"Growing Your User Group" by Kara Sowles of Puppet Labs at OpenWest 2014 in Utah. Speaker notes included - so the slides don't look quite as nice, but you have a better idea of what I was saying! If you prefer viewing a clean version without speaker notes visible, there's one here: http://www.slideshare.net/KaraSowles/pug-preso-open-west-version

1. GrowingYour
User Group
OpenWest 2014
Growing Your User Group - a talk for OpenWest 2014!
Art by me. It’s pretty obvious why I’m working in tech and not art.

2. Hi, I’m Kara Sowles
Community Initiatives Manager
Puppet Labs
Portland, OR
Twitter: @feynudibranch
Email: kara@puppetlabs.com
Hi, I’m Kara Sowles! I work at Puppet Labs in Portland, OR, where among other things, I run the Puppet User Group
Program. I help connect over 40 community-run Puppet User Groups around the world with the right resources to
overcome obstacles. I’m no expert, though, so I look forward to hearing *your* advice in the discussion section at
the end of this talk! My goal is for you to come away with at least a few thoughts for how to reinvigorate your user
group.

3. Where are we
headed?
Agenda! User Groups are formed in the comfortable Hall of User Group Creation, and we *think* we’re going to float up through the clouds to the
perfect user group in the sky or whatever...but instead there’s a treacherous journey through many of the scary places you can see here...From the
Foodless Flatlands (so hungry!) to the Speakerless Swamps. This talk fails to cover the VAST world of user groups, but in the limited time we have,
I’ll blast through some common obstacles, and some common solutions to try.
We all know this difficult journey in some way or other. It starts with...

4. I made a user group!
I MADE A USER GROUP! It’s great.

5. Awesome first meeting!
AWESOME FIRST MEETING! All my friends came, and some other people too! It was so perfect,
we had a great time! :D

6. ELEPHANT GRAVEYARD
And then...
- from The Lion King copyright walt disney pictures -
My group never met again
My cousin is in town
I couldn’t find a presenter except that one friend last time
I don’t want to pay for pizza again. Frankly, I don’t want to eat pizza again, I’ve been eating it all week
(This image copyright Walt Disney Corporation)

7. “The internet is littered with ghost towns where
communities used to be.The people still exist - but
the structure fell apart.”
- I couldn’t find a quote about this so I made one up
To create an in-person community, often you’re also creating an online community where
you gather people to meet in person. The sign of user groups that no longer meet is usually
in abandoned meetup pages, unused forums and google groups....

8. Obstacles
No Speaker
No Venue
No Food
Few Members
No Momentum
So, what went wrong? You might encounter any of these obstacles. Everyone running a user group will run into at least one of
these problems, likely more. It varies - for some groups, it might be easy to find a venue, but hard to find members -- others
might have no speakers, but a huge user base. Some may have all the ingredients, but somehow meetings are just never
planned. It’s ok! These obstacles are normal :) Running user groups consistently - or at all - can be really tough.

9. Obstacles
No Speaker
No Venue
No Food
Few Members
No Momentum
Let’s fix
this!
Ok then, let’s fix this! Brainstorming solutions is what this talk is about, after all.

10. WAIT
oh, wait, hold on

11. First, let’s start at the
beginning...
Because not everyone in the room has necessarily started their group yet, right? I don’t want
to jump into this book mid-chapter. I won’t cover everything, just a few points.

12. Starting a User GroupStarting a User Group
So, you’re planning to start a user group

13. THE BASICS
Date / Starting Time
Venue
Speaker
Way to communicate with members
Let the world know it exists
Maybe food?
You know the basics! Blah, blah, blah. Moving on.

14. RECONNAISSANCE
When do similar groups meet?
Is there already a group about X?
What works well for other local groups?
Make sure you do local reconnaissance! This helps make sure you:
- Don’t make a repeat group, Don’t choose a time/day that conflicts with similar groups or groups w similar audiences
- Familiarize yourself with what other local groups do. Do people travel far to to to a user group? Do they generally start early, at
5, or later at 7 so everyone has time to drive there? Every area has its idiosyncrasies.
- What meetup tools do ppl use in your area? meetup? google groups? Don’t re-learn what other local groups have already
learned. Talk to them. They’ve made mistakes in the past, and you don’t want to make the same ones!

