Have You Set Up Your LUG Yet?
As the LUG Director on the AUGI Board of Directors, I just wanted to ask you if you had set up your AUGI Local User Group (LUG) yet. If not, why not?
Maybe you already run a LUG?
If you do, do you have it listed on the AUGI website? You can become AUGI affiliated and get support from AUGI such as the LUG Handbook, which is full of great ideas and advice on how to set up and run your LUG.
Did you know there are three levels of AUGI membership?
Basic – Free
Premier – $25 per year
Professional – $100 per year
(These costs may change over time)
You can check out the levels of AUGI membership on the website, using this link:
http://www.augi.com/about-augi/membership/membership-levels
As an AUGI Professional member, you also get access to the LUG back-end, too, and can edit your website details on the AUGI website, making sure your LUG entry is fully up to date.
You can schedule your LUG meetings, add a map to your meeting location, and provide your LUG members with all the information they need to get to your meetings on time!
I get some great benefits from AUGI as a Professional member. And as a Local User Group owner and organizer, AUGI provides me with great levels of support. Plus, if you are an Autodesk third-party developer, you get a year of free Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) membership, too! Not bad, huh?
Location, Location, Location
LUG’s are a great way to meet other Autodesk users in your area. Meetings can be formal, informal, and can even be held in a local café or bar so that refreshments can be available. Maybe check out a local bar or café that might be able to accommodate your meetings and make it a regular thing. It gives the locally run business whose premises you are using extra business and it gives a great vibe to your meeting.
If you have a connection to a local college or university, maybe they can provide you with some space for meetings. You might even get a few students along who are interested in Autodesk products because they are using them in their courses. Better still, sign them up as AUGI Basic members. There is no cost to them at all, and they then get a load of AUGI benefits, including the legendary AUGI forums!
Meetings
What sort of meetings should you have? Have you considered just having a social event—sitting down around some tables and just talking? Often, finding out what other people do is a great leveller. They might be doing something with Autodesk software that you have never even considered before, which in turn, allows you to take that knowledge back to the workplace with you.
Guest speakers are a great idea, too. But don’t just tie yourself down to an Autodesk member of staff as a speaker. Talk to local business representatives who use Autodesk software. Find yourself a local success story. Maybe an academic institution has a professor or lecturer who is passionate about Autodesk software? Don’t tie yourself down. It doesn’t have to be ALL Autodesk, all the time! You might even want to link something to Autodesk software, such as an issue at work. Consider having a round table event where you all sit down and discuss a certain issue and how Autodesk software could assist in the solution. Be creative!
Social Media
Do you have a website set up for your LUG? Are you using Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn? Maybe set up a Meetup account so that you can connect with other Autodesk users and promote your meetings. Social media is here to stay. Maybe create some online questionnaires about relevant topics using MailChimp, which is a great way to build up topics for speakers at your meetings. Post your next meeting as an event on Facebook and invite all your members and maybe some new ones. There are new social media tools popping up all the time and with today’s smartphones and tablets, you can even set up the details of your next LUG meeting while you are on the move.
Resources
Have you considered discussing the Resources tab at the top of the AUGI website at one of your LUG meetings? Go to AUGI.com and click on the Resources tab or use this link: https://www.augi.com/resources.
The list of AUGI Resources is growing and to use the immortal words of Uncle Sam, AUGI wants you! This is a great benefit for an AUGI Professional member who runs his own business and attends your LUG meetings. The member will get his name on the website of one of the biggest Autodesk user groups on the planet. How’s that for a bit of global marketing?
There are too many AUGI LUG benefits to mention here (it would fill a small book), but if you are not an AUGI member yet, where have you been? Even the free Basic membership gives you access to the AUGI forums, the place of legend, where you can discuss all and everything about Autodesk products, share problems, find solutions, and just meet up and chat (check out the Coffee Without CAD forum, known as CWC).
I cannot stress enough how important AUGI membership is to the Autodesk user. By being a member, you are joining more than 300,000 other members around the world, a global community whose members will all welcome you with open arms. Why not look up your Local User Group on the AUGI website and become a member?
Consider stopping by the AUGI booth at Autodesk University this year, meet me and the other Directors on the AUGI Board, and then we can chat about your existing LUG or how you want to set up a LUG in your local area. Then you will discover the enthusiasm and passion behind AUGI and that will encourage you to set up a LUG or join one!
