Fostering a strong, local LabVIEW community.

[Mike Le]

I'm traveling right now, but normally I'm based out of San Diego. I'll be returning in about 4 months.

 

Before I left, there was a local LabVIEW User Group Meeting every 3-4 months. The level of discussion wasn't especially high and there weren't many "regular faces." People would show up, realize that the meetings weren't particularly educational/productive, and never come back.

 

It also doesn't help that the meetings are somewhat irregular. In fact, I heard that a few months ago the San Diego group was putting the meetings on indefinite hiatus.

 

I think there are certain "hotbeds" for LabVIEW development where active communities are taken for granted. Places like Austin or Orange County (California). But I know for sure there are places with great communities where you wouldn't expect it.

 

I feel strongly that San Diego SHOULD have a strong, local community. The fact that the meetings could persist for so long, with such high turnover and virtually zero retention rate, shows that people ARE interested in this sort of thing.

 

When I return in July, I'm going to try to dedicate some time to bringing the local meetings back and turning them into something interesting and valuable for local users.

 

I know there are users here with decades of LabVIEW experience and I figure some of you must have come in on the ground floor of terrible to mediocre local communities that eventually became something great. So I ask: what was that process like? What worked as you were building up from nothing? How did you attract and retain programmers of different skillsets and levels, but especially enthusiastic programmers who want to participate in a local group?

 

And for those of you who are currently participating in local groups: What hasn't worked? What has worked? What do you like and what would you like to see more often? Those of you who tried it out and never went back, what kept you from coming back?