Tips for running a User Group

Here is a compilation of websites and articles that focus on maintaining a user group

Links

How to make a 'zine
Zines (pronounced zeens), are self-published, non-commercial publications done by a variety of individuals for many reasons. They come in a large variety of sizes, shapes, and persuasions, and are often photo-copied. A zine can be a magazine, newsletter, newspaper, book, portfolio of artwork, a broadsheet, or an electronic document.
The Non-Profit Resource Center
The Institute for Global Communications presents the NPO Resource Center
Non-Profit Resources
This site is a project started in September 1994 to catalog Internet sites that may benefit nonprofits and those interested in a wide variety of issues
Articles
Tips to keep members
Newsletter Mailing Tips
Tips for making your Meeting's Minutes work for you
Content Checklist for Your Newsletter
User Group Management
The Vice Presidency: Making it Matter to Your User Group
Keeping members

Tips to keep members

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Newsletter Mailing Tips

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Tips for making your Meeting's Minutes work for you

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Content Checklist for Your Newsletter

Studies show that your monthly newsletter is the membership benefit that is most appreciated by your members. But does your newsletter keep your members informed of the benefits they receive? Is there information about your group and it's leaders? Would the reader of your newsletter know how to become a member, how to advertise, or where to find your meeting? Here's a checklist you can go through to make sure you've considered everything to make your newsletter the best it can be:

Every Month

Article Sources

Artwork to Consider

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User Group Management

by James Mann

When was the last time you asked a member you hadn't seen for a while "what's bugging you?" When was the last time your Board or officers sat down and looked at the group's resources and asked "so what?" Asking these questions, and taking the time to re-evaluate your User Group's "image" may make all the difference in whether your group survives in the midst of an ever-changing environment, or withers away.

The following article on "User Group Positioning" is based upon lectures for my adult education class on starting your own business, and a recent Sunday night chat in the America OnLine User Group Forum.

Marketing experts use many names for the concept of "positioning," some call it strategic marketing, or Target Marketing, or the now-popular Guerrilla Marketing. I call it "What's Bugging You Marketing." The idea is to match your services to the needs of your customersin this case your members and potential members.

Here's an example of how this works: Many years ago, when faced with declining sales of its oven cleaner, an executive at Dow Chemical ordered a chemist to "find a way to make oven cleaner smell better." The chemist tried pine scent and orange scent and any number of different scents. But, each time he brought the product home his wife rejected it. Finally in desperation he asked: "What's bugging you?" She replied: I don't buy oven cleaner because I hate to clean the oven!" He ended up inventing the self-cleaning oven.

It's the same in User Groups. We decide no one comes to our meetings because the newsletter is too small, or because we don't have a Web page, or membership is dropping because we don't give away all that free software any more. We put our heads down and set off to create a full-color newsletter, or WWW page, or what not, and never stop to ask our members: "What's Bugging You?" The answers may be surprising. User Groups, or businesses, fail or stop growing for a number of reasons. One very important reason is that they lose track, or never knew, who they really are. In Apple-Dayton, for example, we had trouble adjusting to not being a 5,000-member Apple II group. We just didn't know how to be a 250-member Mac/ Apple II group until we took some time to "re-invent" ourselves.

Why Groups Fail

Why User Groups Succeed

User Groups will succeed in today's changing environment because they: Find a niche; Are creative; Plan for growth and success; Capitalize on change.
Here's where you start. Get your Board together, find a quiet place, and ask yourself these questions:

Where are we?

There are two parts to this question: First: Where are you physically located? We often forget that User Groups can be in offices, or schools, or factories. Second: Where are your members located? Look at your membership list and check out the Zip Codes...it might tell you where your next member lives! Some User Groups are not, or don't have to be, tied to a place. They can be on-line groups, BBS groups, or e-mail groups. The point is: As you focus on who you are, where your members are becomes important in attracting members, scheduling meetings, choosing facilities, etc.

What do we see?

Gallagher, the comic, asks: "What would the world be like if we looked at it with NEW EYES?" Think about it. The last exercise is to review everything you've done to date...your assets and liabilities and ask: So what! That's right. SO WHAT! And keep asking until the answer can be phrased as a USER BENEFIT! For example: We have a club store. SO WHAT? We have a shareware library. SO WHAT? We have thousands of Apple II and IIgs titles. SO WHAT? "We offer Apple II users the most extensive collection of Apple II shareware in the Mid-West!" NOW, THAT'S A BENEFIT! The outcome of your planning exercise should be a positioning statement that will serve as a focus for all your marketing and planning efforts.

Jim Mann is serving his fifth term as President of Apple-Dayton, Inc and is the America OnLine User Group Forum Leader. In real life, he's Director of Technology Resources at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

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The Vice Presidency: Making it Matter to Your User Group

by Raines Cohen

At the National level, the position has come to be seen as a joke. But in a User Group, the right person in this spot can really make a difference in what you get done. If you can group together the right tasks for the job, you can make the Vice Presidency of your User Group a sought-after role in the organization.

For many User Groups, filling the job of V.P. is an afterthought, kind of like "Oh, yeah, we've got a president, what if he [or she] dies?" Or, the runner-up in a contested election for President gets the job as a booby prize. Or it is the assignment you give to the leftover director or officer after other positions are filled.

But in some groups, the V.P. is really the one that gets all the behind-the-scenes work done, while the President leads board meetings, represents the group to the public, and does the Presidential sort of stuff. The V.P. does the mailings, books speakers, handles logistics, lugs the equipment to meeting sites, resolves conflicts, processes memberships, and the like. In some cases, the V.P. has the opportunity to move on the next year to become President, but this isn't always so, especially when electoral politics and personalities get involved, or if the President stays in the position.

This arrangement can actually work quite well. A couple of years ago I served as "vice-chair" of a non-computer nonprofit in this role: The East Bay Bicycle Coalition, in Oakland, California. The Chairman made sure the officers were coordinating, led meetings, and handled vendor relations. I had to create meeting agendas, mail postcards with meeting notices, provided space for the club's library (a 4-drawer filing cabinet and a few boxes) and do a few other similar tasks. While I didn't have the knowledge, confidence, popularity, connections or time to serve as President, I was able to free up the President's time by doing the above-mentioned duties, and I got a nifty title, access to the library, and a chance to really make a difference. I learned a lot in the process, but declined to seek re-election the following year.

Depending on the size of your User Group and the number of officers and directors you have, the V.P. can play a very important role in keeping everybody coordinated between meetings. Even if you have online communication (via a club BBS or the internet) between everybody involved in the group, somebody in the role of moderator can keep the discussion focussed and moving forward, not sidetracked on issues like what color paper to print the newsletter on. A few phone calls can provide a reality check, nudge idle officers back into action, or rapidly spread an alert about an important issue.

So as your next elections roll around, or a vacancy opens up, don't treat the V.P. as a solely ceremonial position, or one your User Group doesn't need to fill. Get people excited about the opportunities and potential linked to the position, both for the individual and for the group.

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Tips on keeping members

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