15. Choose an online home for your group
Pick an online home for your group. Meetup.com, google groups, web pages, forums, mailing lists, etc. There are two separate
functions: Communicating when & where & what your events will be; and staying in touch between events.
Consider which method is most used in your specific locale. I use Meetup.com the most often, mostly in the United States and
some in Europe, but in Portland we use a Google Group. Some groups use a Meetup page to post events (easy for anyone to see,
but not good for discussion) and a Google Group to discuss upcoming events (not everyone is interested in the planning).

16. SET EXPECTATIONS
Find a cadence and stick to it.
We’ll come back to this later...
setting expectations is key.
Find a cadence: first thursday, fourth wednesday, etc. You’ve done reconnaissance, so you’ll choose a date that
doesn’t conflict with similar groups.
Setting expectations is KEY - and a big theme in this talk.

17. PURPOSE
What is the porpoise of your group? Do you have a mission statement? Is the vision shared in
a way that others can clearly examine and adopt it?
(GET IT? Porpoise?)

18. Ok, let’s start removing
some obstacles!
Ok, let’s start removing some obstacles!

19. Finding aVenue
Finding a Venue
Again, art by me, drawn awkwardly on my ipad with my finger really late at night. Daytime art is sadly no better. All buildings have angled roofs
because I am from New England.

20. MAKE
A
LIST
Brief description of group’s purpose
Average # of members at each meeting
Date / Time of meetings
A/V requirements
Any other space requirements / needs
Make a list of info about the group BEFORE you start asking for space, and include that info in
the request for hosting space. It saves the person on the other side time, and it helps make
sure you find a space that’s appropriate for your group. It sets expectations.

21. THINK
ABOUT
PERKS
“The hosting company is invited to
announce any open jobs at the beginning of
each meeting.”
“The hosting company is listed as a
sponsor on our meetup page, and at our
yearly event.”
“The hosting library has interesting events
to advertise and bring in more people.”
Think about how a hosting company might benefit from hosting your group.
I don’t mean to be crass. Obviously not every group finds it appropriate to talk about open
jobs, or sponsorships...so tailor this to your group’s proclivities. Ideally, both sides benefit!

22. Ask your company
First choice - you naturally ask your company (if you work at one)

23. Ask your friend’s company
Usually our second instinct - to leverage strong connections.
That’s fine, though - you don’t need good friends all over town in order to find a hosting
company. I don’t have a lot of friends, so let’s move on to new strategies!

24. When thanking those
that said ‘no’, ask them
for recommendations.
When a place turns you down, email thanking them for their consideration, and politely
asking if they might be able to recommend any other companies which might be interested in
hosting.

25. Are there any local
companies that cater to
your attendees’
demographic?
For example, a cleaners’ group might ask to meet at a cleaning supply company. This company is more likely to
say yes. Think about your attendees, and the topic of your user group, and see if you can find a local company
that might be more likely to say yes to a ‘cold call’ request. For example, at Puppet Labs, we would love to host a
configuration management or IT related user group.

26. Ask your user group
Post it to the message board of your user group if there is one, and bring it up as a topic at the end of the next
meeting. Often, someone will say the company they work at can likely host.

27. Local University
or
Local Library
Try a local university, a local library, or a local community club. More on this at the end of the
presentation from audience members.

28. Check where other
user groups are hosted
Look online at other user groups in your area, and see where they are hosted. Reach out to those companies. You
already know they host user groups - maybe they’ll host yours! You up your chances if you actually *attend* a
user group in that office first : )

29. Get flexible
If you’ve tried all these steps and you’re not having success, try to find out what the issue is - why you’re getting
turned down - and be flexible on that point. Did you accidentally choose a date that everyone’s busy? Does your
meeting end at 11pm, and no employee wants to stay that late? Can you alternate between locations until you find
a permanent one? Some companies are more likely to say yes to a one-time event.

