One of the things I really love to see is innovation. And that doesn’t necessarily need to technology, but new ideas and approaches to beefing up the benefits of VMUG membership. I have a theory and feeling that out there amongst all the VMUG chapters there are lots of new projects and concepts bubbling up. But I wonder how much this innovation is being shared between groups. One thing I’ve learned in my short little career – is that if an idea is good, its worth copying and then passing it of as your own. :-p
A good example of this is Nashville VMUG’s “vLAN Lab Night“. These take place during the evening – which means more people can come along potentially than to a regular VMUG meeting. And each session builds on the previous lab night, as the build out a VMware vSphere environment. We have also seen the rise and rise of free online education via the vBrownbag guys, but as former instructor I love the idea that the VMUG could be place of training and professional development. Personally, I’ve tried to offer my “instructor” services to different VMUGs but the logistics are sometime tricky. How do you put on an event like this without cannibalising the main VMUG meeting? How do you find a suitable location? How do provide (and maintain) an active lab environment such that it can be picked up next week/month for the next instalment. I’m not saying these challenges are insurmountable – the Nashville VMUG’s work is testament to that. Back in the day of when I was on the steering committee for the London VMUG, we used have workshops in the morning – either PowerShell sessions with Alan Renouf or discussion groups – to provide a more informal place by which members could share their views/experiences behind a closed door with trusted peers. Of course, every VMUG comes with its unique history and direction – so its difficult to have a standardised one-size-fits-all approach. But I wonder if these “educational addons” might be the future direction of the local VMUG events.
UPDATE: I later discovered that the Nashville VMUG actually use baremetalcloud.com to provide their lab environment. You might recall I blogged about them recently.
I’m also impressed by the Nashville VMUG’s blog. It’s slick and professional – and is so well put together I thought it was some Global VMUG thing. I’m thinking increasingly that main myvmug.org website should have a blog like this through which members can visit – and have guest bloggers write on. That’s something I did recently for the Nashville VMUG – a guest blogpost. Perhaps we could encourage the members to “donate a blogpost” to their local VMUG page – and then the best of the best of these blogpost – could be aggregated and spotlighted on the main landing page of myvmug.org.
The other thing I’ve seen is some VMUGs having their own “award” system for recognising outstanding member contributions within the program year. I personally think that should become an official program with a budget assigned to it. Of course, we would love members of the VMUG of their own free volition to step up to the plate and present – but I’m believe in carrots over sticks – and perhaps the knowledge that you might win some shinny device or get a ticket to VMworld – might be the sort of inducement to rest members from their slumbers! After all how many times does a VMUG end with the leadership imploring the members to come forward to present at the next session, only to find that the group has sudden interest in their shoes or the ceiling… 😉
Informally, I know the London VMUG has an award system. But does every VMUG chapter around the world have one?