How to organize a Progress User Group (PUG)
2/21/2008 DRAFT VERSION
If you’ve chosen to run a Progress user group, you’ll quickly find there is a lot of work to do and few
people who have the time to help you. This how to guide was created to arm you with tips, ideas, best
practices, and knowledge of what is available and how others accomplish this daunting task.
This is not meant as a prescription or a mandate; rather, it is intended as a resource you may find useful as
you find what works best for you and your members. It was compiled by Doug Lucy of Allegro
Consultants, but many sections and items were contributed by other North American Progress User Group
presidents, most notably Scott Dulecki of Bravepoint. Those of you who would like to contribute or
comment are welcome to do so.
This document now lives at PSDN and is moderated by the NAPUG presidents.
Table Of Contents
What is a PUG? .......................................................................................................................................... 2
What purpose does a PUG serve?............................................................................................................... 2
What’s my job? .......................................................................................................................................... 2
Where can I find help? ............................................................................................................................... 2
Location...................................................................................................................................................... 2
Planning...................................................................................................................................................... 3
At the meeting ............................................................................................................................................ 6
After the meeting........................................................................................................................................ 9
Sending out announcements ....................................................................................................................... 9
Talk to vendors for freebies or discounts as giveaways ........................................................................... 11
Help wanted and jobs wanted sections of your newsletter ....................................................................... 11
How to find new members........................................................................................................................ 11
Website..................................................................................................................................................... 11
Funding..................................................................................................................................................... 12
Conferences .............................................................................................................................................. 12
What is a PUG?
A Progress user group is a mostly-informal group of people who have jobs where they interact with or
develop Progress-based business applications on a regular basis.
PUGs tend to meet several times a year to network amongst themselves, share problems and solutions with
one another, and to hear presentations on Progress products, techniques for using Progress and related
technologies.
Progress user groups tend to be highly technical in nature and best serve programmers, database
administrators, system administrators and managers of Progress-based software applications.
What purpose does a PUG serve?
PUGs exist to give Progress users and developers a place or channel to hear about how they can use what
they have, explain problems they have encountered, and offer answers to the problems others are having.
PUG members get to hear about new techniques that can help solve their problems as well as hear about
new Progress products that extend the functionality and usefulness of those they already have.
A typical Progress user group helps keep existing Progress applications viable and increase the knowledge
of those whose job it is to support and extend those Progress-based applications. PUG meetings often end
up being education in what can be done with and how to do certain things related to Progress.
What’s my job?
As the organizer or president of Progress user group, you are responsible for
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Inspiring the members to attend and participate
Organizing meetings
Developing and/or selecting program material
Finding speakers
Announcing meetings
Running meetings
Collecting dues
Planning the next meeting
Where can I find help?
Local companies and consultants who use Progress can be enlisted to help with the group. PSC itself has
dedicated budget dollars and responsible staff to help. Other Progress shops have speakers you can count
on for presentations. The NAPUG group exists to help each other improve and maintain our membership
and meetings. PSDN has a section just for us PUG presidents.
Location
Member company facilities
•
•
Companies often offer their facilities for use
It’s best if they agree to do it for a long period of time since consistent meeting locations is
important to continued attendance
Hotels with conference rooms
•
Easy to establish a single location then benefit from a consistent meeting location
•
•
•
•
•
They have screens, projectors, microphones, podiums, and such which are convenient and can
certainly save you when you forget to bring something
Able to provide additional chairs and tables as attendance suddenly grows beyond expectation
Quite often have outside lines you can use to dial up an Internet connection
Capable of providing refreshments
They need 2 to 6 months notice, so it’s best to plan out a whole year in advance
Layout and setup
In general, you will want a classroom or theatre style setup. You’ll need a screen or white board for
projection and/or notes from the presenters, a table for them to set up their laptops, perhaps a podium for
them to speak from, a small table for the projector, then chairs and perhaps tables for the members.
Classroom style does work a little better since that gives each attendee a table in front of them to take notes
and set their drinks down.
In the back of the room, you’ll typically have the refreshment cart or table for the pizzas. This is where the
members will typically congregate during the breaks, so you’ll want this area to be large enough and free of
other furniture so the members can stand around and talk to each other.
The back of the room is also a good spot for the tables holding vendor and group literature and
announcements. Always bring extra copies of the presentations and calendars for members to pick up.