30. STILL NO HOST :’(
Ok, I know you’re sad. But we can work with this.

31. Temporary or alternate
locations
When I want a meeting to happen somewhere, but there’s no venue I can use, I’ll plan it in a restaurant, cafe, or bar. This has
some severe downsides: (1) you can’t have a presentation and (2) it’s alienating to some and (3) it’s loud. You need to also watch
that you’re making a comfortable environment a little more closely. Then, during your meeting there, ask the members again if
any of them have connections at companies that might host you instead. You can meet up before you’ve solved this problem,
but keep trying! Some groups *prefer* meeting in environments like this -- that’s fine too. Often, this is a great strategy for a
first meeting.

32. BE A
GOOD
GUEST
Leave the space clean
Turn off the projector
Don’t act entitled to the space
Check back in every month
Thank the host regularly
SET EXPECTATIONS - no surprises!
bringing your own paper plates / cups are usually an important part of leaving the place clean! Check in with the
company every month to thank them and check that the space is reserved for you. This comes back to setting
expectations! Might seem basic - but we all forget things.

33. Finding Speakers
Finding Speakers

34. “What topics would you
like to hear about
next month?”
At the end of each meeting, the group “What topics would you like to hear about next
month?” Write them clearly on the whiteboard.

35. “Does anyone
have experience
with [X topic]?”
Then, ask the group “Does anyone have experience with [the first topic on the list]?” If
someone says yes, ask if they’ll present to the group on it next meeting! Go down the
proposed topic list in this manner.

36. Post the list of
suggested topics to
the group online, and
ask again.
Take the suggested topic list and, after the meeting, post it to the group online. Ask for more
suggestions, and ask if anyone can speak on any of the topics.

37. Ask individual members
what they’re doing.
Still doesn’t work? Talk to individual user group members at the meeting, asking them what
they’ve been doing with the technology, and when they say something neat, ask if they’ll
speak on it at the next meeting. : )

38. Cultivate those who
don’t give talks (yet)
Support people who haven’t talked before. User Groups are a great way for them to practice
talks in front of a smaller group, and build up to conference talks!
Consider holding a lighting talks day - with just 5 minute talks - to encourage people to
speak.

39. At your company:
Look for managers that
want to foster speaking
opportunities for their
teams
When I’m looking for speakers for the Portland Puppet User Group, I have say 50+ people I could approach and
ask to give a talk - but many of the usual engineers who speak at conferences will tell me they’re too busy.
However, I know that the VP of Operations has been trying to foster speaking opportunities for his team members,
so I can ask him what employees on his team might enjoy the opportunity.

40. To companies:
“Would you send
someone to give a talk
on [X topic]?”
Topics are the hard part. If you can find topics, speakers are more convincible.
Email companies that you know are using the technology - see if they’ll send someone!

41. Still no speakers?
Hold a...
Discussion Session
Hack Night
Still no speakers? Many user groups don’t choose to use speakers. They have discussion sessions - often with
pre-arranged topics, to set expectations - or hack nights. These are awesome too!
I should have inserted a slide here about alternate formats that user groups meet with - discussion, fishbowl,
topic tables, hack event, etc.

42. Finding More Members
Finding more members

43. Local Community Sites
In Portland, we use Calagator, where anyone can post tech events and user groups that are
happening. Has anyone made a resource for posting Utah tech user groups and events in one
place? If not - think about building one.

44. Local Conferences
At LinuxFestNW, I ran intp Greater Seattle Linux User Group!
I love the cards they’re handing out - they have all the details one might need, clearly labeled. Plus, it’s an
alluring logo! I couldn’t find a list of the user groups that came together to form OpenWest on the OpenWest site.
Apologies if I missed it. I was surprised not to see local user groups promoted at the conference, especially since
most attendees are local to Utah. Great chance to get new members and speakers!

45. Joint Meetings
Find a similar user group, and
team up for a talk aimed at
both audiences!
For example, DevOps and Puppet or Puppet and OpenStack
Find a similar user group, and ask if they’d like to team up for a meeting! Invite both user
bases for a talk that everyone can enjoy together. Ideally, both groups will grow from it!

