I'm writing this as I wait on a flight back to Orlando after spending yesterday with John Magnabosco and team at the IndyTechFest. I did a presentation on replication to earn my keep, but really I was there to watch the event in action and see if I could add a few ideas for my upcoming SQLSaturday in Orlando. In no particular order:

• Pre-event messaging was first class and honestly better than my own for SQLSaturday. I've saved some to revisit. It was a combination of message, layout, and personalization, but was just well done.
• Check in was handled very smoothly. Four lines, speakers were expedited, all attendees received a nice embroidered bag (small backpack) and a really nice printed event guide with a full color stiff paper cover (maybe a little over the top, but nice). Also lanyard and a plastic name badge.
• Nice set up for sponsors, good traffic (and they let sponsors set up the night before, nice thing to do if you can get access to the space then and secure it)
• Food was handled by the facility and definitely simplified logistics. Breakfast was muffins & etc, coffee, juice, granola bars. Lunch was lasagna and garlic bread, food looked very good but the line was a mess. They only had two lines going, and the traffic was exactly backwards. Bad call from the facility, but everyone took it in stride and everyone got fed.
• They had lunch time sessions scheduled along with a little extra time, but no guidance on if they should start late and no plan to feed the speakers.
• Very nice placards for each room with all sessions like you would see at a conference.
• Speakers received polos, volunteers received a nice t-shirt
• The morning keynote started slow with various admin notes, but they had a speaker (apologies for having a name/link available) that did a bit of stand up comedy that got everyone laughing and excited.
• I met one network admin/DBA/etc that drove 4 hours for the event, speaks volumes about him (in a good way) and the event
• They also did a very nice speaker dinner post event and we had some more great conversations there.
• They did a great job taking care of speakers, making sure we had what we needed and in general showing they appreciated our efforts towards the event.

Attendance was over 450! Just incredible to bring that many in, and will move them to a larger venue next year. I attribute their success to a couple different items:

• The Indy .Net Association averages 120 attendees at meetings
• That in turn has allowed them to develop much better than average sponsor relationships that make them very well funded. I don't know the exact cost of the event and while I can guess to a degree, let's just say it was considerably more than the $4k or so I budget for Orlando. Having money definitely changes the game, but not all communities are big enough/successful enough/whatever enough to get to this point. But extra kudos for doing so and building those partnerships!
• They have four very committed and active guiding members on the event committee. Makes me think about what I could accomplish in Orlando if we could add one more really committed person!

Nice airport, area seems nice, weather was nice. Definitely thinking about returning next year and spending an extra day to play tourist. I'm hoping I can get John to post some more stuff about the inner workings that have led them to their success.

Several years ago during the first iteration of the Orlando SQL Server Users Group I talked a friend into attending. It was a small group of 10 or less most months, and we strugged for speakers. I had been probably 6-7 times when my friend attended and gotten comfortable - enjoying seeing new friends. When I asked her the next day about the meeting, the feedback was disheartening - we hadn't done a good job of introducing her to the group, the presentation was so-so, and nothing about the visit made her want to return. Does that suck or what?

That lesson has stuck with me, so when we reformed the group after a hiatus last year I've tried to work extra hard at greeting everyone and asking who was new at each meeting. Probably I could still do better, but it's better than it was before and it's fun to see people return a second time.

But there's always another lesson. Recently I had an email from someone who had heard about our group and wanted to know what to expect. That's really an incredibly good question. We're all human, and as humans the majority of us are nervous about new social situations. I emailed back the format of our meetings, details on the food, and asked them to be sure to say hello to me when I arrived if I wasn't the one that greeted them at the door. Our new person did show up for the meeting, we got to talk briefly, and at the end of the meeting I checked back to see if we had met the expectations I set in email, and clearly we had in his view, so I'm hoping we'll see him again.

So one task is to get something on the web site that better sets expectations, and I'm even thinking of a special raffle or gift for first time attendees. Another - harder - is to get our regulars to learn that lesson too, and change their approach from 'come see the great technical presentation' to 'come meet a great group of SQL professionals'.

I participated in a lunch meeting recently with a number of people from MS that work on their community efforts, and I thought one of their questions was interesting, if obvious; what do you get out of participating in the community as a speaker or group leader?

