First things first: Leveraging social media isn’t about just being present on all the possible social channels. It’s about being social.

Being Responsive to your community

If you’ve really watched the above video The first thing you’ll notice is that people now expect a quick or rather instant response to their queries and suggestions. Start being responsive using the following three steps.

1. More forum moderators & responders : Ensure that besides yourself, you have at least 2 volunteers who promptly respond to your community members. The next logical question which you might have, where the hell do I get these volunteers. Simple, first post a call for volunteers publicly on your website and your forums. Second, award people who post and respond maximum on your forums, and invite them to the exclusive forum moderators panel.

2. Be social: The above point applies to your presence on social media channels as well. Ensure that you have moderators out there as well to provide quick responses. You’re not taking advantage of social media unless you’re being social on those channels. Being social means being courteous, helpful and tending to form cooperative and interdependent relationships with others (yeah I picked the last bit from Merriam Webster .

3. Make it super simple and easy for people to connect and get recognition: Provide your community members ample opportunities to introduce themselves to each other. You could obviously hold networking events, however, a simpler less expensive tactic is to feature your members on your website. Interview key members, talk about their key focus areas, their work, how they got to be successful, how they could help each other etc. Talk about other aspects of their personality, maybe they’re part of a band? Maybe there’s a singer somewhere out there. One community leader I know was awesome with magic tricks, in fact he did a a show in one of the community leader meetings, it was a great icebreaker and got a lot of people talking amongst themselves, besides people getting to know him. Most people like it when they’re recognized for just being a part of an organization and a club. Provide them a badge to display on their blogs, website etc. Showcase their talent and abilities. Don’t restrict this to just the stars in your community, make sure even the newbie has an opportunity to shine.

To summarize: Being responsive and social is critical to ensuring a well promoted and thriving community.

I hope the above has helped turn the wheels of imagination and ideas in you, and I’d love to hear about your ideas and suggestions as well.

One last note: Though I’ve started this post with leveraging social media, yeah that was to grab your attention, the real meaning is being social, don’t just maintain a pseudo presence. Oh, sometimes you might want to do that, as in get a page on Facebook or Twitter to make sure no one grabs your group name. Just make sure that you’re ready to be social, when you announce to your members the availability of your group on a certain social media channel.

Scott Hanselman did a great talk today at the Community Leadership summit (#techedcls) about how the community can leverage their voice online. He encouraged the community to leverage their voice via blogs to get the attention of Microsoft to fix things which they feel can be done in a better way. A great call to action to the community to make their voice heard. User group leaders have a distinct advantage here, nay responsibility, to make sure their community members voices are heard, and Scott’s suggestion to people to blog is a good one. Each user group leader can take advantage of this and be the channel to voice their member concerns, which ultimately would cause organizations like Microsoft to take action on their request.

Improvement Needed

However, good intentioned this is (and I urge leaders and community members to make their voice heard), it speaks a lot about the way Microsoft gets or takes feedback from the community. For e.g. Microsoft Connect is one of the ways they do this. However, a much larger, open, consistent and better promoted way is needed to enable this. My first pet peeve about Microsoft Connect is that it needs a serious upgrade, not just the website, but also the way it’s promoted to the community. Heck I’m sure not all the people in the audience had even heard about Microsoft Connect or have actively participated in this. This is a structural fault in the program, considering that this audience of community leaders who were attending the session are at the forefront on Microsoft Community activities.

Solutions?

1. Revamp the site.

2. Make the site more social friendly, enabling people to share on Twitter, FB etc. Well maybe not the entire site, but partial integration might be the way to go forward.

3. Get a community advisory board in place, which provides feedback to the Microsoft Connect team to improve the Connect site.

