Those who have attended an user group get together

[pat_best]

What has made it feel like a success? Are there any hidden considerations that should be brought up? What should I expect from something like this? Is it more like a meet and greet or more information oriented (or both)? I am looking at starting one up in the Portland, OR area and would sure like a little setup information as this will be my first time at attending something like this. Thanks!

[jarednichols · Accepted solution]

Successful user groups will have admins who aren't afraid to share. That's the number one thing that prevents a UG from working. The general idea is that nobody there is going to run back to their company and say, "Guess what Acme is doing!" And besides, it's all operational stuff anyway. There's no trade secret information going on at a UG.

If you can also get someone to step up with some sort of demo of how they're using JAMF to make their lives easier, maybe a little something off the wall, that'd be really compelling. At one I went to there was a guy demoing how they did an OS upgrade in place and fired off by the user through Self Service. Cool stuff.

If you can get food, that's cool and that alone is sure to attract more folks. I think it's also nice to be able and rotate venues.

[pat_best]

@jarednichols, thanks for the info that is very helpful!!

[Chris_Hafner]

Yep... food and talking. You've got to start almost all of the conversations until you get something good going!

[Matt]

Willingness to share is key. Its one thing I love about the JAMF community. I went to an SCCM gathering and they were all closet monsters who had "proprietary" things. Meaning, they didn't want to share anything. At a JAMF GTG in LA a few years a bunch of us exchanged numerous EA's and then ended up meeting again at an Adobe conference. Being a JAMF partner is like joining a brotherhood!

[tlarkin]

Hi @pat.best

I have hosted a few user groups at our offices in Cupertino. I created the user group here in JAMF Nation and plugged it into Eventbrite so people could put it in their calendars, and get notifications and I could have a head count. I am also a part of the Macbrained community in the Bay Area out here in the west coast. I have presented at one too, and I did a keynote with some POC examples of how I leveraged Casper in certain ways.

This month Macbrained is having a hack-a-thon with prizes. Where people create solutions that may help solve a problem with Macs in the enterprise. There are teams and they will be delivering their custom solutions to the audience this month.

I think success is from several factors. Like Jared said, you need to have a community that wants to share and collaborate. I think also having some sort of structure helps too. We rotate around the whole area where it is hosted. Hosts get to have a 10 minute sales pitch of their current products, or demo some cool things their software/hardware do, and then we jump right into the presenters presentation. After that we have an hour or two of open sessions where people just eat and drink and talk shop. I think having topics help. You could start the first user group with just a list of topics you guys want to discuss. Then I think projects would be a cool idea too. Give a project and see what everyone comes up with next month.

I also think setting up things like a community GitHub is great too. A lot of times due to NDAs and other legal stuff employees cannot always share their solutions. However, if you just put POC code on GitHub, and sanitize it, it is just example code. Encourage people to collaborate and share ideas, with out sharing anything specific to their org.

Finally, you need pizza. Get lots of pizza and they will come and hang out.

Thanks,
Tom

[MarkMelaccio]

Our agenda at the NYCJUG meetings usually goes something like this:

Quick intros from folks around the room, sometimes with a quick question asked as an icebreaker. A presentation from a User group member on how they are using Casper in their house. An occasional special guest (last NYCJUG we had @Banks demo the AutoPkg JSS importer)
Pizza ( or another bit of grub) and open discussion

using the User group tab here on the 'Nation makes it easy as Eventbrite works hand in hand in setting up the date and attendance.

It may be helpful to see if a JAMF can attend, or maybe the local Apple rep just to be on hand to help shape discussions, but above all, have fun, make connections, and learn who your peers are. I know i have helped folks out and vice versa with people i have met thru JAMFNation and the JUG, and the community is one of the thinks that i think makes Casper what it is.

protip: while Pizza is good for most folks, keep a vegan or gluten-free option available too. That way everyone can munch and talk.

[stevewood]

The agenda here at the DFWJUG meetings follows the same format that others have said:

- Introductions
- Presentation
- Open Session

The first two we held at a local vendor's office, and this last time the local JAMF rep was kind enough to work with Apple to get us space in the Apple Briefing Room here. It was pretty swank to say the least. We had that same JAMF rep, along with a couple of Apple folks, in the room with us, and we had one of the JAMF SEs do a presentation over WebEx about DEP and VPP. Then we sat around and discussed environments and how we do things.

We usually wind up pulling my JSS up and talking through settings or showing off how things are done at different shops. It's always a good time, and the food is always great.

I would highly suggest reaching out to JAMF to see what resources they can provide. JAMF has been very helpful in getting the user groups going, and I know they want to see them succeed.