Start Up!
Guide to Starting and Maintaining
a Computer User Group
Appendix
8. Appendix
Starting a Paradox User Group
May 1992 Borland Database Conference
Gail Meisner and Maryhelen Harrison, Rhode Island Paradox Users
Forum
Why Start a User Group?
The precursor of the current Rhode Island chapter of the Paradox
Users Forum of New England (PUF–ONE) consisted of the
two of us providing tech support for each other. Somewhere along
the line it occurred to us that there must be others like us out
there looking for interaction with other Paradox users. Corporate
users are looking to hone their skills, and independent developers
would certainly appreciate the contact. The time savings from
shared techniques, the ideas from brainstorming, and the benefits
of a fresh approach were all incentives to start a formal group.
The other need that our group fulfills is to give real-world evaluations
of the many Paradox add-in products, publications, and programs.
These evaluations can take the form of formal presentations by
the organizations or user group member reviews. Member group reviews,
in conjunction with formal presentations, can offer a good, honest
evaluation of a product. The vendor presentations tend to be more
comprehensive, doing a better job of showing off capabilities.
On the other hand, the member presentations provide a non-biased
evaluation.
How We Went About It
Our first step in determining how to work our meetings was to
visit existing user group meetings. We were already attending
meetings of the Boston Paradox Users Forum and we went to local
meetings of the Aquidneck Island PC User Group and the Providence
chapter of the Boston Computer Society’s PC User Group. We
also visited the New York SIG for more insight into running a
Paradox-specific group.
The Boston group was extremely helpful in getting us off the ground.
We have maintained a loose affiliation; they are now Paradox Users
Forum of New England (PUF–ONE), Boston chapter, and we are
PUF–ONE, Rhode Island chapter. Our primary incentive for
maintaining the affiliation was to take advantage of resources
available from the Boston Computer Society. The BCS produces a
monthly newsletter that we use to publicize out meetings. About
half our members are members of BCS.
After deciding on a preliminary format, we needed to find attendees.
Borland’s User Group Relations department shared their highly
treasured mailing list of users in our area, with the stipulation
that we use the list just once. We used the list for our initial
mailing, in which we introduced the group and announced the meeting
topics for the next few months.
Our active mailing list is now essentially a subset of the original
list we received from Borland, with a few new names. Since we
don’t charge dues, we have to balance the benefits of extensive
mailings with our out-of-pocket costs. We sent one follow-up mailing
in February, and plan another one soon. Other less costly vehicles
for publicizing meetings include local papers. We’ve also
listed our group in the user group listing section of the Paradox
Informant and Data Based Advisor. Another recent idea
has been to establish a phone tree for active members.
How We Selected a Meeting Place
We looked into a number of sites for our meetings, including state
colleges and universities, a chamber of commerce, a public library,
and corporate sites. Ultimately, our decision was based on long-term
availability, location, parking, and the setup of the meeting
room. We also looked for no-cost locations.
Our meetings have been held in two spots. The first was in an
auditorium/meeting room of a technical college. They were interested
in having us meet there as a goodwill gesture to the Rhode Island
business community. It was centrally located, had easy access
from the highway, and could seat anywhere from 30 to 60 people,
depending on the room setup.
A few months into our meetings, one of our corporate members offered
his company’s training facility to the group. There was also
some discussion of corporate backing for the group. We switched
to the new facility, which offered the same central location,
easy access, and additionally had 20 or so PCs networked in the
room for either hands-on or close-up demonstrations.
How We Found Speakers
We have a list of vendors, gleaned from advertisers and authors
in the Paradox Informant and other Paradox publications,
that we use as a source of potential presenters. They also serve
as a source of potential products for our member presentations.
Borland, both corporate and regional, continues to be a source
of potential speakers. A Borland systems engineer spoke at our
first meeting. The regional office has offered their support,
and although we have not called on them yet, we keep them in mind
as potential pinch-hit speakers. We are available ourselves as
presenters for an occasional meeting. For example, we had a last-minute
cancellation in May so we got a quick copy of Command Center and
did an impromptu demo.
