Meet and Greet Similar Technologists 

• Separate Developer and IT Pro sessions to meet and explore possibilities for colaboration and co-producing events to allow for leveraging resources

(added by Dan Stolts)

User Group Needs Discussion

• what groups "need" and brainstorm some ideas for getting sponsors to make it happen
• Develop a "list" of resources and "how to guides" that are already available and have it posted to www.BostonUserGroups.org or other public site
• What to say to get what you want from sponsors
• What user groups need to do to make sure they maintain strong relationships with sponsors and speakers

A Coordinated Boston Geek Events Calendar

• There are a number of websites purporting to highlight local events for geeks.  How do we make these more ubiquitous?
• Can we provide a single, geek-trusted email update of upcoming events?
• This might just be an awareness issue; maybe we just need better contact with the managers of http://www.bostonusergroups.org/ , who are expected to be at this summit.
• Suggestion added by Shimon Rura
• (Sheeri K. Cabral adds) How can we make sure that sites like upcoming.org, meetup, etc have the right information, so everyone can use the same thing?
• Note addded by Dan Stolts - Boston User Groups reps WILL be at the event and eager to take your suggestions
• There are 2 major calendars that I  know of
  1. Boston User Groups as listed in the URL, above
  2. The Boston-area User Group Calendar (http://www.bugc.org). While I  am a member of the board of Boston Usergroups and Boston Linux, we host BUGC on our servers.

Advanced Financial/Legal Topics

• Should you incorporate?
  • How much work is creating/maintaining a 501c3 non-profit?
  • Would a 501(c)6 be more appropriate for a user group
  • What about using an existing 501c(3) non-profit such as Technocation, Inc? (http://www.technocation.org)
• How do you raise and spend money for your group without exposing yourself to tax or legal liability? Where is the threshold where you should start to worry about things like this?
• Note from Shimon Rura: This is an idea for a session where I'd learn some valuable stuff. A group organizer experienced with these topics would make an excellent session leader, but a lawyer would be good too.  The key is addressing the legal/financial challenges with the perspective that user groups typically have very limited resources, so we want to focus on practical suggestions instead of "this is how you ought to do it" advice.
• Note from Sheeri K. Cabral:  I have had 10 years' experience in the volunteer not-for-profit role, and incorporated Technocation, Inc, whose mission is "to provide educational resources and monetary grants to IT professionals".  I can speak on whether or not you should incorporate, the financial/legal requirements/liabilities, etc.

Recording your sessions

• Do you?
• Should you?
• What's stopping you?
• How do you? (added by Dan Stolts)
• What equipment do you need? (added by Dan Stolts)
• Streaming your session LIVE on the Internet? (Added by Dan Stolts)
  (added by Sheeri K. Cabral)

Summer of Code and Other Community-Oriented Programs

• How to get User Group members interested in something other than themselves and jobs, jobs, jobs.
• How to recruit mentors to work with young people on coding projects.
• How to recruit developers for a Coders for Charities event.
• Ideas on developing STEM programs for kids, especially for girls in Jr. High and High School
• Note from Michael de la Maza, the Paris HIlton of F#: See www.scrumclub.org.  A Scrum Club creates Scrum teams that do pro bono work for charities
• Note from Marcia McLean: thanks, Michael.  Noticed they are only in LA and Seattle as of now.
  • Note from Michael de la Maza, the Paris HIlton of F#: Talk to Mary St. Germain who, along with Bob Fisher, is thinking about starting a Scrum Club in NH.  She plans to be at the event.
• Note from Laurel Ruma: There are a few different groups that do annual events, including Give Camp (http://givecamp.org/default.aspx)

Mission and Goals of a User Group

• Why do you do what you do?  How to stay motivated!
• What is the goal of a user group?
  • Maximize attendance
  • Maximize learning
  • Evangelize technology
  • Something else...
• How does a user group measure its success?

(added by Michael de la Maza, the Paris Hilton of F#)

Creation of Educational Materials

• Is anyone interested in developing courseware, either for User Groups or outside organizations (libraries, youth groups, community colleges,.....)?  Microsoft offers two platforms, LCDS: http://www.microsoft.com/Learning/tools/lcds/default.mspx and Semblio: http://www.microsoft.com/learningspace/semblio/Default.aspx

Starting a Code Camp

I'm in the process of trying to start a code camp in VT.  I would be willing to lead a chalk talk reviewing the experiences of others who have started code camps.  Possible topics might be:

• Venue - to rent or not (and if not how to convince a venue to let you in for free)
• Identifying speakers - how to get folks to present
• Promotion - what worked for getting the word out
• Other logistics - managing registration, need for volunteers, providing food, etc.
• Note from Michael de la Maza, the Paris HIlton of F#:  Get in touch with Mark Freedman who launched Code Camps in CT.   Check out his blog post on how to prep for a Code Camp: http://markfreedman.com/index.php/2007/11/17/running-a-code-camp-preparation/

(added by Rob Hale, VT .NET user group)

Cross-pollination: challenges in organization of cross-group technology-agnostic events

• Boston community is fractured into a lot of small pieces, preventing cross-pollination of ideas and expertise.
• Better and more stables communication channels are needed between the groups.
• We have sponsors - you have talent. Let's put all this into a big Boston bowl and cook some great ideas.

  • Note from Michael de la Maza, the Paris HIlton of F#: Who is "we"?

• Goal: come up with a good date (or a time frame) for the first of its kind "Craft Zen" event:
  • Attendees: senior-level developers and architects  (high quality of the attendees can be achieved via "invite only best people you know" process)
  • Scope: it's all about "CRAFT" - best practices, methodologies, agile, expertise exchange, continuous improvement of skills
  • Audience: Boston technology community
  • Technology: technology agnostic

(added by Igor Moochnick, member of IASA, Agile User Group, .Net Architecture Study Group, .Net User Group)

Helping attendees network for jobs or consulting

• We get a lot of people who are interested in hiring and others looking for work
• There are also consulting gigs available
• Does anyone do anything structured around this (job listings on site, part of meeting devoted to this)
  • Suggestion added by Lou Franco
• Note from Marcia McLean, Cape Cod .NET UG:  Lou, we used to do email blasts and now we have a jobs page. Quite honestly, it's very time-consuming to maintain, and I'm not sure, with so many jobs being posted on Craigslist, that it's been really useful to our members. There has been no interest from our members in having a resume posting service.

Advice for Noobs

• How do you run a great group?
• How do you spread out responisibilities?
• What's your plan B when speakers/venues fall through?
• How do you maintain interest?

(added by Laurel Ruma, Girl Geek Dinners)

(This could be done as a panel/roundtable, and I'd love to participate - Brian Jepson, Providence Geeks/AS220)