Outside the meeting room is the best place for the registration table. Typically, people will be late and want
to talk to the person manning the registration table. If this table is outside the meeting room, it is less likely
the conversation will interrupt the presentations.
When to hold meetings
Frequency
3 or 4 times a year is a good frequency, both for the administration of the meetings and the users ability to
break away from work
Planning a meeting sometime right after the national conference gives you the opportunity to attend the
conference and bring back news to the members who could not attend
Day and time
Avoid end of the month and beginning of the next month since many Progress shops are doing end-ofmonth processing and can’t consistently make the meetings
Avoid November and December due to holidays and busier sales
Planning
It really is critical to get your meetings planned well in advance. If you can plan all of them for a year, you
can produce a calendar for members to post at their offices
Before a meeting
At the end of the year or the beginning of the next year
Decide on a schedule for the events, especially the meetings
Send schedule to PSC (Karen) to make sure the dates don’t conflict with scheduled Progress events (like
your speakers not being able to make it)
Make sure you let the local sales rep know and convince them to attend
90 days out
Reserve hotel space
Reserve rooms at hotel
Talk to Karen about speakers
Talk to vendors about freebies and ad space
Post something on PUG Central even if tentative dates, about the PUG series.
60 days out
Email all PUG members about the PUG meeting series.
Remind them to check the PUG Central website for any updates, etc. (Update site to include more details
such as topics, speakers, etc.)
Survey members if any topics need to be finalized, etc.
45 days out
Make sure website is up to date
Create a page just for each meeting. Include a link to the location-specific page. Include the name of the
room where you’ll be meeting. Include the fact there will/will not be refreshments
Create another page for the location info. For example, create a page for “Doubletree Conference center”.
Include a picture, a map from MapBlast, and a link to MapBlast driving direction, street address, and phone
numbers
Send out “help wanted and positions wanted” solicitation to members
30 days out
Remind your speakers
Get flyer to Karen for PSC mailing
Call members for a “coming up notice”
Send the PEG a notice
Maybe send email w/ flyer attached in addition to calling???
Send out “deadline approaching on help wanted ads and positions wanted”
Ask education sources if there are any announcements
•
•
•
•
•
•
PSC
USI
Guggenheim
Allegro Consultants, Ltd.
JDJ
Whitestar
Ask book vendors if there are any updates
•
•
•
USI
Whitestar
JDJ
Prepare your list of filler topics
Select or prepare a backup presentation in case someone cancels at the last minute
15 days out
Send out newsletter
Email members to see who is coming.
Print posters and calendars
Week before
Call members to verify their attendance.
Give hotels final headcount.
Print your agenda to hand out
Print HELLO tags for your members
Print HELLO tags for your guests (speakers, vendors, PSC salesmen, etc)
Day before
Remind hotel to put up signs with CORRECT spelling
Send PEG a “don’t forget” message
Send members a “don’t forget” message
At the meeting
Before you leave for the venue
Bring the name and phone number of the person handling the setup and catering of your event. Once you
get to the venue, you may have trouble finding these people and it’s easier to have their numbers right at
your fingertips
Review the items you are bringing with you
Two or more power strips
Phone cord
Duct tape for keeping cords down on the floor
AC power extension cable
RF remote mouse, not an infrared one. Distance is important
Laser pointer
LCD projector, if you aren’t renting it
Extra bulb for projector
Laptop
Backup laptop
Make sure you have some medium to transfer files between the presentation laptop and the other laptops
(speakers)
VGA extension cable
Handouts for the meeting
Cellular phone
Show up early
There WILL be things wrong: missing tables, wrong cables, no projection screen, etc.
Put up simple signs telling your members, in BIG letters, how to get to your room
The hotels usually have easels for you to put your signs on instead of taping them to the walls. It is
convenient to get your signs made up with foam board backing so they stand in easels better. We have had
better success with brightly colored posters with the PUG name in large, unmistakable letters. If you use
the same colors a design for each meeting, the consistency makes it easier for members to find the signs
once they arrive. We have posters on foam boards with Velcro-attached arrows pointing towards the room.
When we put up 4 or 5 of these signs, it is easy to move the arrows to suit the floor plan and location of the
meeting room without having to make up a new set of signs each time.
