because the 
meeting was canceled while they were in transit. They were pissed. I 
don't blame them.

If your meeting location suddenly becomes unavailable right before the 
meeting, do not cancel the meeting. Find a nearby alternate location. 
And *be at the entrance to original location at the appointed time* to 
direct people to the new location. Put signs up at the original location 
pointing to the new location if you have to leave or there is more than 
one entrance. Include your cell phone number on the sign. Do not cancel 
the meeting.

Do not cancel you meeting because it is July and you figure everyone is 
either on vacation or just wants to be outdoors. The world is not that 
homogeneous.

There's no way you can "uncall" a meeting and have the message get to 
everybody who got your invitation to come to a meeting. None. No way. 
Can't be done. Forget about it.

So always, always show up for a meeting you call, and never, ever cancel 
a meeting. It is supremely rude to cancel a meeting. Once you have taken 
responsibility for the group by calling a meeting, it is extremely 
undemocratic to speak for the group by canceling the meeting. See, 
anybody is free to call a meeting. But it only takes one person to 
dictatorially cancel a meeting.

It doesn't matter if you think only one other person is coming to the 
meeting. If you want to "stir up interest and keep people coming back 
each month," then you have to keep being there each month, no matter how 
many people show up besides you. Building a user group is more a matter 
of perseverance and less of mass marketing to as many people as 
possible. Do not cancel a meeting because you think "not enough" people 
are coming. If you invited people, it is no longer up to you to define 
what "not enough" means. For the people who are coming, they are enough.

Meetings are for the people who show up.

You may think only one other person is coming. But when you send out a 
mass invitation, there will be plenty of people who are coming who you 
don't know are coming, and you have no way to be sure those people know 
you have canceled the meeting.

Again, Meetings are for the people who show up.

TriZPUG was the same three people meeting for *two years* in the 
beginning. If they hadn't persevered, I would have had no user group to 
go to. I'm sure glad they weren't concerned about how many people were 
coming to the meeting or who they were.

Maybe I should say it again. Do not cancel meetings.

If you call the meeting, and only the same two people show up every 
month, look at it as an opportunity to meet with two other Plone people 
every month. If this isn't right for you, don't call he meeting.

Be prepared for variability of attendance. If you had twenty people last 
month and only four people this month, it doesn't mean it is time to 
shut down the user group and start canceling meetings. It means only 
four people came this month, better luck next time. Attendance is 
cyclical. And not regularly or predictably cyclical. It goes up. It goes 
down. It goes back up. It goes back down. Perseverance through the down 
times, that's the way to hold interest.

The best way to kill interest and stop people from coming back each 
month is to cancel just one meeting. You can lose a year or more worth 
of effort building interest by canceling just one meeting. You can lose 
the interest of the one person who was going to come that month who 
would be the person who is going to really make your user group take 
off. You'll never know. Except that your user group dies.

5) If you are the person who has decided to take the responsibility to 
call and host the meeting, congratulations.

It would be really good if you would consider doing that every month.

Or find two or three friends who will help you do that on a 
predetermined schedule.

Because a huge thing you can do to stir up interest and keep people 
coming back is to have your meetings at the same time and place every month.

Without fail.

People will just know, the meeting is the third Tuesday of the month.

People will just know, I should go to the library at 7pm on that day.

Every time you make a meeting announcement, you are just reinforcing the 
idea in people's mind, hey, we meet at the library at 7pm on third Tuesdays.

People will start to alter their schedules to accommodate regular meetings.

People who previously objected that the meeting is at the wrong time or 
too far will start to think about what they can do to be there if they 
*really* want to come.

Everybody else will simply find a regular time and place convenient.

You will have an easier time getting presentations working on the 
projector. Because you will have used the projector before and will know 
what you have to do to get it to work with Macs.

You will have an easier time getting people on the network. Because you 
will have gone through whatever hoops you have to jump through to get an 
Ubuntu user on the network.

Everything just becomes easier. Scheduling the room. Having optional 
food and drink. Setting up seats. Everything.

Grasshopper, you will have achieved meeting zen.

6) About meetup.com:

Meetup.com is evil.

Meetup.com is here to stay.

When people Google your city name +Plone, the first thing that comes up 
is meetup.com.

When people Google your city name +any technical topic, the first thing 
that comes up is meetup.com.

Meetup.com is expensive. $144 per year.

If you are the right person to host your meeting, you will dig in your 
pocket, find $144, join meetup.com, and take control of guiding the 
legions of people who think the place to find Plone meeting 
announcements is meetup.com.

You will not make a big deal out of this, lord it over anyone's head, or 
ask for other people to pony up "dues" to make up for your $144. You 
will just find it personally worth $144/year to host a Plone user group.

Meetup.com is evil.

Meetup.com is here to stay.

Suck it up.

7) Be flexible about all of the above. None of the above is original. 
Most of the ideas above came from:

http://www.svbug.com/shotgun_rules.txt

(BAD stands for Bay Area Debian.)

Be flexible. My user group doesn't follow the shotgun rules to the 
letter. We just used what works for us. For instance, we don't meet in 
restaurants. We go to restaurants after the meeting.

But the basic spirit of the shotgun rules is invaluable.

Good luck. Have fun.

-- 
Sincerely,

Chris Calloway
http://www.secoora.org
office: 332 Chapman Hall   phone: (919) 599-3530
mail: Campus Box #3300, UNC-CH, Chapel Hill, NC 27599







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