dacs.doc electric

 

The Strength of a User Group
is in its SIGs

By Don Neary

 

Why belong to a computer club? That question is getting harder to answer these days. The original intent has been and still is to provide an organization of people willing to share knowledge and experience related to computer utilization. The computer experience is getting much more complicated. It is constantly being improved and expanded to a point where belonging to a club can be very rewarding and worthwhile, provided the organization finds a way to keep up with the ever expanding subject matter. The larger clubs such as ours are being challenge to find ways to balance the needs of the general with those of members with special interests that would bore some and intimidate others.

Special Interest Groups (SIGs)--or if you prefer "Workgroups"--can be the key ingredient for keeping a user group alive and current. We need more than monthly general meetings dedicated to vendor presentations of a broad nature to keep and attract new members. Most of us have additional needs for the meat and potatoes issues of using computers and software that our monthly meeting is not able to address.

SIGs can be the life blood of any club, provided the voluntary side of our membership is willing to utilize our cumulative resources and energy to keep them current and informative. Computer capability is growing at a fast pace, for which many of us would appreciate having a support group to share experiences and knowledge. DACS is fortunate to have eight SIGs that meet monthly and are listed in our calendar. You will also note we are getting more and better SIG meeting reports. This will keep potential members aware of what happens at a meeting and to encourage more who may be interested to participate. We are fortunate to have our newsletter as a forum to do that.

I am interested to see if we can expand the concept by adding more to our SIGs or spicing up those we already have. How about a Kids’, Senior, or Hand Held SIG for example? So how do we do that? It’s simple: Someone has to step forward and say, I have found enough people interested in getting together to further our mutual interest in a particular area. Most think the leader needs to be a garu on the subject. That’s not necessary. Any member of the group can be that resource, or it could be a cumulative resource of banding together to learn how to get answers. There is no reason why a group can’t have its own guest speaker on the subject or get together with other SIGs in the area with similar interest.

Where to meet and the need for computer and projector equipment can be an issue. DACS members have a very big advantage here, since we have our own “Resource Center” for that purpose (that some would say is underutilized).

To start a SIG you only have to provide:

1- Your name and contact info.
2- The name of the SIG and its mis sion statement.
3- A list of DACS members wanting to participate (min. 10, but who’s counting?)
4- Your desired meeting date and support requirements. (consult Calendar for open dates)
5- A formal request to the board for review and approval.

An organization is only as good as the sum of its volunteers and the SIGs concept needs to be a core resource toward keeping our user group alive and well.

More next time on my visits to existing SIGs, to learn their objectives, achievements and support concerns.


Don Neary is a DACS director, SIG coordinator and Liaison to the Association of PC User Groups (APCUG). He can be reached at donneary@prodigy.net

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