The key to business is simple: See a need, create a product to address it, and sell it to those that need it. It’s a very simple distillation of the basics of doing business but all of the details around those three things are the hard part. But if you do it right, you’re going to create something that people want and are willing to invest in to make it happen.
When it comes to building communities in the enterprise IT space, the rules are just the same. When you see the need for something, you create a product — in this case a community event — and you find people that want to be there. If you do it well enough, you can get even more people to pitch in and help you so that the next event is easier and has more people. From there things will take off.
US Networking User Association
Jason Gintert is someone that followed the plan. He saw that so many other disciplines in enterprise IT had some kind of user group meeting but for some reason networking was left out in the cold. Jason realized that someone needed to start in order for the community to grow around it. Since he lived in Ohio, it was only natural that he started the Ohio Networking User Group (OHNUG). As he tells the story, there were only fifteen people at the first meeting. But the seeds were there.
Jason realized that he could grow this to be about more than just Ohio. That’s when he decided to found the US Networking User Association, aka USNUA. The goal was simple. Do what they did for OHNUG and make that work in other places. Soon there were people in New York and Virginia that were ready to take up the banner and build their own local user groups.
Today, the USNUA has more than 30 chapters spread across the country. The groups hold meetings on a regular basis in person. The goal is to have people meet face-to-face to network and learn. The events have a keynote speaker that gives a meaningful presentation, followed up with a panel of three to five people discussing a relevant topic. Attendees get to listen and add to the conversation.
Jason said that the in-person element is critical because too many meetings now happen virtually. Even though the USNUA was started just before the pandemic, it was that event that showed him just how important it was to be able to get together to meet with others in the community and talk.
The idea of a virtual happy hour makes it hard to focus on what’s being said. There’s only so much time someone can spend on a webinar platform before you get tired of meetings in general. By making the USNUA meetings in-person, people get more out of interacting with their fellow members as well as other guests.
Sponsorship is a key part of driving a USNUA chapter and its meetings. While there are sponsorship levels to the USNUA, that doesn’t mean that the sponsors own the event. Jason and Scott Robohn at the Networking Field Day Community Session both talked about the need to ensure that presentations are focused on solutions and technology, and not products.
Participating sponsors have to agree to play by the rules and avoid the hard sales pitch. Those guidelines are welcomed and encouraged by the community, and it ensures the value of the USNUA chapter meetings comes from the content and not the list of potential leads.
If you’re interested to joining your local USNUA chapter for a meeting, make sure you sign up to become a member. Registration is free and you’ll be able to access the chapter meeting schedule as well as the USNUA Slack for more information and discussion. If you don’t see a chapter listed for your area, I suggest reaching out to the leadership team at USNUA. They’re always looking for people to volunteer to lead chapters and schedule meetings. It’s a great way to get involved in the community and build something that people look forward to being a part of.