4. Involve the community associations, INETA, GITCA, PASS, to promote the channel and reward them for doing so.

The buck stops at you…

The real deal which Scott talked about in his session was; if we’re concerned about something which affects us, for e.g. this post of mine where I highlight the Microsoft Connect issue, then do something about it. For starters blog about it and spread the word among the community. You can do the same about other things which you feel need improvement. However, there is a caveat, make sure it’s not just a rant, make sure you spell the problem clearly, and provide solutions which will help.

Popularizing your group is no different an activity than popularizing a company. If you look at what most companies do they use traditional and online PR and media to help promote or as is becoming common nowadays, explore social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). However, most user group leaders certainly don’t have these kind of budgets and these kinds of activities are not necessarily conducive to promoting community activities. I’m however, going to focus on very simple activities which are doable by any leader.

Ideas to popularize your user group / community web site

1. Consistency - Whatever you do, make sure you do regularly. Whether it’s updated content/articles on your group site, or regular meetings. You don’t have to have a lot going on, but consistency in what you do is extremely important.
2. Talk with the Stars - Every one likes to see and know what the rock stars are doing, we naturally look up to the stars and hope to learn more or aspire to be one, eventually. Interview rock stars for your user group website. Most won’t have an issue in responding to a set of 5-6 questions. Keep it short and you’ll be surprised how many would respond. You could simply target each influencer (MVP, RD, speaker) in your country and hey don’t just stop there. Every book author, and influencer across the world. The added benefit of this one activity is that, more than often they will mention about the interview on their blog/twitter post etc. which might help drive some traffic to you.
3. Guest Articles – Invite your members, influencers to contribute guest articles, have your members vote for the articles and reward the best ones each month. Even a simple acknowledgement on the website itself is a good start. Invariably each article writer would be self-motivated to mention the article on his blog/twitter post and share with friends. In addition add such posts on to aggregation sites like DIGG. Post on FB, Twitter etc. as well.
4. Get listed - Make sure your group is listed on popular search engines, Industry association sites(INETA, GITCA, PASS) and make your group details are correctly mentioned out there. e.g. number of members, group focus, meeting dates etc. Ensure that your group meeting/events are posted on your public Twitter, Facebook, Blog sites as well.

Lastly, share the load. The above four activities though simple can be time consuming. Make sure you enlist the help of volunteers in your group. Assign each one a specific task. For e.g. One person for posting new articles on the group website, FB, Twitter and DIGG. Another person, for posting group meeting details online. One person to send out interviews and publish them on your site. If you’re all alone then pick maximum of two of the above tasks and do them yourself. Don’t try and do all, cause doing all the above consistently can be a challenge.

If you’ve got ideas which have worked for you, please do share via the comments, would love to hear about them.

What does a typical sponsor look for while working with the user group community? What matters to them? What kind of events are they interested in? We posed these and other questions to Emily Parker, the Community Manager for Telerik. Telerik builds a variety of products for the .Net Community and is a great supporter of the community.

1. What kind of user groups are you’ll particularly interested in sponsoring?

Emily: Groups with strong leadership that promote active membership and involvement. These groups usually meet consistently on thriving topics and have passionate members.

2. Do you’ll have standard way of engaging with the community? Could you describe a typical engagement?
Emily: Normally I will meet through a connections or reference from another group leader or industry member. In the beginning, I would find them via the INETA website or other organizations and reach out for the first time offering products and help.

3. Besides user groups do you’ll sponsor other kinds of activities like blogs, Podcasts, or video blogs?

Emily: Generally we do. I however don’t coordinate our podcast sponsorships, that falls under the marketing team domain. If I am adamant about particular podcast, I will have leverage with the team but usually we budget 1 year in advance or less.

4. What kind of events excite you’ll the most?
I appreciate the Code Camps a lot. They are a big production for a group with very little structure or experience and so the middle of the road code camps usually provide us with the most value. They are not overly commercial or political and they still have many eager, excited developers ready to dive into all the new topics. Usually the second or third time around a code camp has fixed a few of the logistical issues.