I think it falls into three buckets:

• Indirect marketing, true for consultants and trainers
• Giving back/mentoring
• Recognition of skills earned

For me the first two apply. I do a one minute bio that includes what I do for a living and that's the extent of the sales pitch. Over time I hope to earn karma that comes back in the form of students in class. Just as important for me is that I enjoy helping those new to the profession grow, mainly because I see how much faster I could have grown if more help had been available/offered.

Nothing wrong the the last one, everyone reaches the point where they want validation - to prove to themselves, or their boss, that they are somebody. MS has accentuated this one - successfully I think - by making many of the community leaders MVP's. So part of this loops back to indirect marketing, hoping that listing speaker/community leader/MVP will lead to increased business (and I'm sure it does to some degree). The only downside to this one is that some point I think you should move past validation and move into the zone that only time/experience can bring - nothing left to prove.

I'm reasonably stubbon about my approach; I do the things I enjoy/want to do without worrying about the ROI. Not everyone can afford to do that, or would want to adopt such a karmic approach, but it suits me and seems to have worked so far.

Attendance on Saturday about 450 across the communities (SQL, .Net, DNN, etc). Not as big as we'd hoped, but still a win when you get a chance to provide training and network time for the community. Kudos to Joe Healy for organizing the overall event and getting MS to fund it, and a special thanks to our speakers for their contribution to the event. Jessica Sterner (newly elected President of ONETUG) organized the after party at a local night club and it really went well, right at 200 attendees.

The highlight (as far I'm concerned) was the printer smash ala Office Space by three of our attendees. MS got it on video, we'll hope it turns out well and gets published! Funny footnote on the printer, turned out to be harder than we thought to find a junk printer, ended up buying the cheapest ($75) printer we could find. Note for those who might want to try the same, don't a multi function printer! We had the printer on a tarp and the 'smasher's had safety goggles, but we still ended up with glass on the floor from the scanner.

Shawn Weisfeld has been the President of ONETUG (Orlando .Net Users Group) for the past three years and has just turned over control to Jessica Sterner as he gets ready to move to Dallas for a new job. Shawn has been very active in the community and INETA, and he shared a lot of lessons learned from his Code Camps to help us build our first SQLSaturday. I don't think you could find anyone that worked harder or has contributed more to the Florida community than Shawn. I'm sorry to see him go and wish him luck with the move and new job.

If you haven't visited yet, MS Connect replaces the old sqlwish email alias and provides - in theory! - a better way to manage problems and suggestions. One of the features they've implemented is to let visitors vote on which suggestions/bugs they want fixed. I like the idea of community involvement, but I think this implementation has some challenges:

• Most of us don't go looking for things to vote on, so I think only a very small subset of the community is seeing/voting on these issues. Are they a representative sample??
• You can vote yea or nay (rate it from 1-5 that is), but there is no way to prioritize the fixes. Heck, I want them ALL fixed, but what they need is help prioritizing across features.
• Voting on the issues has lead it to become a bit of a content. My friend Steve Jones is lobbying for SQL 2005 SP3, others are lobbying for things like backups that don't include indexes. Entirely human to lobby for your ideas, but without the context of seeing all the ideas we're back to the prioritization problem.

In the spirit of not complaining without at least trying to offer some alternatives, these might tweak the system to be more effective:

• All suggestions stay open for 90 days for voting. At the end of that period anyone who voted on any item within that window gets the entire list to review and prioritize. That lets us vote for a favorite feature/fix or two, and play fair about deciding if x is more important than y. The 90 days also gives plenty of time for discussion of pro/con.
• Push that same list to all the major communities, try to get a broader group of people to weigh in on the final voting.
• Maybe RSS feeds so we can all easily see new stuff added that news review/vote.

Not sure my fixes are the best way, but helps to illustrate where I think the community can add more value.

This topic came up during the speaker reception at the South Florida Code Camp and while I've posted here and there, it's probably worth writing down some thoughts about what events like Code Camp and SQLSaturday can do to make being a sponsor more attractive.