We try to make the point to our presenters that we are not looking
for a straight sales pitch or product feature demo. Instead, we’d
like our users to learn something about their Paradox area of
expertise. Bill Todd, for example, talked about what Paradox does
on start-up—the order of events when a Paradox session is
initiated. Jim Kocis talked about Paradox objects and what can
safely (and not safely) be done with them. Debbie Argillo and
Cliff Gerald, developers of Val Check Plus, talked about Paradox’s
mechanisms for validity checking, as well as its limitations (rectified
by their product, of course).
Our meeting topics, in order of appearance, have been:
- Jim Applebaum, Borland, gave us a sneak-peek of
Paradox for Windows.
- Bill Todd, Kallista, talked about Paradox on start-up.
- Debbie Argillo and Cliff Gerald, CD Associates,
presented validity checking.
- User group members demoed various Paradox add-on
products.
- David Kahn, D. Lawton & Associates, spoke on
application development.
- Jim Kocis, PBE/The Burgiss Group, presented Paradox
objects.
- Gail Meisner gave a command performance of Command
Center.
Scheduled speakers include George Mares of Infogence Corporation
and Bob Gold of PXP Development. We will also have a Borland representative
come back when the new Paradox products ship.
How We Run Meetings
We are still fine-tuning our meeting format. Ideally, we start
with an open question-and-answer session, where users bring their
specific problems. The formal meeting comes next, in which we
open with announcements of job openings, conferences, and new
publications and products. We also make literature available to
users on third-party products, meetings, and seminars.
Next comes the formal presentation, lasting approximately an hour,
with a question-and-answer session with the presenter following.
Somewhere, either immediately before of after the presentation,
we raffle software—either a Borland product or a product
developed by the presenter.
Each month, one user group member gets assigned refreshment duty.
Following the meeting, we write up a summary of the presentation
for publication in the Boston Computer Society’s newsletter,
The PC Report.
The one segment of the meeting that we are putting extra effort
into is the initial random question-and-answer session. This is
an area that many users have asked for. We have a great facility
that allows users to bring in their own disk(s) to share their
sample code or specific problem with others. One problem that
we’ve encountered is that many people want to attend this
type of session, but few are ready to bring in their specific
questions. In an attempt to break the ice, we’re planning
on offering a mini-session on a specific aspect of either interactive
Paradox or PAL,™ in hopes that it will act as a spring-board
into more interactive question-and-answer sessions.
Who's in the Group
Since we do not charge membership dues, our active member list
is relatively loosely defined, although we can see a core of regular
members emerging. Members are relatively evenly split between
corporate users, independent contractors, and small business users.
Some larger companies are well represented, including Metropolitan
Life and Westinghouse. We also have some members from the academic
world, giving us a great diversity of members.
Active members are those who are likely to get called on to do
presentations, supply mini-session topics for question-and-answer
sessions, or provide refreshments.
How to Keep Interest
Obviously, the best way to maintain interest is to provide quality
presentations with information that our users need. We have a
long list of potential speakers and it’s our job to select
the ones that can give us lively, relevant presentations.
Product giveaways are also an exciting part of our meetings. Although
members aren’t likely to show up at meetings for the sole
purpose of winning the raffle, it does provide some excitement
and an added perk for our members.
The evolution of Paradox by itself will serve to keep people interested.
As new Paradox products are announced and delivered, members are
going to want to see them. They are going to want evaluations
and discussions on the merits of upgrading and switching platforms.
Our approach has been to attempt to involve our members as much
as possible to make this a grass roots effort. Not only does this
shift some of the burden, but it gives the members a sense of
involvement, which we think can only strengthen the group.
