The most common way that Mac User Groups fund their existence is by charging dues. What is surprising is that so few MUG leaders have really thought about what they charge for a membership and why. A 2.0 User Group will not only have completed that analysis but will also regularly monitor the calculation to be sure they aren’t falling behind due to price increases or changes in structure.

Deciding what to charge involves calculating different types of costs and understanding how they scale (or don’t): fixed costs, variable costs, capital expenses and operating expenses: Read the rest of this entry »

Every so often an age-old debate starts up on the Apple User Group Discussion List (AUGD) or whenever Mac User Group leaders get together: should Mac User Groups be free? At one time the idea of having a group that just got together and there was no need for funding was both appealing and even perhaps realistic. In today’s world, however, there is no question: Resources cost money and MUGs need to find ways to fund their operations.

In case you’re not convinced, here are some of the expenses a 2.0 group is likely to face:

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Yesterday we told you about this year’s annual spring-cleaning of The MUG Center’s Surfboard, our analog list of Mac User Groups around the world, and how we learned a few things from visiting several hundred MUG sites in the span of just a few days. We want to share some of those with you, combine them with earlier UG2.0 tips and help you spring-clean your web site to make it a better, more positive representation for your group. (Our apologies for being a bit northern hemisphere-centric; that’s where we sit. For our friends south of the equator, consider it a fall-cleaning.)

The first step is to invest 11 or so clicks to help improve your perspective: the first one would take you to the Surfboard (yes, click right there). Next, select ten groups at random and take a good look at their sites. Don’t explore them, but just get a feel for the impression they give. Are they a modern-looking site, or do they have that Web .5 look? Do they make you want to see what the group is doing, or do you just want to move on? Is the information they present relevant to you as a visitor? Can you even find out where they are located? When they meet? What the next presentation will be?

Here’s a list of items to look for while you’re reviewing those sites, and to use in cleaning up your own site:
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Each year The MUG Center receives at least a couple dozen emails asking about signing up with the various Vendor Programs available to Mac User Groups, affiliations with some of the purported user group organizations out there and the many other offers that come to user group leaders. The questions are always the same: Do they cost anything? Is there any reason not to sign up? If they are free, what could it hurt?

At one time the answers were simple, but the world has become a bit more complex, and Mac User Group 2.0 leaders need to be more savvy about the answers to these questions, the benefits they offer and the hidden costs associated with them.

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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.
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Virtually every user group needs to communicate a common class of information to their members and to the world: their meeting and/or event schedule. For Mac User Groups, Apple’s iCal is the obvious choice to accomplish this goal, but it must be used with care or it can actually become an obstacle to getting the info to the audience.

The benefits of iCal are obvious:

• Management of the group’s schedule and events from a desktop application

• Automatic publishing and updating of the group’s calendar on their web site

• Ability of members to subscribe to the iCal version to have meetings and events automatically added to their schedule

• Archiving of all group events in the iCal for historical and reference purposes

The problem comes when iCal is not implemented with the user in mind, contains incomplete or generic information, or is used in lieu of good meeting notifications on the group web site. With that in mind, here are the do’s and don’ts of iCal for Mac User Group web sites.
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Mac User Group leaders have many resources they can take advantage of to inform their members about the latest happenings in the Apple world, and several of them are provided by Apple itself. Among them is access to Apple Sales Web.

Apple gives the ambassadors of recognized Mac User Groups access to the secure part of their web site reserved for the sales side of the organization. That means that you can get the same training and resource materials for your group that are used by every Apple representative worldwide to present and inform audiences. That is always a very significant benefit, but it can be even more useful when Apple introduces a new product or a major upgrade.
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Every Mac User Group (or at least the physical MUGs as opposed to the virtual groups) has the challenge of developing a meeting topic each month. They have to have a speaker to present it and do their best to be sure that it is relevant to a significant portion of their membership. With the vast universe of programs and capabilities of the Mac and iPod, it is always amazing at the groups who basically repeat many of the same topics year after year, never straying far from the Apple trail.

Your members are Mac users first. But the odds are they they are also technologists of varying degrees of proficiency and interest and that means opportunities to discuss and present plenty of other topics that they can use and enjoy.

Some examples? How about:

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The world of personal computing is constantly changing, and that means user groups are also constantly changing..or at least they should be. We’ve seen many groups enthusiastically and successfully adapt to new technology, new socialization options and new structure models. We’ve also seen many groups struggle with those issues and more, missing opportunities for benefit, interaction and fun.

There have been lots of discussions but not enough specific action to help groups accomplish the evolution necessary to survive and thrive in today’s environment. That’s why The MUG Center is starting a new regular feature: Take Your Group to 2.0.

Each week for the next year (yes, year), we’ll be providing you and your group a tip on how to improve and put you in the User Groups 2.0, best of class category. Many of the pieces to the puzzle are simple. Some will be repeats, yet we see many groups who don’t do them. If you’re already doing them, that’s great: you’re ahead of the game. If not, we believe most of them will be easy to implement, especially if you are truly interested in moving your group forward.

“Taking Your Group to 2.0″ will include best practices, ideas about what you have been doing, what you should be doing and more, all in bite-sized pieces that are more likely to be implemented than if we just published one big list that looks overwhelming. We want to help you get and keep you in the mindset of advancing your group.

We’ll start the list with a very simple one: Publish your group’s next meeting date and topic on the front page of your web site.

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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.