Community archive

Ask something
Discussion Locked

User Group Needs your Ideas

0 helpful
11 replies

by scarecrow71

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

Can anybody give me any suggestions for the following quandry?

I am part of a committee who organise a user group for some industry specific software, but we are having trouble attracting members to the bi-annual meetings (one technical in July, and one management themed in November). The user base is growing, but attendance levels have frozen.

The fees for membership of the user group is included within the support fees and this allows 2 attendees to each meeting free of charge (additional delegates charged at cost price). In our experience, once someone has been once, they see the value of it and come again. Last year we tried offering a prize draw of a trip to California to a industry conference and we couldn't give it away (I ended up going myself!!). Every meeting has various 'Top-Tips' competitions etc to win a bottle of Champagne. Members giving feedback also get entered in a prize draw to win champagne.

Content changes every meeting (with the exception of occasional revisits to popular/complex subjects) to keep it fresh.

There are two main reasons for non-attendance. Firstly people cannot spare the time, or think they can't. Secondly, the northern members complain about meetings in the south and the southern members compain about meeting in the north.

Can anyone give any pearls of wisdom form thier own experiences about how we can attract more people. We do have a budget surplus, so spending some cash is not out of the question.

Thanks

Barry

11 replies

by oldefar

Barry, you state that the two main reasons users don't attend are time and location. I don't think those are the reasons. I think the main reason is security and the second is cost.

By security, I mean job security of the users. In tough economic times job security becomes a key concern. A typical response is better attendance in the work place. No one wants to be noticed for their absense when layoffs are a constant threat.

Cost is also related to job security. Asking for budget money to attend a meeting is not perceived as a way to be noticed for the value a worker brings to his employer, not when revenues and profits are tight and the economy is slow.

To counter this, you have to focus your attendance drive higher up. Sell your meetings to the top management. Show them the value of sending their employees to the meetings. When the director of IT, the CFO, or the CEO is requesting a user to attend, the security and cost issues don't exist.

The sale to upper management has to focus on business value, and not on conference location and anemities. This means "meals provided" instead of "attend a fabulous dinner and reception at the 4-star banquet facilities", "open time for informal meetings with industry peers" not "free time to relax at pool with its water side bar", and so on. You don't want to sell a value and a nice package or instead of the users you will have all top managers attending. :)

by scarecrow71

Oldefar

I hear what you are saying on the Job security front, but we do have two seperate streams, a management stream and a technical stream. Each stream is targeted to different users using different marketing methods. Also, in my specific industry at the moment there is a skills shortage. Attending these meetings helps build skills for employees by keeping them up to date with new developments etc.

On the subject of cost, there are no 'additional' costs involved. Event fees are coveredwithin the membership fees (which are automatically taken with support fees) so they have already paid. (By the way, we used to charge on a per delegate per event basis, with membership fees paid seperately from the support fees, and we found users had trouble getting purchase orders authorised. Now, they just get the support fees signed off with ease and the membership fees slip by unoticed!)

The other thing I should point out is that we are talking about the UK, not the US. Our meetings are 1 day events, with most attendees arriving on the morning of the event and leaving the same day. Attendees who do take hotel rooms tend to arrive the night before, and take advantage of some networking time at an evening meal we organise.

Barry

by oldefar

Especially since here in Texas, meetings in different towns (example Houston and Dallas) would be an overnight trip for most.

People deal in five currencies - money, time, knowledge, security, and prestige. If they feel the meetings are taking away the time currency, you have to make it up in one of the others. Apparently, knowledge is not a good enough exchange.

You might try working the prestige angle by asking members to sit on a panel discussion to share their expertise. If you have an all day meeting, broke up into say 8 1 hour sessions, 5 panelists per session, that gives you 40 attendees as panelists. If each panelist is one of five members from a given company, that might translate to 200 attendees - 40 panelists and 160 coworkers offering morale support.

by scarecrow71

We find it hard enough to get people to give feedback and suggestions, never mind asking them to sit on discussion panels! It's worth mentioning also, that we usually get one or two delegates from each company to a maximum of about 4. There are about 80 member companies and attendance is around the 50-60 delegates. This results in a fairly informal meeting with 4-6 presentations given (usally around a certain theme), 2 or 3 in the morning session and 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Management meetingsare often atteneded by equipment vendors who bring their kit along, a chance to see the kit all in one place.

One idea we had was for a members yearbook. The idea being that each member would get one page for them to place a full page ad, and onepage with a biog of the company, the services offered and key people. Often in this industry, work levels run in peaks and troughs - having this yearbook, you could pass on your overflow to another company who had extra capacity. You would know thecompany was a reputable firm because they are members of a trade organisation like ours.

by oldefar

I have seen the panel angle work - worked on me before. :)

Feedback forms and suggestions tend to be losses - they take away my time and I see no direct results.

A general request to sit on a panel or submit a paper are similar - takes time and I don't necessarily see the direct benefit. A specific request that I sit on a panel or submit a paper - I just got a big revenue on the prestige side!

Amazing how this works. Training budget and travel budget were cut at a corporation I worked for. A vendor had a new program starting, and thought I was a good candidate. Knowing our budget was tight, he instead asked my boss if they could "borrow" me to review their program. Not only did I go, but my company refused the offer to have the vendor pay my way and instead flew me out for two weeks on our nickel! All about the prestige aspect.

On another occaission, I was undecided on attending a conference. My company, my cost, uncertain benefit. The conference host then asked meto sit on a panel. I went, my nickel. That was even knowing it might be simply playing the prestige angle. :)

In fact, invite me to your next conference to speak or sit on a panel, and I might show up! Of course, knowing that you have extra money in the budget you would have to pay my way. However, you might con me next year.

by guruofdos

Free beer in unlimited quantities is always a good incentive! North and South? Meet in the Midlands then! That way it's fair for Northerners and Southerners.

by scarecrow71

Acually, we already ply people with free beer! Delegates arriving the night before get a free dinner and drinks, and on the event day there is a buffet lunch and a free bar.

Also, when I say meetings held in the south, I actually mean the midlands. We have four main groups of users, the south-east, the midlands, manchester & leeds and scotland. The midlands is as far south as we can go without upsetting too many northerners and its in the M5, M6, M42 triangle so easy to get to!

by oldefar

I need to expand the list to make it applicable to the UK -
Time
Money
Knowledge
Security
Prestige
Beer

Maybe the beer should be just alcohol? I will have to check on that. Time for a road trip to all the favorite watering holes. :-o

by guruofdos

Anywhere in the M5/M42/M6/M1 area is a PIG to get to...from anywhere! Having spend many an hour stuck in traffic between J10 and J13 on the M6 on the journey between Southampton and Manchester or back I speak from bitter experience! This is probablywhy no-one wants to travel to or through Birmingham to or from 'oop Narth' or 'dahn Sarf'!

by scarecrow71

Ok, Granted it can be a nightmare to get around there, but the motorway links in this part of the country means you can get here from anywhere. I don't know a piece of motorway in the country that isn't a pain in the butt! (ever been on the M25 in the south, or the M62 in the North?!!)

We have thought about something just off the M1, perhaps in Derbyshire, but in our experience people complain about the location but when we change it, it makes very little difference to attendance figures.
The question is, how do I get people who have never attended one of our events to come for the first time? I know from experience that they will come again once they have attended just one event.

by scarecrow71

'Costs'

- Time
- Money
- Security
- Control (If I'm not there, I can't *easily* control things)

'Earns'

- Knowledge
- Prestige
- Networking/Contacts
- Beer

This discussion is closed to new replies.