• Treat me like a customer that is just as important as your attendees, your speakers, or your site host!
• Give me plenty of advance notice. I need to budget for it and fit it into my schedule. Ideally talk to me 4-6 months prior to the event, at a minimum 3 months prior.
• Give me some basic options, and be prepared to bargain some. Impress me by putting together a nice sponsor package that shows you have a plan and that you take sponsors seriously. I know you need hard dollars, not software valued at x dollars, but sometimes there is room to compromise - be open to the conversation. If it's a new event or the first time my company will be a sponsor, be prepared to spend some time with me at lunch or dinner. That's right, you've got to convince me that it's a good venue for me, that the cost vs return is likely to work out, and most importantly, convince me that you can make the event happen.
• Accept checks and credit cards. It's your event, I don't have time to buy soda, cookies, etc in lieu of you collecting cash.
• Guarantee that if the event cancels, I get a full refund
• Give me a deadline and address for sending you collateral to be placed in event bags. It's critical that the items be placed in the bags, just laying out on the table greatly reduces the number of people that will take the time to look at it. By placing in the bag that will look through it while waiting on a session to start.
• On the day of the event have someone at registration to specifically help sponsors. Tables should be set up and labeled in advance, and just having someone help carry all the stuff to the table is a great help. Have a hand truck or other cart available for sponsors to use.
• Set up sponsor tables in a way that insures traffic flow. One method is to locate them immediately following registration, the other is to locate them immediately after the food. Either way, set things up so that people naturally flow directly by the sponsor tables. Also, it's fair that the biggest (paying the most) sponsors get the best locations.
• Give attendees a name tag! Sponsors need to talk to attendees and making the name exchange easier makes it easier to start the conversation. It's also a good idea from just a pure networking perspective.
• Make it easy for attendees to share their contact information with us. One way is to pre-print a set of 10 or so 'business cards' for each attendee and include in the bag, another is to barcode the info on their badge using PDF417 or similar format. The latter does require sponsors to acquire a more expensive barcode reader but it is worth while. The sad alternative is forcing attendees to write down their contact info over and over again, and it's common to lose 20% of those due to illegibility, plus it just annoys the attendee.
• Make my logo very visible on your web site, proportional to my investment of course
• Provide attendees with some type of printed event guide/schedule that also features sponsor logos
• Ask if I'll be raffling or giving away an item that will probably be of interest to most attendees, then highlight that in pre-event email, then again at the key note - remember, these freebies help drive people to your event.
• Provide access to internet and electricity, or let me know it will not be available.
• Consider doing an event polo or tshirt for attendees and put sponsor logos on it as well. Polo's are the preferred choice, but realistically tshirts are the most cost effective for large crowds.
• Sponsors attend events to either build their contact lists or to directly demo their products/services, so look for ways to help them achieve their goal. For example, offering a sponsor track or special lunch time sponsor sessions.
• Try to provide someone to help with break down and clean up near the end of the day

I know that sounds like a lot. What do you get in return?

• Cash. Most free events have very real hidden costs, ranging from lunch and tshirts to signage and coffee cups. If you can do without cash, you don't need sponsors, right? (Note: Most attendees actually enjoy access to sponsors and find it adds value to the event)
• I'll be spreading the word about your event to everyone I know, to increase the attendance and my ROI, and to highlight involvement in the community - a good thing for any business to do
• If you do a good job managing the event and your relationship with me, I'll be there as a reference and will most likely be an easy sell the next year

Put as much effort into your sponsors as you do the attendees, speakers, volunteers, and site host and things will go well.

A friend sent me a link to www.sqlcommunity.com and I think I'd list it. So far doesn't seem impressive, but I know from experience that it takes a while to get things going and flowing. Certainly doesn't compare well to the other community sites so far, but perhaps that will change. Good to have some healthy competition among the communities to encourage them to keep their standards high and make sure that they are remembering who the customers are!

I ran across this in the Google bloghttp://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/encouraging-people-to-contribute.html announcing a new beta feature called Knol that allows an author to publish a page about on whatever topic they choose. The page at a time publishing metaphor is interesting, something that would presumably have more depth and focus than a blog entry, but not rise to the level of building a site that focused on the topic. It also makes it easy, or at least easier, for an author to look at writing as a way to profit from their efforts, by adding ads or getting a sponsor for their pages.

