The audio of the discussion at the first User Groups 2.0 Virtual Conference is now available for listening and download.

The MUG Center’s first gathering of user group leaders to discuss the state of the MUG community, exchange ideas and look to the future was held on October 29, and keynoted by James Lee of Tropical Software. Jim addressed the group with his top 5 Tips for welcoming a vendor to your user group.

The participants in the conference included:

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 User Groups 2.0 Virtual Conference #1: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This week’s tip is simple. It involves little effort, is so basic that it is almost embarrassing to mention, and yet is missed by an amazing number of groups:

Make your group easy to contact.

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TicketDrum, the new software that simplifies and enhances the process of drawing raffle prizes for your Mac User Group, make its debut at both the Adobe User Group & Professional Association Breakfast and User Group University at Macworld Expo last week.

If you were there, you had a chance to see how it displays the prizes, makes drawing the numbers easy (and fun), and helps capture information on the winners for later publication.

We want to remind user group members that developer Jack Beckman has a special introductory discount available on TicketDrum that expires on Sunday, January 21. Until then, you and your group can save 20% off the regular price of $25. That’s only $20 to help make your group’s raffles something special.
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The world of Mac User Groups is an evolving one. The Internet, advances in technologies and changes in the demographics of Mac users all represent both challenges and opportunities for MUGs everywhere.

To help facilitate the the growth and positive development of Mac User Groups everywhere, The MUG Center, “The Resource Site for Mac User Groups,” is proud to announce the creation of the User Groups 2.0 Virtual Conference Series.

The conferences will take place both online and off, with opportunities for MUG leaders, enthusiasts and others to interact with each other and with those in the community who are leading the way by innovating with their groups and their activities. The sessions will also be podcast, to create an additional resource for those who want to help create the modern MUG community: User Groups 2.0.

Want to know more? If you’ll be at Macworld Conference & Expo next week, stop by the User Group Lounge on Wednesday at 1 PM when Chuck Joiner of The MUG Center will present, “User Groups 2.0: Recipes for a 21st Century Mac User Group,” including details for the conferences and information on how you can participate.

Not going to Expo? Watch The MUG Center for details as we help Mac User Groups move into the future.

This is a simple tip, but it will help distinguish your user group as a competent, modern organization, aware of its responsibilities to its members and itself: draft and adopt a privacy policy.

Is that really necessary? At the moment, from a legal standpoint, no. But with the focus on personal information confidentiality brought about by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB) running rampant, the standards of handling such information have changed. Have you noticed the disclosure statements you receive annually from your bank, broker, insurance agent, credit card companies and every other financial institution? Those are required by law.

What is not required by law are the notices you see on all sorts of web sites, email list sign-up pages and message boards allowing you to opt in or out of receiving certain types of information, and promising to share or not share your information with various classifications of partner or associate entities. The fact that they are there (assuming they are followed) is an indication that someone thinks they are important enough to include.

Important?
Who thinks they are important? For one, Apple. Did you know that, to join the iTunes Store Affiliate Program, your web site is required to have a posted privacy statement?

Your group’s members, for another, if for no other reason that the spam problem. If you doubt this, consider what happens when someone successfully posts a spam message to a closed newsgroup. There is an almost inevitable flood of protestations and complaints from list members. And that is in response to just one spam email.

Think how your MUG would be viewed if you decided to share you members email addresses with, say, a vendor who promised an extra-special product discount? Or a group member who has a service to sell. Some of them might not mind, but others will be looking for someone to blame.

To Share or Not to Share?
Developing a privacy statement is simple. Decide whether your group is willing to share your membership roster (emails, home mailing addresses, phone numbers, etc.) with anyone, under any circumstances. If the answer is yes, spell out exactly what information you would share, with whom and under what circumstances.

Now that the policy is determined, give your members the opportunity to opt out. An additional field in your membership database will be sufficient to track who does not want their information shared. Consider setting up a separate email address at your group’s domains to handle the requests; that can also help you maintain a record of who makes the requests and when.

Finally, publish the policy on your web site and in your newsletter, and include it in any new member welcome package, email or letter.

The Gatekeeper Option
An option that you might want to consider is to have the group’s leadership act as a gatekeeper. Rather than hand over your members’ information to a third party, accept and evaluate anything that third party wishes to deliver to your members. If it is something that is indeed worthwhile, distribute it through your own channels (email lists, web site, newsletter, etc.). Your members still receive the benefit, their information is protected and the organization is protected from blame or worse.