5. Do number of attendees matter? Why?

Emily: Not usually. I tend to overlook the initial #s. I might start to get skeptical if an event is fudging their numbers, but really we look for quality over quantity. Some of our best events had less than 30 people there, while others with over 200 offer us barely any exposure.

6. What are your metrics or takeaways which you’ll look for post a sponsorship?
Emily: Usually I will look at the # of attendees vs. expected. I would say that ratio does say something for the event organizers ability to run the conference. Sometimes weather will affect that though. I will also consider the organizers communication and flexibility as an added value. In the end, there are some events as a vendor you just need to sponsor to compete, others you can provide help to that really makes a difference and some in between. It’s all about balance.

5. What giveaways do you’ll typically provide?
Emily: Usually our top license is a prize. If the event wants a few smaller prizes we are flexible. We figure if we want to sell our products to the community, we should put our best foot forward.

6. Besides the US markets, are you’ll working with communities in other countries? If you are which specific countries are you’ll focused on?
Emily: Yes, over 40 countries to list J But I can mention we focus in countries with the technology available or that have shown the greatest interest which include many European, North American, some Asian and some South American countries. We also dip into Africa too. I haven’t heard from Antarctica yet though.

7. If there are two things which a leader could do to make you inclined to sponsor an activity what would it be?
Emily: Someone who will advocate for us to his members is really great. We strive not to be pushy salesman types and if we can find leaders who are both nice to us and flexible about contacting his/her members it is wonderful. We always treat them with respect and try to go above and beyond with providing give a ways and products. I appreciate an organizer who is honest and understanding about the budget. Sometimes I can only give $200 but we can work with that.

8. Do you have any recognition programs for community members?
Emily: Currently we run an independent speakers program that we nicknamed ‘Telerik Insiders’. These speakers are provided travel assistance to speak in the community if they are up for the travel. They sometimes do tours in one state in the US or in Europe in their free time! The structure has been fairly loose for 2010, as it was the first year. But we plan to grow this into something just as valuable but stronger with more speakers for 2011. We try to use their feedback on the program to structure it.

For e.g. You could have an ASP.Net tips repository, or a Developer tips repository, or best practices for setting up a new developer machine or tools in your developer kit or tools you use everyday, or your best learning resources.

Here are some guidelines to ensure success:

1. Start with one specific area e.g. Best learning resources, ASP.Net, IIS etc.
2. Appoint one volunteer – who will
   1. seed the list with at least 5-6 items
   2. spread the word
   3. Find more contributors
3. Approach at least ten people in your group to contribute two tips each before you publicly launch the idea. You might not have all ten respond, even if you have 3-4 you’re ready to go. If not evaluate with them what topic/specific area might be more suitable.
4. Ensure that you allow people to rate the items.
5. Reward the tip contributors in each category – promote them on your website/newsletter and mail members the top tips in the category each month, clearly highlighting the top contributors.

If you have a number of volunteers helping out in your group, you could possibly start multiple tip repositories. However, I’d advise to start with one, take the learning’s from it and create more.

Software Companies

If you’re running a technology user group, then software product companies are your best bet. Note: I’m talking about product companies as they have something specific to offer to your members. It is possible that a services firm might have specific services to offer as well. For e.g. a security consulting firm might be offering a service rather than a product. So how does one approach them and which specific companies should one approach? Simple! Ask your members. Do a small poll/survey of your membership asking them which products they use, and let that be the deciding factor. What would help is to figure out how many members particularly are interested in the product/tool. This way when you approach the company you have data which is of interest to them. Now the same applies for the other categories as well.

Hardware and Hosting Companies

Everyone is online and someone or the other is constantly upgrading their infrastructure. In addition, hosting companies might offer your user group free web space in exchange for presenting at your group or maybe having a banner on the user group website. In addition your monthly newsletter, can provide them the necessary exposure.

