People attend user groups to learn, connect, and feel supported. Running a user group means making sure those things happen consistently. Behind the scenes, there is a surprising amount of planning, coordination, and stewardship involved. Despite all that work, we’ve been having some issues with attendance at our New England Sitecore User Group recently, and it’s got me really thinking about what is important when running a user group.

Even with our attendance dropping, it doesn’t feel like that work is in vain, or that the increased work in solving our attendance problems will be. It is a lot of work, but it is work that feels worth doing.

Content planning takes listening

We choose topics based on what practitioners say they want to learn, not what a vendor says they should care about. The best agendas reflect the real needs and real questions of the community. This can come from directly surveying your community members, or more subtly asking, or even subtly listening to what people are curious about, struggling with, or excited to share. The mechanics of getting this information are not nearly as important as the core intent, though; you need to listen.

Speakers need support

Good stories come from people doing the work. We help presenters shape their messages, focus their narrative, and feel comfortable sharing wins and failures openly. Confidence on stage builds confidence in the room. Speakers need support in content, length, practice presenting, sometimes coming up with topics, and through reminders that a presentation deadline is coming. Then, the night of, speakers need technical support, confidence support, and introduction support, not just an an introduction to their presentation, but introductions to attendees, Sitecore staff that may be in attendance, and other speakers. All of this support doesn’t have to take a lot of time, but it does require a lot of thought and intentness.

The goal is always connection

Networking breaks are not filler. They are the point. Knowledge grows faster when people trust each other enough to trade experiences without fear of judgment. I have personally made the mistake of planning for networking breaks between presentations that were too short, but quickly realized my mistake while it was happening live. As I was struggling to keep us on a tight, packed schedule during a user group and couldn’t get folks to quiet down for the next presentation, I stopped, looked around, and realized that it was OK; this was actually why we were all here.

Success is measured quietly

There are no conversion rates to track, no KPIs to brag about. What matters is seeing someone who once sat quietly now volunteering to lead a session. What matters is hearing that a connection made here solved a real challenge somewhere else. I don’t want to lead user groups whose sole purpose is a platform for speakers to get X talks in towards their MVP application; I want to lead user groups whose purpose is to bring people together, to help each other solve real problems, and make real connections.

Community is not infrastructure. It is investment in people, and that investment pays off in every organization that benefits from shared growth.