Monetizing is important; if done well it encourages authors to work harder, work better, produce better content. Sites like SSC allow authors to monetize in limited fashion, typically paying a flat fee rather than a per view rate. I like that model because the author can see that they will earn x dollars (removing the will I make any money issue) and because it discourages breaking up content into multiple pages (or worse) just to drive up their earnings. The Google model fits those willing to take on a little risk for perhaps greater reward.

The downside to the Google model is they may well wind up with a lot of junk pages designed just to attract pages views, there's no one to monitor for outright plagiarism, and it's very likely that for the most popular subjects we'll have 18 different authors all writing about the same thing. Community sites offset most of those dangers through a combination of the resident editor/owner as well as the oversight of the community members. Will Knol be able to build that kind of community? Doesn't seem likely, but perhaps I shouldn't bet against them?!

For us SQL Server people it could be an interesting twist - will authors who previously published on SSC, SQLTeam, etc, opt to give it a try? Will they post on a community site for 90 days or whatever and then repost on Knol? Would we better served if authors wrote purely based on wanting to make a profit? Or would we get better content if they were trying to write the best page in the world about a sliver of SQL Server and just used Knol as the platform? I'd like to see the pressure of Knol cause community sites to evolve into being a little more author friendly as they fight to stay relevant. For now I'll continue to publish here in the community I helped build and continue to enjoy, but I'll see how things evolve and perhaps give it a try (on the list after trying the wiki thing in some form or fashion!).

I had the chance to see Greg do a presentation at the PASS Summit in Denver that was based on the book and so decided to grab a copy from Amazon. It's a small book, 118 pages, and fairly inexpensive, about $16 online. I've already learned quite a few lessons about managing a user group from my involvement with oPASS but in truth most were learned the hard way. This book came across as eminently usable because I saw many of the mistakes we made and their solutions listed. It also has a lot of interesting ideas we hadn't learned yet too! For example, the author says that just by personalizing email reminders (Dear Andy..) he saw in increase in the number of replies. You'd think we IT types would be immune to such things but apparently not. Overall he focuses on taking a pragmatic approach and emphasizes low tech over high tech - not because he dislikes technology, but because the emphasis has to be on people. Given a limited amount of time, spend it on people and not the technology. It's definitely worth buying if you manage a user group, and maybe even worth buying if you're a member of a group that seems a bit dysfunctional.

I've had a couple people ask me about ideas for growing (as opposed to starting) a SQL user group. While it's definitely a lot about content, formula, and presentation, it's just like running a business, it all comes back to marketing. That said, here are a few suggestions:

• Ask PASS to email everyone in your area. They won't (and shouldn't) give you the list directly, but they can do a one time intro email to those in your area and then run announcements about upcoming events in the bi-weekly newsletter.
• Submit each meeting to the big community sites (SQLTeam, SQL-Server-Performance, SSC), they will usually advertise them for you
• Contact the IT chair of any local colleges
• Get to know the leader of the closest .Net user group and the nearest INETA mentor
• Get to know the nearest MS Developer Evangelist. They are typically very good at helping you network with other groups. Here in Fla Joe Healy has been my contact and has really been helpful.
• Contact as many local staffing companies as you can. They all want to meet more prospects and they always appreciate a reason to email/talk to their existing client base. They are more than happy to advertise your event (and probably buy the pizza too!)
• Ask every member that attends to tell one new member about the group. Remember that not everyone will attend every time, so focus on growing the mailing list AND attendance
• Don't forget to get to know all the other groups. Other SQL groups in the same state, other types of computer groups, all are usually willing to post your event (and vice versa)

Most of us running groups dream of the day the group is self sustaining. Can't say we've reached that state in Orlando or that we've got it all figured out either. Drop me a note if you've got other ideas, always room for more.

I see they finally rolled out the new site. Lots of annoying quirks so far, the biggest for me is that the URL's in the notification emails aren't coming across as hyperlinks, forcing me to copy/paste into a browser. Given that I look at a couple dozen a day, this is really annoying. I'll be curious to see how the general community reacts to the change!