Re: AUGD: Can MUGs adapt to new trends?
Re: AUGD: Can MUGs adapt to new trends?
- Subject: Re: AUGD: Can MUGs adapt to new trends?
- From: Paul Richards <email@hidden>
- Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2006 17:13:31 -0500
On Nov 12, 2006, at 11:34 AM, email@hidden wrote:
I've been internally debating this issue. I agree that the primary
role of a MUG is education and training. However, I worry that too
many MUG's become an eternal Mac for Beginners class. If users are
not beginners or longer term users learn enough, do they sometimes
feel as if the MUG is beneath them? As if they have "graduated"
from attending the MUG?
This is similar to what we have debated among my group. I don't know
what the right answer is. We have a close relationship with the
leadership of our local PC-centric group and we operate under
different philosophies. They offer numerous small focused training
sessions throughout the month and stick more to the showcase approach
at their regular monthly meetings. We have tended to avoid becoming
the area's Mac trainers and just do a couple of SIGs for an hour of
our regular meeting time followed by Q&A and a main presentation
along the lines of a showcase or demo. Neither of our groups is
faring better than the other, but it seems to me that they have to
spend a lot more volunteer hours in support of the group. Both of our
groups have the same problems getting the volunteer support and both
of our groups experience members who are perpetually there to soak it
in without giving much back, or moving on when they are no longer
soaking it in.
We have been in a slow decline for several years, which departing
members who responded to our queries attributed to our meeting
location. We are moving back to a more central location starting this
month. We will see if it really makes a difference. Some of us think
it really won't.
One of our leaders compared the Linux user groups of today with what
the Mac and PC groups of yesterday used to be. As Macs and PCs have
moved fully out of the hobby realm, the reliance on and view of user
groups has changed. We are not the vital source of information we
used to be.
But is that a bad thing? One suggestion was to let our group continue
to be what it always was - a club for the enthusiasts. Let the
membership move on around us if they want, and continue to cater to
those enthusiasts - who also happen to be the ones doing the bulk of
the volunteer work anyway. I don't know if that's the right answer
either.
Paul Richards, Ambassador
Syracuse Macintosh Users Group
Syracuse, NY, USA
http://www.iSMUG.com
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