Magazine/book publishers and online content sites

 These companies are churning out information of relevance to your audience. Quite a few publishers also offer free books in exchange for a review. They are quite neutral in terms of the kind of review provided. It doesn’t have to be a good review of the book or giving it five stars. They’re more interested in making sure their books get publicity among your membership. Some even offer exclusive discounts to your members.

Training Companies

These can prove a goldmine in terms of regular speakers on a variety of topics for your user group meetings. Additional discounts to their training programs are a bonus. However, I think the speaker benefit can prove to be just phenomenal and it works both ways for them as well as your members.

Event Organizers

Event organizers provide you with some amazing opportunities in terms of getting booth space for your user group, this could be invaluable as it helps you attract more members, more sponsors and in turn they can prove to be valuable opportunities for your speakers to get exposure.

When thinking of the sponsor categories listed above, one thing you need to bear in mind is to think thru the advantages you get and the advantages you offer to the organization. When in doubt just ask the respective sponsor and you’d be surprised at how helpful people can be.

If you’ve been successfully approaching sponsors and have ideas to share, I’m sure all the readers of the blog would love to hear.

Who, What, When, Where, How, Why – Metrics and Review

It does look strange when I start this article with questions, however, answering these questions are your keys to get sponsors successfully for your user group.

Let’s say someone comes up to you and asks you for $1000. You would obviously want to know why he wants it, how the money would be spent and what you would get in return. Similarly, a potential sponsor for your user group needs information on how the activity which you’re proposing would benefit their organization.

Let us take a practical example on how you could apply this in real life. Let’s say your group is focused on .Net Technologies, and you have an upcoming event where the topic of discussion is SharePoint 2010.

Well, you’re already on your way to answer one of the first questions your sponsor might ask: the “What” – as in the focus of the user group meeting/event. You’d need to provide more data here, such as what aspect of SharePoint you’re covering, etc. We’ll come back to this question later.

Who is coming? – Your sponsor will need to know the kind of people that are going to attend the meeting. The obvious answer is: people interested in SharePoint.

However, let’s look at two different responses:

Response 1: 40 SharePoint developers will be attending the meeting

versus

Response 2: 40 developers are going to attend the meeting. 10 of them are from the top IT companies in the region. 15 of them are experienced in SharePoint, searching for new components to help ease their SharePoint development. 10 are interested in learning more about SharePoint or are first time users, and 5 people are about to start a new SharePoint project and are hoping to learn as much as they can.

Which of the two responses do you think is going to garner more interest from a sponsor? It’s obvious; response 2 will most likely get the sponsor interested.

I’m sure you’re about to stop reading or are scratching your heads wondering how this much information can be collected. The answer is simple: the registration form for your meeting. It can and should be a goldmine of information for you, your speakers and your potential sponsors. It helps you understand your audience profile, which is extremely useful information for the potential speaker at your user group meeting, and provides invaluable information identifying the target audience for the potential sponsor.

The other Who is the speaker – It definitely is a big help if a prominent, experienced speaker is going to be speaking at your meeting. This helps build the credibility of your user group as a whole. The sponsor would also like to be associated with someone prominent, as this is likely to help their image.

When – This is probably the most misunderstood question from an organizational standpoint. Ask a user group leader “when” and the standard response is a date: say 1st of January. 2011. Let me ask you a question; is the effort to do anything, such as conducting a meeting, a one-time activity? Okay, I know this sounds perplexing. So, let me instead tell you about the strategy followed by most large organizations in a given year.

An organization usually conducts all promotional activities around a common theme or focus. There might be just one annual theme/focus, or a year may be broken up into four quarters, or three trimesters, or whatever. During a given period, though, all events and activities are built around that theme/focus. E.g. It would not be surprising to guess that 2011 will probably go down as the year for Windows Phone 7 for Microsoft. They will have presentations online, events off-line, press meetings etc. focussed at least for a quarter, around this subject one: Windows Phone 7. They will also have a published calendar of events/activities.

