Volunteers are critical to any community. There are several qualities that are important in a good volunteer. A volunteer is also developing leadership.

If this is new user group, the volunteers are out there, but they are just more difficult to find. They might not yet know of the user group or might have been working on something similar and it would have to be merged or partnered with in some way. But a new group also has more vendor support, so that is a good resource for recruiting volunteers.

Volunteers should be groomed for other roles. There are users who will want to volunteer for one simple task and that is enough for them to participate in the community in the way they want. Others will be interested in growing into more leadership roles and look to eventually be part of the board of directors. Part of succession planning should include qualities that you look for in volunteers. It does not have to describe a skill set because a needed skill set might change as the user group develops or needs to change.

This chapter will look at some of the tasks for volunteers. There are development paths and ways to communicate to key volunteers about potential that they have in the user group.

What Does a User Group Volunteer Do?

Some people would prefer to stay far away from speaking and can volunteer for many other areas. There are several different activities that would fit under these categories:

• Support—Understand that the user group is for them and support the activities that are provided.
• Provide feedback—Volunteers have a different perspective and can feedback about the user group activities.
• Support events—There are speakers, planners, coordinators, and positions to follow up afterward, all of which could be handled by volunteers.
• Committee involvement—Committees are the main ways for planning for the user group. Therefore, volunteers need to be there to help come up with the ideas and planning. They can then help with the different tasks that arise.
• Recruit—Using volunteers to recruit new volunteers is a great idea. Current volunteers can talk about time commitments, activities, and the excitement that they have being part of the user group.
• Vendor liaison—The vendor will still like feedback from the customers and the users are their customers. Pulling a few key members and volunteers in a room to talk to issues or enhancements is beneficial for the user and vendor.

These are just some of the things that volunteers do. It is important to have a list of activities and tasks available when reaching out to volunteers so that they can see how they can participate right away. Engagement of the volunteers is should be very quick because as people start to be interested, the tasks and volunteer jobs will draw them in to the activities. The connections are going to help bring things together when there is energy around volunteering.

Member to Volunteer

A user group can be a fairly large community. There are going to be those members that are more engaged than others and others who will just look in for information and resources.

It is difficult to pull volunteers out of the member community without some networking time. Either there is a current volunteer that knows the member and encourages involvement or an event makes it easier to bring a user on board. It also helps so they know what they are part of and start to see the community and how valuable it is to the group.

It is helpful to have a website with volunteer opportunities, and registrations need to be followed up on; this would be a great task for a volunteer. Figure 10-1 shows the progression from member to volunteer.

There is interest either from the member or another volunteer to encourage and give examples of how to become more involved. I have seen this so many times, just a little bit of time and real (remember integrity and honesty here) interest from a speaker, a leader or a volunteer goes a long way for member to become more interested in the user group and want to volunteer. They are looking for opportunities so the volunteers should be ready to give them ideas. This applies to the volunteers that want more of a leadership role, and the board will be working with volunteers to encourage and engage them to become more involved. The board and leadership can also be reaching out to the members. It is definitely not a strict hierarchy because we are all users coming from the same place and are all working to develop skills and work together. Board members might have even more of an influence on the members becoming volunteers. Part of the leadership is sharing the story, explaining the benefits, and talking about ways to be involved. There are definite benefits to be part of the user group and spend time networking and learning.

Qualities Outlined

The qualities to look for in a volunteer might include:

• Integrity
• Confidence
• Competence
• Attitude
• Passion
• Professionalism
• Team Player
• Energy

Integrity is needed to be able to have the same honest and open communication with the membership and other volunteers. Having experts in the community to speak and work with others is why confidence and competence are also needed for volunteers as well as the leaders. Some of the confidence and even competence in some of the areas might still need to be developed, so that is where professionalism comes in. The respect and working through presenting or even issues from a committee demands professionalism.

The right attitude for a volunteer is just as important for a leader. The attitude will make it easier to be energized and ready to participate in the user group and the volunteer activities. People with passion are going to work with the group and are excited to be a part of the community. They want to learn and develop, and they want to be involved. The right attitude and passion will allow for many other qualities to be developed and build them into leadership roles.

Energy is required. This is a volunteer position, which is something that is done outside of the normal working hours, and with technology, we are not even sure what normally working hours are any more. This does not mean saying yes to everything, but it does mean being able to have the energy to be involved in the committee and being able to participate. Ideas, input, and work needs to be done, so one does need to have energy to work through the meetings and other tasks.

The qualities are not far off of those of a leader. Integrity is very important. It is a core value that attracts others to want to work with that person and trust enough to be inspired.

Is a Volunteer a Leader?

Yes, a volunteer is a leader and anyone can be a leader. They don’t have to have the title. They have to be able to enable and inspire others. They serve others and are constantly learning. This definitely sounds like a volunteer to me, wait sounds like a leader too.

Volunteers are going to be leaders in the community. They have the responsibility to the user group to perform the activities and tasks they commit to. They are recruiting others and even in the different positions they are in, they should be planning for succession as well.

This is something that I would do at events, especially when there is someone with a good question or interested in a topic at conference. I mention, that would be a great topic for you to speak on next time. I didn’t leave it at that, because a causal comment like that can be dismissed. I would follow up and see if they needed any help or had thought more about what they were going to speak on. I was excited to attend the next conference because there were some new sessions and speakers I was very interested in hearing.

A volunteer is a leader in their areas of expertise and a leader in the community. They will want to continue to develop leadership skills and use the user group experience to practice these skills.

Summary

The qualities of a user group volunteer are very similar to those of a leader. Some of these areas are still being developed and the user group should provide them ways to practice and participate in activities that build these skills.

There are suggestions for activities for volunteers and there are several tasks that can engage a volunteer. Part of planning and creating a strategy would have a list of these tasks to be able to involve those interested. This helps for members to know how they can volunteer and increase their activity in the community.

The user community is ideally for the volunteers to be able to network and learn from each other. Conferences and events would not be possible without the volunteers planning, reading papers and selecting topics and speakers. Articles, webinars, and blogs are ways that other volunteers can provide information throughout the year.

With so many books on leadership, there are plenty of opportunities to continue to learn and develop leadership skills. The user group community is a perfect place to not only expand their knowledge in the vendor products but to also practice and develop leadership skills. The members in a user group community have opportunities to grow into new roles and leaders. The user group has so many benefits for the members and vendor, and starting a new user group or becoming a leader in an existing one is an exciting adventure. I would not have had the opportunity to meet community members around the world, speak in cities that I didn’t think of visiting, and continue to have learned so much. I am passionate about what I do, and having the privilege of being able to be a leader in a user group increases that passion and enthusiasm. I am a lifelong learner and have still many skills to continue to develop.

Leadership doesn’t come from the title or role, but the qualities being developed and how you inspire and enable others to participate and be successful in their careers. Being part of a user group community is an excellent tool for career advancement and leadership skills can be used in the community and many different aspects a job. I hope that this book encourages those developing the user group community to continue and as a volunteer you receive quite a bit more than what you put into it.