Sign-in
Make sure you have people sign in. It’s the only way to know who came, how many members you had in
attendance. Easy excuse is to use the sign-in sheet for the giveaway
Have someone sit at the registration table throughout the first quarter of the meeting. It makes it easier for
members to ask what to do, to know they should sign in, and get to know the members a bit better.
Hanging a large banner over the registration table can make it easier for members to find you and provide
an opportunity for sponsor log space. These are relatively quick and cheap from your local sign shop.
Handouts
This is your opportunity to give out reminders for the next meeting, questionnaires, and any vendor
literature
Try to have a page that lists all the meetings for the next year and give it to the members each meeting. This
will help them remember and generate some interest. If you make it nice enough to hang on a cubicle wall,
you might generate interest from additional people who wouldn’t have come to the meetings other than
they saw the poster. If you give these out at every meeting, the likelihood of the poster surviving and
actually being out up by each member is higher. This again is an opportunity to show sponsor logos on the
annual calendar
Agenda
Review today’s agenda
Make some announcements
Take questions
Ask questions prepping for the first small presentation
Start the first presentation (small one). This presentation gives late arriving members a chance to get in
without missing the big presentations
Take a 5-minute break
Ask questions prepping for the first big presentation
Start the first presentation (big one). If either one of your two big presentations are longer than the other,
the longer would should go first. By the second presentation, people will be fidgeting and need to get up
and/or leave, so it is important that the second big presentation be the shorter of the two.
Take a 15-minute break
Ask questions prepping for the second small presentation
Start the second small presentation
Take a 5-minute break
Ask questions prepping for the second big presentation
Start the second big presentation
Wrap up and remind everyone of upcoming events again and the next meeting
The Presentations
Keep the best presentation for last. It makes a big difference to have the most interesting and appealing
presentation at the end to keep the members there
Don’t forget to space the presentations out so people can stretch their legs during breaks. Also, keep the
presentations a tolerable length.
We have two big presentations and two smaller presentations each meeting
Prizes and Giveaways
We’ve found giving away trinkets just after each break tends to help get the members back for the meeting
a little quicker. We give away items from Progress and sponsors and also have one big-ticket item to give
away as a prize.
Using the numbered lines from the sign-in sheet, we have a simple Progress 4GL randomizer program that
not only helps pick winners for each giveaway and prize, but also fosters light-hearted discussion about the
program itself.
Mark Karaman (DVPUG) recommends buying door prizes from ThinkGeek.com as their geekoriented catalog has something all Progress programmers and DBAs would love to have.
We have found requiring members to pre-register for the meeting or they don’t qualify for the door
prize improves our attendance.
Announcing what the door prizes are can help improve attendance and consistency.
General Discussions
The members typically love to talk about what they do and how they use Progress. If you ask questions,
things like “How do you use Progress?” it will foster discussions, bring some enthusiasm to the group, and
give you a better idea of the makeup of your membership. Once you’ve heard from the vocal members, you
can approach them to talk about their projects or accomplishments or techniques at future meetings.
After the meeting
Announcement to member list
•
•
•
•
•
•
Thanks
How the meetings went
How many people showed up
Who won what
When ppt's and mpg's will be available
Sales reps contact info on site
Post the presentations up on your PUG website
Report on content and attendance to Karen
Thank you letters to vendors and speakers
For your newsletter
•
•
•
•
Who won what at the meetings?
Who spoke, about what, where the materials are
Where the next meetings are
Recap important things like announcements, big questions to be answered, any follow on event
(like members getting together for conference)
Send member info of winners to appropriate vendor
Sending out announcements
You’ll want to send you announcement(s) out to as many people as possible. It can be difficult for people
to break away from work or remember something that isn’t an I.T. fire to be put out immediately. Sending
out several announcements well before your meeting, repeating them right up until the meeting, and
sending those message as many ways as possible will help you reach and maintain a good attendance level.
If you have more than a dozen members or if you expect to be running your PUG for years and
years, you probably want to use a CRM (customer relationship management system) to keep track of
your members and to facilitate getting the message out to them. SugarCRM is an Open Source CRM
that you can install for free or buy as SaaS very inexpensively.
Email is the least expensive method for getting your announcement to your members and prospective
members. Physical mail is another traditional method. Calling members can be time-consuming, but
worthwhile.
DVPUG has excellent templates for postcards and offers them for your use. The professional,
colorful, often-funny style can make your PUG look even better!
