Transcript Agenda - Autodesk

Image courtesy of Hobart, Yañez, Ramos, Maguey, and Martínez
Starting and Planning Online User Groups and
Communities
© 2011 Autodesk
Do you have an interest in something
Autodesk Related?
© 2011 Autodesk
Do you have an email account ?
© 2011 Autodesk
Perfect …..
© 2011 Autodesk
“A group of people only need two
things to become a tribe:
A shared interest and a way to
communicate”
- Seth Godin
© 2011 Autodesk
Image courtesy of Hobart, Yañez, Ramos, Maguey, and Martínez
Starting and Planning Online User Groups and
Communities
Kevin Robinson
CAD Geek
© 2011 Autodesk
Agenda
1
5 min
Introduction, Class Objectives ,Inspirations
2
25 min
Why, Who, What, How and When
3
15 min
Technology Options Demo Vignettes
4
Remaining Time +
Q and A
© 2011 Autodesk
Introduction
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16+ years experience with Autodesk technology
11 years as a full time CAD geek
th
11 AU …. I think…..
th
5 year as a AU speaker
Have used Inventor since day one…..
9 User Group start ups in the last 6 years
Created a repeatable, managed process for sharing our CAD geek knowledge
internally and externally
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User Groups
 Blog
 Etc
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Explored and implemented various technologies to keep it all going.
© 2011 Autodesk
Class Description / Objectives
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This session provides guidelines and best practices for you to get your
community up and running and on the right foot right from the start. For those
who would have started and would like to do things better, this session provides
you with the means to reset and move forward with greater confidence about
your success.
This Content applies to:
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Face to face groups
 Online communities
 Internal Company User Groups
© 2011 Autodesk
Inspiration and Great Reading
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Seth Godin
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Purple Cow, Tribes
 Many other titles….
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Guy Kawasaki
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Jonathan Fields
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Art of Start
Career Renegade
Other Important Titles and Content to review
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Groundswell Book
 Creating Customer Evangelists Book
 Online Collaborative Learning Communities Book
 http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/ - SITE
© 2011 Autodesk
Body of work I was involved with….
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5 Face to Face user groups
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Detroit
Grand Rapids
Dayton
Chicago
Tampa
4 Online User groups
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Autodesk Inventor
 Data Management
 AutoCAD Electrical
 Autodesk Alias
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2 Community Sites
 Autodesk Inventor Users Ning Site
 1000 plus users
 Autodesk Inventor Users LinkedIn
Group
 1200 plus group members
 CAD Geek Blogs
 Techincal Tips Distribution
© 2011 Autodesk
So Why Online?
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Face to Face meeting are nice but…..
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Travel
 Venue
 Schedules
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Online enables:
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Flexibility
Passiveness
Anytime Collaboration
Global Coverage
Web 2.0 Technology
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Searching
 Indexing
 Content Repurposing
© 2011 Autodesk
Why, Who, What, How and When………….
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Some discussion questions
Some Examples
© 2011 Autodesk
Why are you doing this or starting this group?
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Meet new people
 You have Significant knowledge about ….. and want to share
 You love starting anything new
 Looking to enhance your own skill set through others
 Financial reasons
© 2011 Autodesk
Why Examples – Tata Technologies
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Face to Face User Groups
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Customers weren't attending traditional Marketing events anymore
 Products were adding more features but Training was declining
 When visiting most customer they were only using 10 to 15% of the software
 Wanted existing customers to talk with other Inventor users and AutoCAD users
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Online User Groups
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Started to see a dip in face to face attendance
 Mapped out customer bases using map point and we were missing a ton of people
 Using goto meeting it enabled recording and anytime viewing
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Online Communities
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Stumbled on cool technology ….. but then I simply enjoyed connecting others and wanted to
see what happened if I just built it …..
© 2011 Autodesk
Who is involved ?
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Anyone else going to led the charge?
 Who is your target community members?
 What type of members do you need for your group to thrive?
 What Skill Level
© 2011 Autodesk
Who else Examples – Tata Technologies
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Who else was going to help?
Tata Tech AE’s
 Autodesk AE’s
 Customer Participation
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Target Members for User Groups
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Existing Customers
 Other reseller Customers
 Newer Prospects
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Online communities
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Any Inventor Users anywhere
© 2011 Autodesk
What is the main goal of the group or community?
Learning and Skills Development Support
2. Career Development
3. New technology awareness
4. Professional Networking
5. Industry trends
6. Self Serving Content
7. Tips and Tricks
1.
© 2011 Autodesk
Examples – User Groups
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Learning and Skills Development Support
New technology awareness
© 2011 Autodesk
Examples – Online Communities Linked IN
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Professional Networking
Career Development
© 2011 Autodesk
Examples – Online Communities Ning
Self Serving Content
2. Tips and Tricks
3. Professional Networking
4. Career Development
1.
© 2011 Autodesk
How are you going to execute?
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Create Content
Communications
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Startup
 Ongoing
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Finding additional Talent and Other Speakers
Collect Feedback
© 2011 Autodesk
Examples of How
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Content
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Master List of topics (living document)
 Established a schedule
 Content creation standards guide / expectations
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Communications
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Email lists / member directory
 RSS feed or Blog
 Announcements
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Additional Talent and Other Speakers
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Create a form letter / email template to constantly post / share with anyone
 LinkedIn Trolling
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Collecting Feedback
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Paper based Survey
 Email / Online using something like Survey Monkey
© 2011 Autodesk
When will you execute?
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When will you start yours tribe?
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When will you work on it once started?
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When will you do each type of work?
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Membership Growth
 Content
 Meetings / Events
 Speaker solicitation
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What milestones do you want to achieve and when?
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Member count
© 2011 Autodesk
Best Practices
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Operations
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Weekly communications to your tribe / users / community
30 - 45 day advance notice for event / 1 week out / 1 day out
Record Keeping for Content presented and Content not yet covered
Maintain Skills / expertise Inventory on members and speakers
Have a new member induction / welcoming process
Have existing member check in’s
Meetings / Events
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Establish reoccurring meeting format
 Be sure and cater to all audience types
 Maintain content balance if your have a broad user Audience
 Establish meeting ground rules for questions asking and responding
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Gather and use Feedback
© 2011 Autodesk
Moving a group Online or to a Blended Model
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Ask yourself WHY all over again to weigh the benefits / risk
Gather feedback from users to validate your ideas
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Determine how you will meet virtually if at all
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Evolutionary Approach
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Start with online data sharing
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Post Content after meetings for non-group members to access
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Start tracking new online people vs. existing people
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Slide share or You Tube
Also track activity from existing people online
Revolutionary Approach
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Re-launch old group that might have died off using the model from earlier
Start a new group or sub group online and share content with face to face members using
the model from earlier
© 2011 Autodesk
Technology Options Demo
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LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com
 Ning - http://www.ning.com/
 Jing – www.jingproject.com
 Meetup – www.meetup.com
© 2011 Autodesk
If I was going to start from scratch today …..
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Create a LinkedIn profile
2.
Create a meetup.com profile
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Search and Review both sites for existing groups/communities
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Establish your shared interest group on both sites
5.
Use their free tools to grow your tribe
© 2011 Autodesk
Summary
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Have goals
 Have a plan
 Have fun
 Lead and grow your tribe!
“Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort
required to lead”
- Seth Godin
© 2011 Autodesk
Open Discussion
Kevin Robinson
513-226-6945
[email protected]
© 2011 Autodesk
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© 2011 Autodesk
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