Why is this important? A theme and a published calendar helps everyone: the organization itself can consolidate their costs by planning and clubbing things together; partners that are interested in a particular theme can concentrate their resources around that particular time, and interested attendees can plan their schedules in advance.

Hence, as a UG leader, you should also have a published calendar of events for at least a quarter. This helps keep you focused, shows that you are really organized (and not just doing a one-off activity for which you are seeking sponsorship), and makes it easier for attendees to plan their schedules (and perhaps register in advance). All these factors can be effective in gaining sponsorship, because they tell the potential sponsor about your focus, help them in planning and justifying long-term collaboration, and provide them with data that is useful to them.

Where – Location, Location, Location – I’m not just being dramatic here. To run an effective event, you must answer three where questions for both the attendees and the sponsor. One, where can I find out more about the user group/event? Two, where do I attend the user group meeting/event. And three, where can the interaction continue?

Why are all three important, especially to sponsors? A clear answer to the first where allows sponsors to do first-party research regarding your group/event. The answer to the second where can help sponsors plan their on-site activities, and can also give them avenues for further activities, e.g. if the meeting/event is held on the premises of a prominent company, the sponsor may take this opportunity to reach out to the company as well.

Having an answer for the third where is probably the most important part, in today’s virtual world. Having an online forum, or using platforms like Twitter or FaceBook, can allow interaction between the audience, the presenters, and the sponsors to continue even after the fact. This can be a huge value-add for the audience. It will definitely be so for the sponsor, as it allows them to keep in touch with the audience.

How – This question is about the processes you follow (you do follow processes, don’t you?). If a sponsor asks you how you do things, make sure you include as much detail as possible. Apart from the answers to all the questions above, give clear information about the format of the meeting/event and the way you will ensure publicity for the event. Very importantly, provide details on how much sponsorship you need, and how early they need to send you the money. When do they send you the money – is it pre or post event? How do they send it, is it PayPal, is it a fund transfer? The How is a very broad and multi-faceted question. One part of the answer is about the internals of how you do things, i.e. how the event/activity is being conducted. The other is in terms of how sponsors can engage with your group.

Why – Why should they be sponsoring this activity? What is the value you are providing back to your sponsor? What are the advantages and benefits of working with your group? For instance, the profiles of a majority of your members may match the demographics that the sponsor targets. The Why is your pitch to the sponsor. The answer should be wrapped up in to a nice pitch document for your sponsor, which explains why the event is being conducted, why it benefits this particular sponsor etc. Here, information about who is attending, how the event is being conducted, when, and where are tied in with the benefits for the sponsor. The Why brings it all together.

There are two other things which I feel are extremely important when considering a pitch to any sponsor: Metrics and Review

Metrics: Measures of Success – Typically it’s the sponsor who would have a number of questions about sponsoring the activity. However this is a question you need to ask the sponsor. You need to understand what will define a successful sponsorship activity for their organization. For some sponsors, it might be just an agreed-up number list of attendees, for some it might be the actual list of attendees, for others it might be an on-going relationship. You need to know the measure of success for each of your sponsors. This will help you in getting long term sponsors for your group.

Review – After each activity, review with your sponsor what they perceived as good or bad. This is an invaluable service which will help you gain some fantastic insight from your sponsor and will help you build a long term relationship. Make sure you inform each sponsor in advance that they will have to participate in a review process post the activity for which they are sponsoring. This will also help in showing your seriousness towards engagement with the sponsor.

Ok, I’m sure you’re wondering how do I do all of this, don’t. The way to begin is by starting with one or two of the above and doing it till it becomes habitual. Then start with the others, keep a target of six months or more to incorporate all the above suggestions. If I were to pick one suggestion to start with, I’d begin with answering the who question first as ultimately your group is here to serve the needs of it’s members.