46. Keeping Momentum
Meet regularly
Same cadence (“Fourth Thursday”)
At the end of each meeting, talk about
next time
Set expectations for yourself
Co-Organizers
What happens if you leave?
Meet regularly, same cadence, talk about next meeting at end of each, post early about next meeting, set
expectations for yourself (when do you communicate with the group? etc.). Get help if you need it - co-organizers
are great, but have ownership of different aspects and roles. Get help! Train new user group leaders!
Is ownership transferrable - do you think of your group as yours? Could it survive if you moved to a different city?
Ask yourself these questions and find answers you’re comfortable with.

47. Finding $ponsors
*I* can’t afford to buy food for my user group every month. Let’s talk about some ways to
find sponsorship for your user group. This is one of the trickier ones, since it involves cash,
but fortunately it’s not necessary - you can meet without food.

48. The company
that’s hosting you
Your best bet is the company that’s hosting you. Sometimes the host will buy you food -- but sometimes, they
just say it’s ok for you to eat their snacks and drink their drinks. Depending on how exciting their food and drink
pantry can be, this can be amazing, and it’s a boon that deserves a big-thank you! That said, if they say no on you
noming their stuff, be respectful and make sure your user group members don’t partake of something that’s not
theirs.

49. Your Company
Your company! Sometimes a user group organizer’s company will spring for food every month. If you need to
pitch this to your boss, think through the potential benefits of you running the user group. If your department
doesn’t bite, see if there’s another department that might be interested. I work in the Community department, so I
might help sponsor something that another department doesn’t have money allotted for, and I’m doing it because
I want to encourage employees to be participating in the local tech scene.

50. Other Companies
Let’s think about other companies that might sponsor, even though they aren’t hosting you, and you don’t work at
them. Reasons would include wanting to me more visible to an audience they’d like to hire from, wanting to be
more visible to an audience that might use their product, simple philanthropy & good will, or one specific attendee
with a company credit card.

51. Perks
One site-specific example of this is that Meetup.com has a function for this, with Sponsors, and Perks [Note: perks
now discontinued]. O’Reilly frequently sends out both booths, and discount coupons for books.
On Meetup, the Sponsor function also allows a way for groups to show that they’re advertising their sponsor’s
involvement. Having O’Reilly as a sponsor, for example, can also help groups look credible.

52. SWAG
If you’re hosting a user group around a technology, see if the persons creating that
technology will send you some shirts or stickers to hand out to the group!

53. Your Company as a
Support Structure
Your company as a support structure. This is very specific, so I’m not going to talk about it
much. Not many people at a company that supports their user group. But since it’s such a big
part of my experience, I wanted to touch on it.

54. Think Like
Other Departments
Leverage Sales team
Leverage Professional Services team
Leverage Education team
Leverage Marketing team
Leverage Engineering team
Leverage Community team
Think how they interact with the community - touchpoints. Think about their goals. For me, working at a company that makes
the software the user groups are centered around, I talk to nearly every department for support. I try to think about their goals.
Sales - source talks and venues for user groups, because it improves their sales region; Prof Services - they’re always traveling,
so I ask them to do talks; Education - they may add community links to their mailers; Marketing - add community links to their
nurturing email campaigns, or send email to regions; Engineering - local talks; Community - Well, that’s me : )

55. Making your group
inviting:
Setting
Expectations
See, we keep coming back to this! If you want more members, you need to convince those on-the-fence people
to come to your meeting. Setting expectations helps draw people in. One of the key parts of this is to try to think
outside of yourself. You know what the meetup is, and you know you’re comfortable there. This is for others.
This is that feeling before you open a new book. You really have no idea what’s going to be in there. Similarly,
your potential new members have no idea what your meetup is going to be like!