A published privacy policy requires a small investment in time and can save your group from all sorts of arguments while protecting your members.

And in case you were wondering, yes, The MUG Center has a privacy policy for your review.

A common challenge for any user group is delivering on the wants and needs of the membership. Sure, a group’s tone is often set by the leader(s). That can be a very good thing of the leader’s orientation is similar to that of the group members, but can limit or even damage the group if the aim is too high, too low, or simply off the mark.

Gathering feedback from your members should be at least an annual activity. You will stay in closer touch with what their interests are, understand the general levels of expertise, and will be able to make your group’s meeting topics, web site, publication(s) and any other offerings a greater value. That translates into better membership retention and more benefits to attract new members.

Barriers to Success
Accomplishing this obvious task is another matter. If you ask for feedback at your meeting, a hush usually falls over the meeting and everyone is suddenly very interested in their shoes. Some are afraid to speak up in front of a group for fear of being in the minority. Others don’t want to appear ignorant; they may feel inferior to the rest of the group (in spite of the fact that there are probably plenty of other people in the room with the same question or comment). And then there’s the old user group joke, with plenty of truth behind it, that if you make a suggestion, you are suddenly in charge of the project…whether you wanted to be or not.

You might pass out paper surveys, or even include them in your newsletter. One problem with this approach is that there is still a boring form to fill out and return. Another is that you have handwriting legibility issues to deal with. Finally, you will need to aggregate the results into something useable, especially if you used a multiple choice format to cut down on the chicken scratch problem.

Getting It Done
What’s the solution? On online survey! You don’t even have to chain your webmaster to a chair to create one. There are a variety of survey services on the Internet that offer all the capabilities you need, many for free.

There are multiple benefits to this approach. Distribute the link to your survey in your newsletter, as a clickable URL in an email to your members, or even in the electronic version of your newsletter (text or PDF), and as a link on your web site. An iBook or PowerBook set up in a corner of your meeting space will allow attendees to complete the survey while attending. With all these options for publicity of your survey, better participation is guaranteed.

The answers are also likely be more substantive. Because a respondent can type their answers, you are less likely to get those annoying one or two word answers that leave you more curious than informed.

Add in the ability to create multiple choice and ranking questions and the survey can actually be fun to complete.

Be sure to tout the fact that all answers are anonymous, but include a place for a name and email address, in case the volunteer spirit moves someone as they are giving you their information.

You might even consider taking a page from The MUG Center and do a new survey question every month. Your members stay involved and you stay informed. If you can get members in the habit of providing feedback, your percentage return goes up again.

The Results Are In
When the time comes to analyze the results, the survey service has already done the aggregation work for you, in numbers and percentages. Just log in to your account and start analyzing.

Share the results with the rest of your leadership team by giving them the service password, taking screen shots, or, if you opted for a paid service level, export them to an Excel spreadsheet for further study and manipulation

Choosing A Service
What service to use? Do a Google search to find a wide variety, but our choices are Survey Galaxy, Zoomerang, and our favorite, Survey Monkey.

We like Survey Monkey because it allows up to 100 responses in one survey under the free account, has a clean, easy to understand interface and produces surveys that are not intimidating. Upgrading to a paid account won’t lose any of your existing surveys or results, gives you the export to Excel option, and provides customization options in the form of logo inclusion, custom color schemes and more. Answer our latest TMC Survey question (found at the top of our ad bar on the right hand side of any page on The MUG Center) to see what a Survey Monkey Survey looks like.

No matter which service you use, be sure it accommodates your needs and offers plenty of flexibility.

Get Your Members Involved
Present the results of your survey at a meeting, or every meeting, if you make your questions a monthly activity. Your membership stays involved in the process, and will help you develop future questions. (Hint: People are much more willing to provide questions than answers.)

Take the participation concept a step farther by making the creation of a new survey or survey question a demo at an upcoming meeting. Reinforce the importance of responding, walk through the process to demonstrate the ease of answering, and introduce your members to a new service they might benefit from at their work or in other activities. Truly a win, win, win scenario.

The Bottom Line
Like any business, a successful user group will only benefit from information on what the “customers” want. Finding ways to involve your members can start with something as simple as an online survey.