User Group Demographic Study
Prepared by Arthur Saltzman, Ph.D., California State University,
San Bernardino, California
PC user group members exert considerable clout in the purchasing
of computer hardware and software. This was substantiated by surveys
of the members of 12 APCUG-member user groups which were conducted
in 1991 and 1992.
The data indicate that three out of every four members recommend,
specify, or approve computer purchases at their place of business
and they influence an average of $89,830 worth of PC-related expenditures
each year. At least one fourth of the members hold high-ranking
positions in the corporate world; they are chairmen, presidents,
or owners of the companies where they work.
Following is a summary of some of the major findings which are
based on over 2,800 completed disk-based interviews.
The survey was undertaken to provide information about PC user
group members’ demographics, influence on PC purchases, and
details on their use of personal computers.
Disks were mailed to a random sampling of each group’s members
in the summer of 1991 and the winter of 1992. The overall response
rate was over 60%.
The six groups surveyed in the summer of 1991 were:
- Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC) PC User
Group, Appleton, Wisconsin
- Phoenix PC User Group, Phoenix, Arizona
- Picture City PC Programming Club (PC)3, Rochester,
New York
- Pinellas IBM-PC User Group, St. Petersburg,
Florida
- Sacramento PC User Group, Sacramento, California
- Vancouver PC User Society, Vancouver, British
Columbia, Canada
The groups surveyed in the winter of 1992 were:
- New York Personal Computer, New York, New York
- North Texas PC User Group, Dallas, Texas
- New Orleans Personal Computer Club, New Orleans, Louisiana
- Central Kentucky Computer Society, Lexington, Kentucky
- Colorado Springs PC User Group, Colorado Springs, Colorado
- Tacoma PC User Group, Tacoma, Washington
Key Findings
(Based on 2,825 respondents from 12 user groups)
|
Topic |
Response |
|
Age |
48.3 years (mean) |
|
Annual household income |
$63,181 (mean) |
|
Gender |
87.1% male
12.9% female |
|
Education |
69.4% college degree |
|
Employment status |
81.7% employed or self-employed
14.5% retired |
|
Employed in which industry |
78.1% non-computer related
21.9% computer related |
|
Position in company |
28.3% chairman, president, or owner
33.7% professional staff |
|
Weekly use of PC |
26.6 hours (mean) |
|
Number of PCs owned |
2.0 (mean) |
|
Price of home PC |
$4,789 (mean) |
|
Price of work PC |
$6,834 (mean) |
|
Typical PC configuration |
1 to 4 megabytes of RAM
40+ megabyte hard disk
VGA monitor
2400 baud modem
DOS without Windows |
|
Recommend/specify/approve work PC purchases |
76.4% yes |
|
Amount of expenditures recommend/specify/approve |
$89,830 per year (mean) |
|
Software competence |
(Top five) |
|
word processing |
96.2% knowledgeable or better |
|
utility programs |
88.8% knowledgeable or better |
|
spreadsheet programs |
84.8% knowledgeable or better |
|
communication programs |
83.6% knowledgeable or better |
|
database programs |
80.0% knowledgeable or better |
|
Usefulness of information sources |
Computer magazine articles and reviews
Friends and colleagues
User groups |
|
Shareware programs ever tried |
8.9 (mean) |
|
Shareware programs currently using |
3.8 (mean) |
|
Shareware programs registered |
2.5 (mean) |
|
Reasons why registered shareware |
(Top two)
Liked the product
To Support shareware concept |
|
Attended last general user group meeting |
34.3% yes
65.7% no |
|
Aspect of user group liked most |
Monthly newsletter |
How to Treat an Industry Vendor
By Rollie Cole and Larry Shaw, Pacific Northwest PC User Group,
Seattle, Washington
1. Be Appreciative
The best commercial transactions are those in which both sides
gain. Vendors have an interest in good relations with user groups
and users. A vendor’s willingness to address you is not totally
out of the goodness of its heart. At the same time, your group
has asked the vendor, or agreed to let it address you, because
you and your group expect to gain. Recognize the value you get
and work with the vendor to maximize it. Even if all you want
is someone to listen to your frustration, you can at least appreciate
the vendor representative who appears as your target. Of course,
we who believe the “don’t get mad, get even” rule
will want to determine the approach most likely to lead to change.
