Starting a Local IA Group |
Checklists | Tips
From the Field | Other
Resources
Starting
a Local IA Group
Starting a Local IA Group does not have to be a daunting endeavor.
Depending on the level of formality you are interested in managing for
your gatherings and the potential size of your group, your organizational
tasks may just include sending an email to some people who might be
interested with a meeting date and time in the local pub. Below are
some suggested steps for getting your first Local IA Group underway!
1. Find out if a group exists in your area.
- Send out a general message on some IA related email lists such as
SIG-IA or AIfIA members to see if a group exists in your area.
- Browse some resource like IA
Meetup, Yahoo!
Groups or the IAWiki.
- If a group exists, contact the leader and see if you can join one
of the meetings. You may find that the existing group is perfect for
your needs, or you may discover room for another group with a different
focus or level of experience.
2. Test the waters.
If a group does not exist in your area or you feel that you would like
to start a new group:
- Members can search the AIfIA
member directory for IAs in their area.
- Send out a general message on some IA related email lists such as
SIG-IA or AIfIA members.
- Tell friends and co-workers who are interested in IA that you are
hoping to start a new Local IA Group. Ask them to spread the word.
- Think about any IA related classes, seminars or activities you
attend – these kind of gatherings will be great places to mention
your desire to start a Local IA Group and gauge the level of interest.
You might even get volunteers to help you coordinate!
3. Create a dialogue
Once you begin to get responses:
- Keep the dialogue very general in order to get a sense of how many
people will be willing to participate. (no need to nail down a topic
at this stage)
- Ask those who respond to refer you to people they know who might
be interested in participating.
- Once you feel a local group is feasible in your area, you might
want to send a more formal set of questions to those you have heard
from in order to get a feel for the specifics. Are people looking
for a roundtable discussion on a particular series of topics or a
more informal gathering where people can just meet one another and
talk about whatever comes up?
4. Set the stage
Your survey responses will give you a good sense of where, when, and
in what format to hold your first meeting, but you can bet that the
responses will not be perfectly aligned. You, as the coordinator of
the group, will need to make some decisions (at least for the first
meeting) in order to get things started.
- Decide upon a venue, a time and a format for the meeting.
- Make reservations or give the venue a heads up that a group of people
will be sitting for a while. (if the size of the groups warrants such)
- Compile an announcement including the information about your meeting
(Who, What, When, Where, Why).
5. Promote your group’s event
- Send your message out to the list of people who were in your chain
of earlier responses.
- Send your message to the AIfIA members list.
- Send a message to any other local groups they may discuss similar
topics (e.g., SIG-CHI, AIGA, etc). View a list of IA related groups.
- IA Meetup is
a great new resource for finding and coordinating local groups worldwide.
6. Stay in touch
- In order to keep a certain level of continuity in your Local IA
Group and to ensure its continued success, you will likely want to
consider methods for staying in touch in between local events.
- Some local groups send email to the AIfIA members list advertising
their event. Others have set up specific local mailing lists using
a free service such as Yahoo!
Groups.
Checklists
We have prepared the following checklists to help you create a network in your area and organize an event redux.
Local Groups
Checklist: Creating a Network
(0.03 MB Word document)
Local Groups Tipsheet:
Organizing an Event Redux (0.03 MB Word document)
Tips From the Field
Local IA Group Coordinator Survey Results
We surveyed local IA group coordinators from around the world
to get their feedback on the rewards and challenges of organizing group
events.
>> Read the Results of the
Local IA Group Coordinator Survey
Other
Resources
http://www.acm.org/sigchi/bulletin/1999.2/local-sigs.pdf