The last full week of April we saw many people from around the US gather to participate in local user group events. As a leader of the Colorado Unified Communications User Group (COUCUG), I am ecstatic to see the success and engagement growing for all of the local communities.

If you are not involved in a local user group, I believe you should be. The local user groups are not a place where people should be bored listening to a sales pitch. Each group, whether it is an independent group like ours or one of the national Lync Users Groups, has experts who want to share what they have learned over time. These experts consist of MVP’s and Microsoft Certified Masters (MCM’s) who give of their time to come and speak.

In addition, many of the sponsors bring a wealth of knowledge to these groups. You can find out about the latest gateways, end point devices (headsets, handsets, etc) and everything else. These vendors come to share information and try to provide folks with incredible technology to make their roll-outs successful.

The last point I will make is about the community. I see so many people develop great relationships at our events. We see people sit around after an event brainstorming ideas. These ideas come from everyone (including some folks who are consultants and charge by the hour outside of the event). I see connections made that lead to jobs later down the line. Networking is probably the best reason to join a user group in my opinion. In fact, this is one of the major reasons why we don’t offer the COUCUG as a virtual event at this time.

I highly encourage you to find a place in your community where you can connect with others and maybe even one day, give back by speaking to the group. You might think you have nothing to say, but I have listened to enough “Our Stories” where everyone got to hear about others real-life experiences to know that everyone has a good story to tell.

Follow the links and see if you can find a local user group. If you can’t, start one of your own. You might be surprised how many people share your passion.