2. Be Courteous
As frustrated as you may be, “Have you stopped beating your
kids?” style questions do not always lead to the best responses
(i.e., those most likely to inform or lead to change). At minimum
ask “What good reason do you have for still beating your
kids?” Questions that imply the speaker or his or her company
is stupid, insensitive, venal, or all three usually get negative
responses. They often disrupt the program and reduce the benefit
to the user group. Our group has had our best luck with the questions
of the “Why did you do this or that?” style.
3. Be Helpful
Those speakers who have addressed user groups (and survived!)
know and follow rules such as we have set out above. However,
even speakers otherwise experienced may be new to user groups.
Have your program chair explain such things when arranging the
speech. You could even give them a copy of this article. The speaker
can then design the right appropriate talk for your group. You
should also tell them what you can about the location, the backgrounds
of your members, and other basic information.
4. Be Cooperative
Your speaker may have traveled a good distance at company expense
to be with you. He or she may not have local support and staff.
If you can help them make arrangements for equipment, accommodations,
or the like, do so. If you must adjust the normal schedule of
your meeting to accommodate travel plans, do so.
5. Be a Good Host
Make a personal effort to make your speaker comfortable. If possible,
meet with the speaker before the meeting. You may, for instance,
offer to meet with them over dinner. Bring along some of your
user group officers or related SIG leaders to build rapport before
the meeting.
6. Be Attentive
There is nothing so disruptive as a second or third conversation
going on during a presentation. If you aren’t paying attention
to the speaker, at least sit quietly or leave.
7. Stick to the Subject
Ask questions that apply to subjects under discussion during a
formal presentation. By keeping to the subject, the speaker will
be able to cover his material more efficiently. That will allow
more time for tangential questions or other topics at the end
of the appearance. Leading the conversation off on a side track
robs everyone of a chance to learn.
8. Be There
Do all you can to provide a good crowd for the speaker. A company
representative visiting a user group is doing so to meet with
users. The more users there are, the happier the vendor will be
and the more likely to repeat the experience with other users.
9. Avoid Greed
Most vendors are happy to provide product or other items for door
prizes or giveaway at your meetings. Many will provide review
copies in advance so you can have an article in your newsletter
before the meeting. But the decision should be theirs. Don’t
demand that the vendor provide copies of their product as a price
of admission to your group. The role of the user group is to provide
a platform for communication, not to provide a platform for free
distribution of software, unless the vendor chooses to do so voluntarily.
Excerpts from "Guidelines for Writing Software Reviews"
By Paul Demmitt, Central Maryland Microcomputer User Group
(CMMUG), Columbia, Maryland
Congratulations! You are the lucky winner of free review
software from the Central Maryland Microcomputer User Group (CMMUG).
In exchange for winning this software, you have the unenviable
task of writing a review for our newsletter. To help make this
as easy as possible, we are providing a set of guidelines for
you to use in writing the review.
The Fine Print
As you may have noticed, the newsletter has gotten bigger, better,
and more informative. This is due in no small part to our review
policy, and all of you who write for us. While most of you honor
them, there are some who are not playing by the same rules as
the rest of us. We are serious about getting reviews; the software
that you won belongs to CMMUG until you do the review. We ask
that you sign a statement that you understand and agree to this.
We have removed the registration card, which will be turned over
to you when you complete the review. If after three months the
review is not completed, we will call you about it, not necessarily
to ask for it back but to check on the status of the review. We
do, however, reserve the right to request it back at that time.
Also remember that the sooner you get your review in, the sooner
you are eligible to win again.