You will want to send your announcement to the members and prospects you already know, all the
Progress companies known in the area your PUG serves, and to the groups and sites whose members and
readers may well have staff in your area.
Tim Kuehn has a terrific format for meeting announcements. He is perfectly happy to have you
borrow his general format, funny tidbits and engaging text so your announcements can be as
effective as his.
Your known members
Use email to send your announcements to the members and prospects you know in your area. Try to avoid
HTML and lots of links as this will cause your well-intentioned email to appear to be SPAM to many junk
mail filters. If you have an attachment to include, you may want to include it as a link to an attachment on
your website instead of actually within your email. Using your own email client may work well for getting
the message out, but consider better tools as your membership and prospect list grows.
The PEG
Greg Higgins administrates the Progress Email Group and it remains the biggest channel to Progress end
users and developers. If you post your announcement on the main list ([email protected]) and the DBA list
([email protected]), your announcement will be seen by literally tens of thousands of users.
If you are in the Progress business, you owe it to yourself to join the PEG. Please do so. This will
help support this valuable resource as well as make it easy for you to make PUG announcements on
the PEG lists.
You may see a mailing list on the PEG called [email protected]. This used to be a communication
channel for the various PUG presidents, but it has been replaced by Tim Kuehn’s email redirector.
Please do not use [email protected].
USENET or Google Groups
A channel for reaching Progress end users and developers still exists on the older USENET news groups or
newer Google Groups. While it is more global in reach, there are still users there who may find your
meetings accessible. http://groups.google.com/group/comp.databases.progress/topics?lnk=gschg
Progress customers
Although PSC will not give you the list of their customers in your area, they will perform a mailing for
you. Contact Karen Boles and she will query their customers database and send whatever flyer you provide
to each of the names in your geographic area. Karen can give you the guidelines for the flyer format and
length. Be sure to give her plenty of notice prior to your mailing so she can deliver for you.
PUG Central
The PUGs in VA, NC and Central Florida are served by a clearinghouse of sorts for Progress information.
www.PUGCentral.org collects Progress news and events, displays it on the site and via RSS feeds, and
broadcasts that same information to thousands of Progress subscribers in each month’s newsletter. If you
send your announcement to Laura Woodard [email protected] before the cutoff for that
month’s newsletter, she can include your PUG meeting announcement.
Talk to vendors for freebies or discounts as giveaways
Some vendors will give you free copies of books, magazines, demo disks, class coupons, etc. Give these
away as door prizes. For example
USI – Dan Foreman’s books
White Star – John Campbell’s book
PSC and other software vendors can be convinced to give away copies of their software for raffles or door
prizes
Talk to vendors, especially training orgs or persons, for discounts on their services
Evaluation copies of software, especially from PSC, cost the vendor little and still is “excitement”
Help wanted and jobs wanted sections of your newsletter
Anonymous users can get a free email account at progressTalk.COM
Give members a way to deliver the help wanted or positions wanted message without distributing the
member list
How to find new members
comp.databases.progress
PEG
Search for companies in jobs posting sites
Let PSC do a mailing
Give out event posters to all the companies in your area
Talk to the PSC sales rep in your area
Talk to the VAR’s and ISV’s in your area
Talk to the major ISV’s and have them pass info to their customers
Talk to the consultants in your area
Website
You’ll need a website. The easiest way is to purchase hosting from a vendor. It’s easier to allow multiple
people to work on it and if the administration of the PUG every changes, it is easier to pass along
ownership of the website.
Use a CMS like Joomla to keep costs down, delegate work, enjoy lots of free functionality, and offer
members a way to register.
What to put on the website
Who can join?
How to join
Meeting schedule and topics
Maps to meeting location
Past presentations
Links to other PUG’s, Progress-related resources
Sponsor and vendor links
Funding
Paying for speakers - Travel and lodging
PSC will send speakers to you and they cover their own expenses
Many VAR’s, ISV’s, and consultants will travel and speak on their own dime or for a split cost: they pay
part and the PUG pays part
Speaking fees
PSC delivers speakers free from charge
Some consultants will speak at no charge since it is an advertising avenue for them
Conferences
Regional conferences
You are as much responsible for getting people to the regional conferences as the people (Charlie
Grizmeier) who run them
National conferences
Tell your members there is something special for them at the Users Group booth. Giveaway something to
just people that register who are from your state/area