News You Can Use: Canadian User Groups

Chris Geady — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:07:00 GMT

Greetings fellow Canadians,

This week Blackbaud was at NAIT in Edmonton and University of Calgary in Calgary conducting two great user groups. I presented sessions on ePealing and "The Bigger Picture" (RE-FE-BBNC product integration) with the help of my colleagues Allston Leland and Gregory Heath. All who attended had a great time and I look forward to seeing everyone at next year's Alberta user groups.

Also, BIG NEWS!!! The Toronto user group is now scheduled! Here are the details. It'll be on June 24th at Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation in downtown Toronto (610 University Ave.) from 9:00 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. I will be presenting again at this user group and look forward to seeing you there. I would like to personally invite all current BBNC clients to this group as well. Perhaps we can have a BBNC-specific breakout. Register by clicking the link below:

https://www.blackbaud.com/profile/register.aspx?pgpId=2368&UGID=552

If this doesn't work, then send usergroups@blackbaud.com an email to register. If you're emailing please include the following information: your Site ID, email address, job titles and any special dietary needs for all attendees.

Also, here's advanced warning of the Halifax user group. We're looking at the second week of September right now. This is subject to change, but I wanted to let everyone know.

Happy networking!

Chris

P.S. If there's something you want to talk about, then reply to this post. I'm looking for breakout session topics.

Jennifer's Jargon: User Groups

Jennifer Paquette — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:28:00 GMT

Friends,

Just had a conversation today with a client re: User Groups... Am a huge fan of the concept -- the formal Blackbaud regional User Groups are fantastic networking opportunities, as well as the chance to hear news about what's new and what's coming down the pike.

Even more important (IMHO) are internal User Groups -- meaning you and your colleagues get together regularly to chat re: how folks are using The Raiser's Edge to fulfill roles and meet organizational goals. As a client, I had standing monthly RE User Group Meetings. Each month we'd look at each other and think, "Do we really have anything to talk about?" and next thing you knew it was 1.5 hours later and we had discovered 5 new tips & tricks, uncovered a hidden process flaw and had a good laugh about it. It really helps to keep all users on a parallel track, identifies future power users and allows everyone to feels empowered to "own" and become experts on their piece of the system. Also welcomes new users into the fold and provides a level of soft training.

If you're not already doing it -- consider it! Maybe start with a light agenda over a brown bag lunch... Believe me, interesting conversations will quickly ensue -- everything from "What in the world does this attribute mean?" to "How can we empower our CEO to feel more connected to the daily stats?" Have different folks take notes at each meeting and assign follow-up tasks (i.e., creating a new query, searching Knowledgebase, contact Customer Support, etc.). Personally, I've observed that clients that host regular internal User Groups are ultimately much more successful, satisfied and retain qualified RE users longer than those who don't.

Until next time... :)

Jennifer

The User's Edge : User Groups

News You Can Use: Canadian User Groups

Jennifer's Jargon: User Groups