With more and more organizations choosing to use Volgistics, we’ve found instances where operators have joined together with other users in their area to share their knowledge and experience with using Volgistics. These user groups are a great way to increase your expertise about the features and abilities available in Volgistics.
While Volgistics does not sponsor or endorse any of these groups, we are happy to lend a hand in helping you get started. Because of our privacy policy, we will not directly share contact information about our clients. However, if you are interested in being a group leader and agree to share your contact information, we will send an email to other accounts in your area informing them that you are interested in forming a group and that they should contact you if they’re interested in joining. Simply submit your contact information to us in a regular help inquiry and we’ll forward it. Please only contact us if you want to coordinate the formation of a group. If you want to join a group but do not want to coordinate it, please wait to be contacted that a group is forming in your area.
If you’re interested in being a group leader, here are some tips and practices that other groups have found helpful to promote a successful group:
- Meet on a regular schedule and limit the amount of time allotted for the meeting. For instance, every other month for 1 ½ hours per meeting. Do not let the meetings become distracted and stick to your time allotment.
- Have a regular meeting format. For instance, we’ve heard that using an open question and answer format where one user poses a question and then anyone in the audience who has input takes turns responding works great because users are exposed to more than one way to address the same problem.
- Before the meeting, encourage users to submit email questions or topics they would like to see discussed. Send a list to the group ahead of time. If you’re using a question and answer format, questions can be split 50/50 between submitted and live questions so all participants get to share.
- Ask users to come prepared to share a best practice their organization uses. These can be used as filler if no one has a question or as an introductory or closing activity.
- Have attendees briefly introduce themselves at the start of the meeting and share the size and type of their organization plus how long they’ve used Volgistics.
- Have a computer, projector and internet connection available so people can demonstrate their problems and answers for everyone to see.
- Keep the focus on what the software can do instead of what it can’t. All software (even Volgistics) has limitations. Successful groups use their collective experience to find ways to work around shortcomings instead of becoming mired in complaining about them.
- Encourage networking after the meetings.
- If video recording equipment is available, record your meetings to share with group members when they can’t be present.
- Provide an email list so members can stay connected between meetings. For instance, if a user has a question come up, and it will be a long time until your next meeting, they can get the group’s help via email.