1. Talk about your story – how did you get involved in the community, why did you join it, how did it benefit you, put this up online on your group page. Encourage other members to submit their stories as well.
2. Why be a volunteer - tell them how it benefits them, you need more than one story, make sure you have at least three different benefits targeted at different people.
3. Create a volunteer sign up page - describe specific positions, who should apply, and what is expected, document the process of what work is needed to be done and how. Doing this simple step will help potential volunteers to engage with you in a more meaningful and concrete way.
4. Notify your membership - Send an email to your members inviting new volunteers, make sure it is not a general mail, provide details of specific positions which are open.
5. Highlight existing volunteers - Create detailed profile pages of your existing volunteers. Ask them to suggest if they know of likely candidates.
6. Recognize their contributions - This is the most important thing you need to do. Think of ways of honouring efforts of volunteers. E.g. Provide monthly/quarterly awards. Most groups try to put in a yearly award, and they fail, from a volunteers perspective the sooner they receive recognition the higher a chance you have of them staying on and helping. The simplest award is a printed certificated thanking them for their efforts. A public announcement on the group website would be a good starting point.

Lastly don’t assume just cause you’ve done the above steps you’ll get a ton of new volunteers. Recruitment is an on-going process. In fact, you probably don’t want a ton of new volunteers to sign up all at once, as then managing the new team is a task in itself which can become unmanageable very soon. Start with 2 or 3 key positions only, once these volunteers are properly inducted into the team and successfully carrying out their assigned tasks, then move on to recruiting more volunteers.

Making it easy for new members

New comers are most susceptible to first impressions, and hence it’s most important to make sure they are acknowledged, heard and responded to. Remember the first time you joined a new company or a new team. Wouldn’t it have been easier if there was someone to guide you and get you to be part of the organization or team? Make it a point to encourage existing members to connect with new members. Maybe older members get credit points for every new person they connect with or mentor. In addition, create a guidance document or a web page to specifically help new members get familiar with your community and key personnel. One thing you could do is help them connect with people of similar interests and background. It would be a great idea to have one or more people in your community dedicated to reaching out and engaging with new members. Remember a community is all about relationships. The stronger the relationship between the members, the stronger the community.

Acknowledging and rewarding contributors

You can never say “Thank You” enough to the various contributors who help your community grow. Whether it’s the people, who reply to questions, speak at your meetings, share articles or introduce new members, make sure you acknowledge each contribution. The best way would be to design an award system which recognizes and rewards such contributors. It could be as simple as giving them a top contributor, or top solution provider or such badge or certificate, or it could be simply listing them prominently on your community web site. In fact this practice alone would go towards encouraging more contributors and ensure a thriving community.

Feedback

Feedback is the lifeblood of any community. However, different people provide feedback in different ways. Some people are comfortable in providing feedback in a discussion, some people prefer to provide feedback anonymously and some are comfortable providing feedback online via a survey. You need to consider all of these in your feedback programs. The most important thing is to listen without being defensive or reactive. This will encourage more people to provide feedback. Your critics are your best friends. They provide valuable feedback. Ensure that feedback provided and actions taken on feedback are publically announced and display them prominently. If you don’t have a solution for a particular query, allow your members to contribute their solutions.

Transparency

Someone always knows what someone is doing. It is best to publically explain what your and your group’s motivations, objectives and plans are. This ensures clarity and confidence. If a vendor is sponsoring your group meeting or website etc. make sure the community is aware of it. Ensure that there is an open policy on how sponsors can get involved. Similarly, if you have a reward program or a contest make sure that the criteria are publicly displayed. Everybody loves a mystery but no one likes a person who hides things.

Evaluating and enabling motivations

People’s motivations will change as they and the group grows. You need to periodically evaluate your member’s motivations if you need to serve the community better. You should do this at least once a year. Reference my earlier blog post regarding member motivations.

Enabling new leaders and influencers

Great leaders are most interested in nurturing the next level of leadership and influencers. This ensures that the community grows and thrives beyond the leaders time and in directions not originally envisioned. The pride and satisfaction associated with this is immeasurable.

