Having been involved in user groups for a while, I know – as a user – how rewarding they can be. Far from just being a place to socialise with people, it’s a great place to learn more about the technology I use on a day-to-day basis, and learn other people’s best practices to make me better at what I do.

What I hadn’t experienced before was quite how powerful a user group can be from the point of view of the creators of that technology… until this week.

One of the hats I wear is as a consultant to Microsoft working on deployments of their Live@edu email & collaboration platform, and on Tuesday I had the chance to stick my head in on a user-led special interest group that some of our customers have set up.

It was a big surprise to me how different it felt being on the other side of the table at a user group meeting – I was there as the product, and so the discussion took on a whole new, much more personal meaning to me. Customers that I’d talked to individually – often at their own site – were mingling, sharing best practices, and coming together to learn how to use our technology better.

It’s all down to you…

And so I really wanted to share that thought, and say that, once again, I can’t recommend getting involved in the tech community highly enough. Whether it’s going to an event like DDD, NxtGenUG or Edge; or something much more product specific – it’s a hugely rewarding experience that really makes the technology world go round, encouraging excellence, innovation and passion.