Office Users Group Attendance

[jcoe]

Does your office have user group meetings?

I have been conducting monthly 1 hour user group meetings in our office for almost 2 years now as a forum for our staff to learn about features of new releases, proper use of tools, office standards, best practices....etc. Today was the second time that one of our partners attended the meeting and I was asked afterward if this was the typical attendance. I responded that this was better than normal and it was only 1/3 of the users in the office (horrible turnouts).

I would like to know what others are doing to address continued Revit learning, what kind of forum is being used, how are you getting staff to attend and what is your attendance/ rate of retention?

Thanks

[cporter.207875]

I have held monthly Revit meetings and usually had a full conference room. However, information retention was practically nil. Those who weren't sleeping or facebooking either didn't care, or simply didn't get it (not 100% true, but mostly). I have found that the best way to transmit standards is one-on-one with the users. Sit with them while they work and toss out tidbits and best practices. This way they get the hands-on learning, which tends to work better. Also, they get to see first hand how your solutions (and office standards) are better than what they have been doing.

[cliff collins]

Not to sound harsh, but--

Tell them attendance is mandatory, and if they don't attend they will be out of work
and we will hire someone who does attend and care about learning. If sleeping and facebook are higher on their priority list then they will be replaced with someone whose
focus is being a valauble employee.

We also encourage attendees to actually participate in the discussion--ask questions,
bring valuable tips to the net Revit training, etc. So it's not just a one-sided delivery from
the "guru" to the "masses".

LOL

cheers

[twiceroadsfool]

What Cliff said. We have monthly meetings, and often we have less formal biweekly's, if people request them.

The monthy ones follow the General Monthly Staffing meeting, both of which attendance is not optional. They dont have computers, its lecture style. So if they want to Facebook they have to do it on theyre phones. And im not afraid to tell them i covered something in the Users Group, if im getting questions on topics i covered from people who skipped against the mandatory attendence or who were sleeping.

[jcoe]

What Cliff said. We have monthly meetings, and often we have less formal biweekly's, if people request them.

The monthy ones follow the General Monthly Staffing meeting, both of which attendance is not optional. They dont have computers, its lecture style. So if they want to Facebook they have to do it on theyre phones. And im not afraid to tell them i covered something in the Users Group, if im getting questions on topics i covered from people who skipped against the mandatory attendence or who were sleeping.

This is exactly how I currently have it structured, just for the reasons mentioned. Even this morning during the staff meeting, I announced to the whole room that the meeting was to immediately follow and that it was expected that all users attend. As the meeting broke I stood by and watched everybody leave except for the 13. Now I know Monday mornings are tough and all, but to forget/ ignore an announcement 5 minutes after it was made is just rude - especially something that can make their job easier. Interestingly enough, my constant offenders to standards and bad modeling practices are never in the room. Well, evaluation time is upon us.....

I am always telling users that the users' group is not about me showing off, but rather an opportunity to advance their ability to use the software.

[ron.sanpedro]

This is exactly how I currently have it structured, just for the reasons mentioned. Even this morning during the staff meeting, I announced to the whole room that the meeting was to immediately follow and that it was expected that all users attend. As the meeting broke I stood by and watched everybody leave except for the 13. Now I know Monday mornings are tough and all, but to forget/ ignore an announcement 5 minutes after it was made is just rude - especially something that can make their job easier. Interestingly enough, my constant offenders to standards and bad modeling practices are never in the room. Well, evaluation time is upon us.....

I am always telling users that the users' group is not about me showing off, but rather an opportunity to advance their ability to use the software.

If Management tolerates that, then you are swimming up stream. Your best bet is to have a meeting with the Principals and help them understand that when people don't bother to avail themselves of training that is made available (and thus that the Principals are paying for) then it costs the office, meaning profits for those Principals. If they still won't put their own weight behind your announcement, then they are basically saying they don't value the training that much either. At which point you have to start looking at how to get them to value it, or accept that they simply won't/can't, and proceed as best you can with that knowledge.

best of luck,
Gordon

[twiceroadsfool]

Yup. Thats the most important part. It being called Mandatory doesnt come from me. It comes from the Principals. And last week, one of the Principals even STARTED the RUG meeting, talking about some issues weve had internally, and why its important they do as were asking.

if you dont have have support from on top, youre gonna end up on the bottom.

[Alfredo Medina]

Yup. Thats the most important part. It being called Mandatory doesnt come from me. It comes from the Principals. ....

That's a key point in CAD/BIM management success: Support from the the upper management.
It's hard to find, though.

[wmullett]

It looks like we are fortunate. We had a brown bag Revit lunch last week to go over revised template issues and some new tips. We had around a 50 attendence from our 40 person, two location office, which is pretty typical.

Our management is on-board with Revit but does not make these meetings mandatory.

I think the key is not to go over-board with these meetings. We only do about 4 Revit only meeings per year. Because these meetings are special, we usually email issue a meeting outline with screen captures so the users can see what we will cover and have something to refer to later.

[djc1984]

Order Sandwiches. That usually ups the attendance!

[kingjosiah]

Order Sandwiches.

Yep, that's the ticket.

We're on the cusp of starting up our monthly meetings and this is exactly how we intend to drive attendance. If it takes a false motive to get them in the room, i'm ok with it. They just may walk out having learned a thing or two....which is better than nothing at all. Our vendor seminars are ALWAYS packed and I know people aren't going because they're excited about a new gyp bd product or carpet pattern....

- Jon