Summary

If you need an acronym to remember the above six, try Liftman If you’re overwhelmed by the above six keys, then remember it’s all about relationships, always. If you look at your community and its members from the point of view of cultivating relationships, you will automatically utilize the above keys.

13 ways to get new speakers for your user group meetings

These thirteen ideas will help you find new speakers for your user group meetings.

1. Book authors

Book authors are typically keen to spread the word about their books, and hence, might be willing to help out, by speaking at various avenues. It might be a challenge to get older prominent authors. However, newbie authors would be more interested. Another thought here is to hook up with other group leaders, and offer the author the chance to do a session not just at your user group, but a tour around three to four user groups. That would be more attractive to them. Some good sources of new books being published are:

• Microsoft Press: http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/hop/
• New book author listing on O’Reilly: http://oreilly.com/store/newreleases.html

2. Virtual Speakers

Sometimes it’s tough to get speakers to travel to your location, a good alternative that will work with most speakers, is to have them do a virtual session for your user group. Tip: Microsoft UGSS offers a free Live Meeting account to groups focused on Microsoft technologies, which enables you to easily setup a virtual meeting.

3. User Group Associations

INETA, GITCA, PASS and Microsoft UGSS all have a speaker bureau/registry, some of them even sponsor the speakers travel. This is a good option to explore.

4. Influencers

 Microsoft has a number of influencer programs. Experts who are a part of these programs are very open to speaking and helping communities. Find a MVP or RD who might be willing to speak. On another note, figure out if possible who the local RD / MVP managers are and they would be able to help you hook up with potential speakers.

5. Invite local company CEO’s

Provide them an opportunity to give an industry related talk. They would love it.

6. Vendors Speakers

There are a number of companies who build products around the base platform your group is working on. E.g. if you’re on the Microsoft platform, there are a huge number of product and service companies. Quite a few of them are very understanding of the user group community and know that when they are invited, the community is looking for a technology talk and not a sales presentation. They love to speak at UG meetings.

7. Encourage local speakers among your membership

I can’t over stress how super important this is to ensure the group thrives. Here are some suggestions:

• Encourage short 15 min intro round of sessions – this helps breaks the fear most people have and encourages them to speak, one hour presentations are scary for those who haven’t spoken before.
• Encourage potential speakers to join or participate at a local Toastmasters club. You can read about their offer to help user groups out here ->Toastmasters club, and can find their general tips and tricks for speakers out here.

8. Ask your members for speakers they can recommend.

• Make a list of speakers, ask your members to vote, send the top rated speakers an email letting him/her know that x number of your members would like it if the speaker could do a session on y topic. Usually a mail drafted like that would at least  prompt a response if not get the speaker to your meeting. In your mail make sure to ask the speaker for a recommendation to another speaker in case they can’t make it.

9. Other user group leaders

Speak to other group leaders, they would be able to provide great insights on which speakers are available regularly and also provide insights on how good bad the experience has been.

10. Training companies

They might send their top speakers in exchange for a slide or two about their training services.

11. Look up speakers of large events

Events such as TechEd, PDC, MIX, TechDays have a huge pool of great speakers, look them up, drop them a mail mentioning how you found out about them via x conference website, and invite them give a session either in person or virtually.

12. Local Microsoft DPE team Technical evangelists

One of the DPE team focus areas is to encourage the community. INETA, GITCA, PASS and Microsoft UGSS could help you connect with them.

13. Ask your prior speakers for recommendations

Ask each presenter at your meetings to suggest atleast one potential new speaker you could reach out to.

I hope you find this list of ideas on how to get speakers useful. If you find it useful, please share it with other leaders who you feel might need them. You never know they might provide a tip or two or even recommend other speakers. Lastly, if you have an idea which has worked for you, please share it via posting a comment below.