The newsletter editor and membership chairperson will be keeping
track of who wins what and when reviews are due. You are not eligible
to win anything if you’ve won within the past three months,
or until you give your review to the editor or upload it to the
bulletin board. If you turn in a review two months after winning
a package, you are then eligible to win again.
Please submit reviews on disk or upload them to the bulletin board,
preferably in WordPerfect format or simple ASCII text. Other formats
can be translated. Please don’t do any formatting if you
can help it. Obviously, you may want to italicize or make a word
bold for emphasis, but keep it simple. If you can spell-check
and grammar-check it, that will speed things up. At the top of
the file, please include a line letting the editors know what
the margins are; give them a printed version if possible.
If after submitting the review, if you decide that you don’t
want the software, I ask that you please return it to us and I
will use it for the benefit of the club. Also, please, no dealers.
Software, books, or hardware that we give away is not to be resold.
Association of PC User Groups (APCUG)
Visit the APCUG's web site at www.apcug.org.
The APCUG is an organization dedicated to fostering communications
among and between personal computer user groups and assisting
groups in the fulfillment of their educational missions and activities.
As such, it operates as an information network between existing
user group organizations and is structured as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit,
educational corporation.
The APCUG is not a user group. The APCUG membership consists of
user groups, not individual members. While APCUG facilitates information
to the user groups and provides information about possible services,
it is up to the individual user groups to offer the services to
their respective memberships. APCUG membership is open to all
microcomputer user groups. At present, some of the members of
APCUG are computer societies that serve many different computers;
a large number of members are, however, IBM–PC and compatible
user groups.
The genesis of APCUG came from a series of meetings between representatives
from various user groups around the country. Whenever user group
officers and directors met, there were continual discussions about
the need to improve communications between the groups and to share
information such as newsletters, strategies, ideas, etc. As a
first step, the presidents from three user groups—Boston
Computer Society, Capital PC User Group, and Houston Area League
of PC Users—organized the First Annual User Group Summit
Meeting at the 1986 Fall COMDEX.
As a result of the feedback from that first Summit meeting and
subsequent meetings among user group representatives, the leaders
of 15 user groups met in Seattle in October, 1987, and proposed
the formation of an association for the purpose of fostering communication
among and between user groups. That proposal was presented before
130 representatives from 50 user groups at the Second Annual User
Group Summit Meeting in November, 1987, and was unanimously approved.
The primary governing body of APCUG is a nine-person Board of
Directors. Each Director is elected for a three-year term, with
one-third of the Board elected each year. The Board of Directors
is responsible for the implementation of APCUG activities and
daily management of the organization.
A 15-person Board of User Group Advisors, each of whom is elected
for a two-year, staggered term (one-half of the Advisory Board
is elected each year), is responsible for proposing new activities
or directions for APCUG and for advising the Board of Directors
on user group concerns. All of the members of the Board of User
Group Advisors are active participants in APCUG-member user groups.
In addition, each Member User Group designates a person to act
as a representative to APCUG. The APCUG user group representatives
are responsible for electing both the Board of User Group Advisors
and the Board of Directors and for recommending activities and
directions for APCUG. APCUG has established and maintains a National
Registry of PC User Groups and provides this information to participating
groups, publications, and vendors. By making this information
available, more groups will be able to take advantage of services
provided by manufacturers, publishers, and publications.
APCUG encourages hardware manufacturers and software publishers
to establish formal user group support programs and provides them
listings of APCUG member user groups to facilitate the implementation
of such programs.
The APCUG has established an electronic bulletin board system
(BBS) where user group officers can exchange information, newsletter
editors can electronically exchange publications, and vendors
can provide information for dissemination to user groups. The
APCUG GLOBALNET BBS is a worldwide network allowing each APCUG-member
user group access through a local number.
