This document provides suggestions for user group leaders to engage members and gain new members. Some key suggestions include: put yourself in members' shoes to understand their interests; be predictable by setting a regular event schedule; advertise events widely on social media; offer social and networking opportunities at events; ask current members to invite others; search for potential new members in your area; and provide appealing and relevant content at events. Retaining members involves constant communication through multiple channels, staying relevant with regular engaging content, and utilizing available Bevy tools to their fullest.
1. TUG Member Engagement
Jen Shepherd
Madison TUG
Facilitated by User Group Ambassadors:
Ethan Lang
Veterans Advocacy TUG
2. Suggestions and Ideas
● Put yourself in your audience’s shoes, ask yourself these questions:
○ What am I going to get out of this?
○ Is this content interesting to me?
○ Is arriving (or signing on virtually) to the event easy and hassle-free?
● Be predictable
○ Set a regular cadence for events or try to plan out the year in advance
○ Create a calendar viz and share that with your audience (I think Bevy has
this natively).
○ Same weekday and/or time
● Advertise!
○ Promote your event on Twitter and LinkedIn
○ Promote your event on Twitter and LinkedIn
○ Promote your event on Twitter and LinkedIn… Not a Typo advertise your
stuff, tag regular attendees and speakers, get people excited.
3. Suggestions and Ideas
Offer opportunities for socializing/meeting others outside of regular meetings
Happy hours
Community volunteering
Board game after-parties
Help people meet each other during meetings
Name tags with employer name
Birds of a feather (in-person)
Breakout rooms (virtual)
Include engaging activities in every meeting
Audience polls
“This or That”
5. Finding & Gaining Members
Ask attendees to spread the word, bring a coworker
Post from your own social media accounts too
Tell your friends
Cold-call employers & colleges in your area?
Search for your town/state on Tableau Public
Offer appealing meeting agendas
Be welcoming to newbies
6. Finding & Gaining Members
● Open up your network
○ Each event opens up your TUG to the speaker’s network. Tag them on social and
their network will see the posts
○ Explore new social platforms or forums (Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok, etc.)
○ Look for fresh speakers (Tableau Next cohort, Ambassadors, Visionaries, Rockstars
in your area)
● Celebrate your Community
○ Look for opportunities to highlight folks’ work in your area at your event and/or
on social
○ Explore VOTD recipients and invite them to present for 10 min before your
primary content
○ Focus on uplifting others. (Remember: what’s in it for me)
● Try several event types
○ Virtual, Hybrid, and In-person
○ Mix up times and dates every so often
7. Discussion Ideas- Recruitment
How does your membership count in Bevy compare to Splash?
How are you gaining new/ returning members to Bevy?
Social media platforms and strategies?
Word of mouth?
Announcements at pre-transition events?
Email?
Are lower attendance counts the ‘new normal?’
9. Retaining Members
● Constant communication
○ Interact with your audience on social
○ Have your audience join you on Slack
○ Create custom emails to engage your audience (surveys, call for speakers, event
reminders)
● Stay relevant
○ If you have a longer cadence between events, make sure you find ways to engage
between events
● Utilize Bevy to its fullest
○ Look at its analytics
○ Review your members list (Are you gaining? Are people unsubscribing?)
○ Record your events and post them to the event and to YouTube
10. Retaining Members
Offer varied meeting content - by level and topic, presenters
Giveaways/swag
Meet unmet needs (professional development, latest features, etc.)
Be consistent and genuine
Follow up after each meeting - social media, recording, recap email, etc.
11. Discussion Ideas - Retention
Are you retaining the same members across meetings?
Are most of your members local?
What keeps your members coming back?
Do you administer satisfaction/evaluation surveys?