56. Anatomy of a Meeting
Socialize
Introduction
Presentation
Next Meeting topic & talk sourcing
Socialize
Just an example....
Setting expectations. Post an agenda on your page for the meeting (not just the talk title). This helps make new members feel
more comfortable attending; they know what will be happening, and when. Just one example:
6:30-7:00pm Socialize and get to know each other. Free pizza and salads; 7:00-7:15pm Introduction, group notices,
announcements, local job openings; 7:15-8:00pm Presentation on “Using Linux to feed local wildlife” by Gary Gygax;
8:00-8:15pm Choosing topics for next meeting; 8:15-8:45pm Socialize, with free beer, water, and soda provided by Local
Company

57. Clear familiarity level
Are the talks this month for intermediate users?
Is this session accessible for absolute beginners?
Set expectations: Make it clear what level the talks or activities are. Don’t do this to make it exclusive; do it to make people
more comfortable attending. “Absolute beginners welcome”. You can also vary this from meeting to meeting. We’ve had groups
where a wave of new folks would show up every meeting. This didn’t leave the intermediate and advanced users time to talk -
they spent all their time introducing new users to the software. You can handle this AND get more people into the group by
alternating between clear beginner sessions, and clear advanced sessions. Just make it clear what level the talks will be! (ie “This
will be an advanced talk. Beginners are always welcome to attend, but please save your questions for the beginner meeting next
month.”)

58. ACCESSIBILITY
Is it easy to find the venue?
Is there parking nearby? Bike parking? Bus
access?
Is the venue wheelchair accessible?
Who can people email with special
accessibility requests or questions?
Make accessiblity clear in the event description. If there’s a weird trick to getting into the building, list it. Make a
point of mentioning that the venue is wheelchair accessible. This comes back to setting expectations.

59. Have a Code of Conduct
Very simple question: Do you want more people at your meetup? This is one very simple way to get more members interested in
attending, and it (again) helps set expectations in a way that’s clear, and that you can point to. People appreciate knowing
what’s expected of them! I’ve heard of instances where people had bad experiences at certain user groups, just because of a few
individuals’ behavior, stopped going to the meeting - then returned when they heard a code of conduct was implemented.
It’s not a sign of a bad meetup to have a code of conduct - it’s the sign of a good one. If you haven’t had issues (that you’ve
been aware of before) that’s great - and means you should implement a code of conduct now so you’re already prepared.

60. ― Bell Hooks, Teaching Community: A P
“To build community requires vigilant awareness of the
work we must continually do to undermine all the
socialization that leads us to behave in ways that
perpetuate domination.”
― bell hooks
Teaching Community:
A Pedagogy of Hope
We don’t intend to be exclusionary. We’re good, welcoming people. But we unintentionally do things that exclude
people, that are hurtful, that are sexist or racist -- and we need to always work to become aware of those things,
and stop doing them. Goes the same for me as for anyone else - I’ve got a lot of work to do. I look back a few
years at some of the things I said and I’m like “How did I think that was ok?!” Never stop improving.

61. If you’re going to pay
attention to one thing:
pay attention
to your humor
I’m not saying don’t be hilarious, I love humor. I’m saying that in many cases where awesome people I know
unintentionally say hurtful things, it’s in the context of humor, so that’s something I’ve been trying to watch for
myself. Don’t assume that because people are laughing, that they all think it’s funny. This One Weird Trick will
help you make your user group a more welcoming place!

62. Fortunately, you don’t need to write a code of conduct - others have already done that for you! You can check out
the Geek Feminism Wiki or other resources online. http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Geek_Feminism_Wiki
In the discussion after my last talk, a variety of audience members re-enforced that ‘setting expectations’ by
instituting a Code of Conduct has been a very valuable tool for them.

63. Did we
make it?
Ok, so......did we make it? Have we overcome these obstacles?
Let’s hear from the audience. What’s your advice? What are your experiences?

64. Kara Sowles - Puppet Labs
Your advice?
Twitter: @feynudibranch
Email: kara@puppetlabs.com
Discussion!

65. Kara Sowles
Community Initiatives Manager
Puppet Labs
Portland, OR
Twitter: @feynudibranch
Email: kara@puppetlabs.com
Thanks for listening!
You can reach me at kara@puppetlabs.com or follow me on Twitter as @feynudibranch. This is only my second
solo public talk, so thanks for watching, and I’m looking forward to improving it further.