APCUG has also planned and coordinated user group activities at
major computer shows and expositions. At Fall COMDEX in Las Vegas,
for example, the APCUG arranges daily breakfast, lunch, and evening
receptions for user group officers with software publishers and
hardware manufacturers. In addition, roundtables and training
sessions are held for user group officers during the preceding
weekend.
The APCUG serves as a clearinghouse for user group resources and
vendor programs. It can identify what kinds of publications are
available within each user group and publish a resource guide
to enable user groups to communicate with other groups to obtain
copies of available information. In this way, each user group
will not have to re-invent the wheel when it comes to creating
something like a new-member pamphlet or novice-user diskette.
Similarly, the APCUG surveys vendors to ascertain what types of
support services they offer to user groups. The APCUG compiles
this information and publishes a directory for user groups that
summarizes the various programs and identifies the contact person
within each company. User groups can then contact the companies
directly to enroll their groups in the programs.
APCUG does not take stands or lobby on issues. It is more appropriate
for individual user groups—not an umbrella organization—to
take positions on issues. As an information clearinghouse, the
APCUG can, however, facilitate the exchange of communications
on issues and help put groups in contact with one another. For
example, if Group A has drafted a position statement and wants
other groups to support it, the position statement can be communicated
through APCUG, and any interested groups can contact Group A to
lend their support; Group A may also use the APCUG mailing list
to notify other groups of its position and request their support.
Furthermore, since the policy in most user groups is that only
the Board of Directors can establish policy, it would be inappropriate
and harmful for the APCUG to take positions on behalf of its member
organizations. If it is to be successful, it is essential that
APCUG not interfere or encroach upon the inherent responsibilities
of its user group members.
Like many user groups, the APCUG is an all-volunteer, nonprofit
organization. The APCUG does not maintain its own physical offices
but, instead, shares office space and secretarial services that
have been donated by the Software Publishers Association. The
APCUG does not currently employ paid staff of its own, and all
Director and officer positions are non-paid volunteers. Thus far,
many people have stepped forward from individual user groups and
volunteered their services to APCUG. We expect this spirit to
continue. Also, all expenses incurred (except some postage and
copying) by the Board of Directors and Officers have been underwritten
by their user groups, employers, or vendors.
Since APCUG functions as a clearinghouse for information, it is
expected that its budget requirements will be relatively small.
Thus far, operating costs have been less than $10,000 during the
first six years (all of which was for postage, copying charges,
and supplies). Major expenses, such as the APCUG BBS, are funded
through the contributions of services or financial support by
vendors and publications. Each APCUG-member user group is assessed
an annual membership fee of $25 to defray those operational expenses
that are not otherwise covered.
There are two categories of membership in APCUG: Member User
Group and Associate. Both Member User Group and Associate
members are entitled to all membership rights and privileges;
however, Associate members are non-voting members of APCUG. Member
User Group membership in APCUG is open to all nonprofit, independent
personal computer user groups that have a least 50 individual
members. For purposes of membership, a personal computer user
group is defined as a “formal or informal association of
non-commercial nature whose principal purpose is to help its members
learn about and operate microcomputers (personal computers).”
Furthermore, to be eligible as a Member User Group, a user group
must meet the following qualifications:
- Hold regularly scheduled meetings (weekly, monthly,
or annually).
- Must have a membership application that members
fill out when applying for membership in the user group.
- Must meet either one of the following two conditions:
- Publish a newsletter, in either electronic or
hardcopy format; or
- Maintain an electronic Bulletin Board System (BBS).
Associate membership is available to those groups or associations
that do not qualify as a Member User Group above. An Associate
member enjoys all the privileges and rights of membership but
is not entitled to vote. This category is designed specifically
to accommodate corporate user groups, user groups with less than
50 members, university or other academia-associated groups, and
other related organizations.
For an APCUG membership application contact: APCUG Secretary, 137
Bradley Boulevard, Greenville, SC 29609-5032. Applications are
also available for downloading via GLOBALNET.
You can visit the APCUG's web site at www.apcug.org for more information.
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