SPFoxhole Blog

Recently one of the groups I work with (NJSPUG) held an interesting meeting.   Normally you go to groups and see this speaker or that speaker diving into this or that topic.  We decided to try something new.... ok its not new and no i didnt come up with this idea but it was something that i have never seen happen in any of my groups nor have i heard of others doing it.   We held an open forum type of meeting.  A small group of us (4 to be exact) all coming from separate disciplines sat in chairs in front of a room full of people and let them fire away questions.  Each of the panel members would chime in and provide answers and we in turn fired back questions to the audience. 

This was actually one of the best meetings I have ever attended.... why?  We got to interact with the other attendees in a way that is usually done after the presentation is complete or when the speaker decides to answer questions on his or her topic.   For this meeting we had something for everyone.  The ITPros were engaged.... The Devs were engaged... the Business users were engaged... every one was engaged.   I loved this and I challenge other UG Leads to try this.  You will be surprised how your session turns out. 

So are you having problems trying to get a speaker to come to a meeting every once in a while?   Throw this model in.... Grab some local MVP's or Microsoft Blue Badgers or Consultants in general and put them up in chairs and let the audience fire away at them.  

The NJSPUG will now hold these sessions once every few months and I will be back to work as a panel member or even just sit there and ask my own questions as an attendee.   It was alot of fun.