User Groups

How to Start and Sustain a User Group

Thank you for considering a leadership position in the BEA dev2dev User Group Program! We appreciate your willingness to promote the exchange of ideas and best practices and to support the developer community in your region. In leaders, we look for people who possess solid grounding in BEA and J2EE technologies as well as commitment to the greater developer community. We're hoping you'll enjoy working with BEA on your User Group program and will benefit from the visibility, benefits, discounts and knowledge transfer participation this program offers. Here's some information to help you get started.

Review What Already Exists in Your Region

Work with your regional BEA Sales Representative and/or the BEA User Group Program Manager to review the opportunities for groups in your region. If no group currently exists in your region, your local BEA representative can quickly help you get started. If a group currently exists, your BEA representative will put you in touch with existing leaders so you can explore leadership and participation opportunities.

Composition of Group Leadership

All BEA User Groups are led by a Group Leader or co-Leaders. Groups also generally consist of a Leadership Board. If you do not have a Board in place, BEA will help you recruit for and build the board. Leadership terms are generally one year in length unless agreed upon otherwise between Leaders and BEA representatives.

Leadership Responsibilities and Agreements

All Group Leaders, and in many cases Group Boards, will be required to sign the User Group Program Requirements and Guidelines Document. Read this Document carefully, as it outlines your responsibilities: namely to work with BEA on meeting content: agendas, presentations and speakers; to provide BEA member contact information; and to coordinate with BEA on meeting logistics and promotion as well as funding. Unless other funding arrangements have been agreed to before the event, all funding requests to be covered by BEA must be pre-approved by BEA. The funding program is administered by ComponentSource in accordance with guidelines provided by BEA. Reimbursement Claim Forms must be completed and submitted directly to ComponentSource.

Incentives

BEA offers a number of benefits to User Group Leaders and members including discounts on BEA-related books, training, discounts to events, software, and more. Check with BEA's User Group Program Manager for more detail on these benefits.

Resources

BEA uses several communication vehicles to promote User Group meetings including dev2dev Online, newsletters and Event Flashes. We also assist you in securing speakers and presentations and provide financial assistance to cover meeting costs. BEA also provides company-branded giveaways to raffle at meetings. These items are shipped to Group Leaders on a quarterly basis. Please work with your local BEA representative to ensure that you're aware of all opportunities available to help you promote, manage and run your group.

Meeting Location

Identify a meeting place that is convenient for members to get to. Meeting places can take place at a conference room in your office space, local BEA offices, partner offices, community centers, community colleges or training centers. Your local Sales Representative or SE can also help recommend potential locations.

Meeting Time and Frequency

Whether your group meets monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly, picking a regular time (e.g. the third Tuesday of every month), makes it easier for members to remember when to come and to mark the events on their calendars well ahead of time. Maintaining a standard meeting schedule helps keep maintain attendance and increases it over time. Well-planned meetings also help raise numbers. Engage your members through feedback at meetings or through the User Group Forum to identify meeting topics, meeting times, and facilities.

Speaker Selection

During the 2 to 3-month incubation period after a new User Group is launched, BEA's User Group Manager and resources will help identify and book speakers. User Group Leaders are encouraged to book their own speakers for User Group meetings. Refer to the Speaker Resources section on the Index Page to find out who's available in your area or who can help identify one for you. Invite your User Group members to participate and share their knowledge with a presentation. BEA cannot always guarantee speakers for your meetings. Please plan ahead and give us as much notice as possible.

Board Meetings

How often should you meet? It depends on how often your group meets--monthly, every other month, or quarterly. Ideally, you should have conference calls with your board members and local BEA representative one to two months before each event so you can plan content and start working together to get speakers and secure logistics.

What Else?

Please contact your if you have additional questions. We're here to help you as much as possible! Together we can help the developer community increase its knowledge of BEA and J2EE-related technologies and fully leverage lessons learned across the industry. Good luck!